Thanks guys I appreciate the input. The Kia is out.when my buddy suggested it, It sounded odd to me and I've never seen one in the bush or even on the highway getting towed out.
Im still in looking mode for a few months but if anyone out there thinks it's time to get rid of yours PM me.
thanks
I Got a 90 forerunner... 2.4l 5 speed.. goes great in the bush.. aint purty but definitely handy
"It's not the kill, but the thrill of the chase" - Deep Purple
"Lord knows I'm a Voodoo chile" - SRV (RIP 8-27-90)
"Know your Land, Know your Prey" - Mantracker
http://www.youtube.com/user/welderse...e=results_main
Here is my slowzuki,I would hate to be without one,I tow it all over the place or drive to local spots as its not all that nice on a long highway trip.
Its only let me down when the computer went bust on it which is a fairly common problem,so I would suggest maybe changing that out as well as doing the timing chain
Last edited by LYKTOHUNT; 02-12-2018 at 05:41 PM.
I have just finished building a 02 grand vitara... (if there is such a thing as finished..)
bought it for 1000$ from 2nd owner, 205xxx kms on it. was sitting in a field for a year after the alternator seized on it so it was abandoned.
fun little car. 5spd, 2.5L, easy to whip around town and park anywhere. my f150 only gets used now for highway/out of town trips.
trackers and vitaras of this generation are 99% identical. built on the same assembly line. i love the car, dont see me selling it anytime soon, but i wouldn't buy another one when this one goes - just too small for me (im 6'4"). ide go with a jeep or land rover discovery next time around.
since i got the car, ive put about 5000$ into it. most of that work is due to previous owners not doing necessary things - going to drive thru oil changes only does so much for you. plus the 2nd owner (who only had it for 6 months) never did a thing to it. i did an oil change every 2 days about 3-4 times till the oil started coming out clean.
these cars are notorious for 2 things - noisy lifters and failing timing chains. noisy lifters, if they go away after the engine warms up, are not known to be an issue that will leave you broken down somewhere and you wont fix/replace them unless they actually do break or fail which is rare - and you'll hear it ticking all the time before if does.
religious oil changes are a must of high quality full synthetic fluids. i also put in additives. i have a noisy lifter right now on cold morning starts, lasts about 1 minute and goes away. it happens less and less with every oil change, actually i just did an oil chance last week and have not noticed it back yet.. maybe its finally gone. knock on wood i have no chain slap (early signs of timing chain failure) yet. religious synthetic oil changes are known to essentially prevent that from happening, if you don't have it yet from my research on the topic.
im pretty anal. im the type of owner you want to buy a car from. if it aint broke, i still go in and replace/fix it . anything that doesn't function as new i replace, and if i go into fix or replace anything everything along the way to it that i gain access to or touch gets refurbished or replaced.
what ive done:
-new alternator and belts
new power steering
2.5" lift
new struts
new springs
new 02 sensor
new tires (cooper stt pro- AWESOME tires im very happy with them)
new clutch and master and slave cylinder
front diff air actuator delete
all new light bulbs in and out
roof rack
ipod cable
alignment
new cv shafts
cv shaft bushing mod - YOU NEED TO DO THIS!
amsoil synthetic fluid everywhere
rad flush
power steering flush
vhf radio
the list keeps going - those are the major things. in a perfect world i would put a rear diff locker, winch bumper up front, and add a 1" body lift, but ive sunk enough coin into her that im happy. its mostly an in-town play car for me and logging road cruiser for hunting. she now runs and drives like new, i know her inside and out, front to back, and is a reliable driver for me (now that Ive done everything that can and is known to go except for the engine timing chain which mine doesn't have at this time). I can also fix just about anything on the trail side thats possible to do so with the basic tools i carry in the trunk.
Last edited by nedarb2; 02-12-2018 at 07:44 PM.
Got a 97 geo 4dr, new motor and trans, 2'' body lift, 3'' calmini suspension, zuki nation front bumper with 10" rigid bar, 31" KO2s. Needs rockers replaced with steel tubing, currently ready for welding, all prepped and ready. Its for sale in Kamloops if anyone is interested. It goes places I never thought possible, love the vehicle but have a project on the horizon.
Last edited by Firstblood; 02-12-2018 at 08:38 PM. Reason: adding info
If you want something to tow behind a rig definatly a track or sidekick, a samurai in good shape is a lot of coin compared to a sidekick/ tracker. Plus the earlier rigs with the little 1.6 efi in the sidekicks and trackers are fairly simple, and can be rebuilt on a coffee table!! Haha. stock gears in an automatic are 5.13’s which is nice and low, throw a small lift and a locker in it and point it and she will go
samurais are better though due to the solid axle front end, if you change the spider gears in the diff you can run the sidekick/ tracker 5:13 gears In it, or just put the tracker rear diff in the samurai , run a proportioning valve and wheel spacers up front to compensate the wider track rear end, if you go with a samurai and it’s carbed I’d suggest going with the Harley carb swap or the Toyota Corolla carb with the sideways float, I always had trouble off camber with the stock carb bogging down
if you wanna drive it to where your going id go with a Toyota i built a 94 xtra cab, solid axled, air lockers, 529’s , 4:70 in the t case and a fully built cammed 22re on 36’s not the fasted burning up to the interior and sometimes on hills you will feel like you should stick a canoe paddle out the window and start rowing to gain some speed, but yah always get their
That's a sweet rig. I like that boat rack set up. Automatic or standard?
This might be a historic reply nedarb2- thanks. This is great info on what I'll need to do