Suzuki Club UK

I am well known as the "Artist" by all who know me, I am 69 yours old but 18 in my head, still very active for my age.
Got a 1998 Suzuki vitara H/Top a month ago, it had been sitting on someones drive for over two years, put it in for MOT to see what was wrong with it, it failed on these points / rusting on inside sills both sides / horn not working / one side of front beam needed adjusting / one of the number-plate light was not working, I was told I had to take it back within seven days or I would have to pay again.

I got it home to take a look for myself, I changed the number-plate bulb (Worked Fine) then looked a the horn problem, found out that the last ownner had moved the horn from the steering wheel to a buttom on the dashboard, (works perfect). then I turned to the front-beam, two half-turns of the adjuster screw and it was perfectly in line with the other side. Then I lifted the the truck up and placed some old planks under the wheels, when I got under to take a look, rusty holes all over the place on the inner sills, so off came the battery, so I could use my plasma cutter to remove the rust and get back to solid metal, I rolled some 1.2mm strips to the shape needed, when I welded i used Mig with Gas, doing Dunlop patches over the holes, turn out to be a good repair, but then I started to think to myself, I had no idea as to how thick the remaining sill steel was left in the places that looked and sounded solid really was, so I decided to roll and fold some more completely new sills R/L just a bit larger then the old one out of 2mm plate, so they would cover the old ones completely, then welded these on, perfect job if I say so myself, but I had no finished yet, when out to get some underseal to cover the new steel plate, this was a total waste of money, it was like black undercoat paint and it took three coats to cover it, it looked alright but I did not think it would last any lenght of time, I then remembered I had some stuff left over from a project I did a year or two ago, it was some metal adhesive that will weld metal to metal, it is a two part mix, it is not Resin but acrylic, I used it to weld a job together that I could not apply any heat, once it was set (5mins) it is strong then steel, but very expensive £80 for a tube of each part A & B, it cost me nothing so I used it, I painted it on fast as you do not have much time before it starts to set and what a lively job it did, I had run over my seven days to get it back for a re-test, but I had a better job alround. So the big day for the re-test, they put it on the lift to take a look, this was the first time I had seen it standing up, the tester said to me it was a brilliant job the best he had every seen, I must admit when I was looking at it looked great, he said it was the nicest bit of welding he had seen, asked me if I would do some welding for them, I told him, I am coming up to the age of seventy and I do not think it was right for me to to start a new career, he give me my MOT paperwork and then I told him I was out of the seven days to get it back for a re-test, no you have 12 days to have a re-test, so I rushed the job for nothing.
I will post some photos of my new toy, that is when I find the way to do it, as I am a newbe to this site. then when you see the photos, please post as to what you think it cost me, then when I have had a few replies, I will let you all know, all I need now is a new battery and sort the inside lighting out and she will be little beauty.

Hi, welcome to the forum. To post up your photos you need to use the 'full editor' button. You'll see the choose file and add facility. Try it out - we like photos of Suzuki 4x4's.

Hello sounds a good job

Welcome to the forum!

Sounds like you are having great fun fixing up the Vitara. I'm looking forward to seeing pics of it in its full glory. If you are going to do more to the underside of the truck get yourself some ramps to drive up on. Can be had relatively cheaply and will be a lot safer than the 'old planks' under the wheels.

I love it when the MOT tester has time to offer advice and encouragement related to your skill and attention to detail on the repairs. Credit there on the skills. Well done.

hey up guys and girls, i'm new to the suzuki life, just bought a samurai bikini top as abit of a project.... so many ideas but dont know where to start, hope you lot will be helpful with ideas and parts etc...

just a little about me, my names Gawain and i have been in the landy game for a while offroading. Jumped over to the fast car scene skyline r33 gtst and a starlet glanza but now i have the suzuki samuraI and fancy getting back into the offroading and green laning scene but want to make it strong and reliable ish first..

hope to speak to you all along the way of my sj build and testing faults etc lol

pics of it as it stands

Hi, welcome. Ex Landy means you will be good at mechanical skills and welding

Be interesting to see how your Suzuki project moves forward.

Echobaby1984 wrote:hey up guys and girls, i'm new to the suzuki life, just bought a samurai bikini top as abit of a project.... so many ideas but dont know where to start, hope you lot will be helpful with ideas and parts etc...

just a little about me, my names Gawain and i have been in the landy game for a while offroading. Jumped over to the fast car scene skyline r33 gtst and a starlet glanza but now i have the suzuki samuraI and fancy getting back into the offroading and green laning scene but want to make it strong and reliable ish first..

hope to speak to you all along the way of my sj build and testing faults etc lol

pics of it as it stands

cool paint job

Hi everybody, well as you can see, I posted some photos, but something went wrong, as you can see I am not that computer savay as all you younger ones, I will get my son to turn the photos the rightway round so you can see them better, let me know as to what you think I paid for this little beauty, I have only paid out for new leads and cap / oil and new filter, a bit of sheet metal I already had and yeaterday I got myself a new battery as the old one would not hold charge, but with it sitting on someone's drive for a couple of years this you would expect, when I got it, it came with a box of new bits, like a full set of locks and handles, the handle on the drivers side had snaped on one side off the lift-up part, but now it is perfect, a new cigar-lighter that ligfhts up so changed it for the old one.
One thing I found was the battery leads are very sort, so have made some new extentions to both, I had some old 10mm earthing cable off my Plasma cutter as it was to sort to work it, without having the machine to close to the cutting torch, went to my electrical wholesalers that I have used for years, to see what I could get to connect the wires together, got some large barrel tube crimps and heavy-duty shrink tubing (for nothing) he just give them to me (very nice of him), I have now made the extentions up, but it is snowing out there at the moment, so will have to see how it is a bit later in the day!!!!!!. When I was looking for the replacement battery, I found out very quickly that you have to do a bit of due diligence, as the prices for the same battery are all over the place, and a lot of the sellers did not know what they where selling, they did not know what the Ampere hours ment, also the CCA (SAE) I was told by one seller that 320 was the same as 420 CCA, I always understud that this was the power the battery would deliver on the turn of the Key to turnover (crank) the starter-motor, I showed them a photo at one place, he told me they had one, when he came back with it, it was a different make (No problem) but when I looked at the CCA it was lower, this is when he told me it was the same, when I told him it was different, he came back to me with (yours is a heavy duty battery) at this point I walked out. I was in business for over forty years, I know you need product knowledge before you can sell something. One more thing my speedo cable snaped the other day so I looked on ebay to see if I could find a replacement, no joy, so I phoned up Europarts to see if they had one, they told me it was a dealer part, not bad for a company that states (Any Part for Any Car Any Model) found a dealer ask for price, it was £40.34p all-in, without the bendix (Sprocket) at the end that fits in to the gearbox, So I told them I would need to take a look at the bendix first to see if I needed one, I also went on one of these sites where they send you quotes for secondhand parts from all over the country, the best one was still more then a new one from the dealership, but my son found someone that deals in secondhand parts for Suzuki 4x4's, he told him he did not normally keep any cables but he would tale a look and phone him back, this he did, he had one complete with the bendix, price all-in with delivery £25, sent him payment with paypal, it arrived the day after, it was in very good condition, fitted it in 25mins, working fine, pulled the old one to bits, found the cable had snaped half way up the tube and the strands where coming apart all over the place, full of rust and water came out of the tube, good job I packed the replacement with spray greese before I installed it, I expect to have some other small things going wrong, with the age of this little beauty.
Thanks to all the menbers that replied to my posting, I have designed a pear of ramps that I am going to make, as I stated in my profile I design and make machinery that I need, they are designed so you drive on to them, pump them up with hydraulic's to whatever lift you need, then inserting the safety pins, when I have made them I will post some photos, and some detailed plans, so if you wish to make some for yourself, you will have a cutting list and the way to put it together.

Despite having to turn my laptop on it's side to view them - the photos of your Suzuki look great. Top find and purchase there.

Guess those ramps might look like these? http://www.cjautos.eu/product_p/cr02.htm Thought about doing something similar myself. Looking forward to seeing the photos of the ramps once you've built them. Sounds like you have access to some decent kit, Plasma Cutter hey