Suzuki GV Build

[oneinkedgeek]

Hey, I’ve been lurking around the forum a bit over the last few months and decided to start a build page. It’s a bit daunting given some of the major build and mod pages I’ve seen so far.

For a little bit of background info…..6 Months ago I went out on my brothers stag party and we ended up Muriwai beach where I saw a tone of family’s doing all sorts in their 4x4’s. I went home the next day and put my car on Trademe and got rid of it so I could get myself a 4x4 and take my boys out for some of that outdoor adventure stuff.

I decided to get a Vitara mainly because I did a fair bit of off-roading when I was younger with the old man and found they almost went anywhere we pointed it, as well as wanting to reduce my fuel costs.

I ended up buying a stock Grand Vitara 2002, 1600cc, 3 door.



The first thing I had to get sorted was the wheels/tyres, I got some 15x7 steel wheels from mudbits and took my truck in to make sure the wheel cleared the brake caliper.



Heaps of room. On go the 235/75/ R15 Kumo KL71 tyres.
As you can see from the pic, the 15x7 -15 wheels stick out a weeee bit and there isnt really much room under the arch, infact when i turned the wheel the tyres touched the rear plastic inner guard.



I decided to just drive it like this while i worked out what I was going to do, I got alot of good info and advice from this forum and in the end decided because of the hassles with body lift (certs, bumper space's) I ended up buying a set of springs to give me 30mm lift and leave the body lift for another time.

The new springs made a huge difference and Ive got a bit of room under the arches now.



Im in the process of painting the factory 16" wheels black and getting some A/T tyres for the road as this is my daily driver and I want to keep the K71's for mud.

Next on my list of things to do in rough order:

1. New shocks for the rear - With the new springs, the shocks are maxed out, it bangs alot at the moment with almost zero travel.

2. Bars - I really want to get a some rock sliders and front bar work done next.

3. Snorkel - yeah dont really need to say much here other than its prob a good idea.

4. Exhaust - Lots of people saying Extractors really wake these things up, so ill look at replacing the whole system (would be good to get some recommendations on type of systems and people to do the work)

[De-Ranged]

Built up one ages ago for a dairy farmer to use

I got him a set of headers from BNT (possibly coby brand?) he was real happy with the improvement, the rest of the system was done with just two coby's

Bar work on these things is a bit of a pain.... the chassis at the front is very light and has a couple of horn's that stick up that the bumper is mounted too
I prefer to weld some plates to the side of the horns and make my mounts on these.... this isn't necessary but I have had one in with a section of chassis missing that was where the recovery point was!
For inspiration search for escudo builds very similar chassis

Oh and sliders are easy for these nice open chassis with enough room above to fit a clamp bolt

Cheers Reece

[oneinkedgeek]

Bar work on these things is a bit of a pain.... the chassis at the front is very light and has a couple of horn's that stick up that the bumper is mounted too
I prefer to weld some plates to the side of the horns and make my mounts on these.... this isn't necessary but I have had one in with a section of chassis missing that was where the recovery point was!
For inspiration search for escudo builds very similar chassis

Oh and sliders are easy for these nice open chassis with enough room above to fit a clamp bolt

Cheers Reece[/quote]

Cheers Reece, Ill do some searches as suggested.

[oneinkedgeek]

So last weekend I sanded back the 16" factory rims and got them primed up.



This weekend I got them painted





Im looking at A/T tyres for day to day use and something I can use in the sand. Ill store the Kumo's away for special trips, its a shame though cause i do love the 15" steel wheels.

[oneinkedgeek]

So today a box turned up in the mail



Having put 1.5 inch lift springs in the GV, My shocks at rest were 100% extended which meant the back jumped and knocked like you wouldnt beleive. I priced up some new shocks and it was going to cost $350-400 bucks and decided to look at getting strut extenders.

Heres the pic showing them installed. Went for a quick blat up the road tonight and wow what a difference.

[bang-thud-thump]

How are those shock extensions for reliability?

I see they are used a bit through a google search but they look like a weak link.

I spose the manufacturers have to stand by them so they must go ok?

Ill file the idea away though for mine - when I get it!

[oneinkedgeek]

They are rock solid, i was really impressed with the quality and for 90 bucks....bargin !.. I rekon the shock its self would give out well before you damaged or broke the extender.

I was talking to the guy who did WOF at local VTNZ and he said, no issues for WOF, as long as it looks well made and safe, they have no issues with them.

How are those shock extensions for reliability?

I see they are used a bit through a google search but they look like a weak link.

I spose the manufacturers have to stand by them so they must go ok?

Ill file the idea away though for mine - when I get it!

[oneinkedgeek]

Now while I’d like to be doing more mechanical mods, at the moment I’ve been focused on making the truck a little more practical.

One of the biggest draw backs to having the SWB vitara is that by the time you get the family in the truck, there is bugger all room to start putting gear.

Solution... Get a roof basket !

I looked around for a while at roof baskets, everything from al-cheap-o baskets from super cheap auto, baskets made for hilux's, alloy type baskets from Trademe, and steel baskets from rhino and rola.

The alloy baskets on trademe, just didnt seem strong enough and while they might be ok to load some gear onto, i wanted something that could take a beating from low hanging branches in the forestry.

I first looked at the rhino but it was a two piece screw together type thing and actually wasnt big enough and at $430 bucks it wasnt cheap either, I did some google searches and come across the Rola Vortex basket on one of the AU sites and decided after reading up on it and seeing some youtube clips that I was gonna go for this basket and overall I’m really really pleased with it. $290 bucks, one peice, no screws, strong as hell and overall much bigger than the rhino.

Like anything you buy, often you have to buy accessories which often cost the earth, so rather than pay 100 bucks to purchase and ship a cargo net for it, I decided to get a trailer cargo net 6x4 for 15 bucks
(from repco) and as you can see from the photo below, its looks like it was made for it.

The Easter weekend just been, I packed up the truck… this time loading Tents x 2, sleeping bags, air mattresses, backpacks of clothes, and all fishing gear onto the roof...leaving all the space inside for the family.

[oneinkedgeek]

One of the most recommended upgrades to me when i got my zuk, was getting rid of the shite factory exhaust system and factory headers.

I took the truck into a few places around Auckland to get prices on some extractors and new exhaust system, the prices overall were cheaper than i was expecting but in most cases the mufflers and res, were cheap chinese imported stuff, I ended up going to WOLF mufflers and for about 50 bucks cheaper than any of the other quotes, agreed to get coby headers and muffler/res and put a new 2" pipe right through.

What a massive difference this made, the difference was like day/night and the power increase was noticable from low, mid to high end. Anyone reading this after getting one of these GV's, I would highly recommend this upgrade !!

Here is a pic of the headers in place

[phraza]

Looks good! Tidy build Might see ya out there sometime!

[oneinkedgeek]

Thanks , and yeah where abouts do you head out too ? im mainly up Muriwai

Looks good! Tidy build Might see ya out there sometime!

[Tarmac]

The power increase is V interesting , Have one of these in someonelses garage waiting to get fitted to poor old suzy

[oneinkedgeek]

One of the guys here on ORE who had a GV, said... grab some headers (extractors) and get rid of the CAT, and it REALLY wakes the motor up......that is DID !

The power increase is V interesting , Have one of these in someonelses garage waiting to get fitted to poor old suzy