mt2man
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,366
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Dec 10, 2014 21:16:55 GMT
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Hey all I'm collecting an SJ soon and looking at modifications i can do! (will mostly be an offroad toy but might get used on the road too) I'm looking at SPOA conversions, ive done the opposite on a caddy and done spring under axle to lower to the principle is the same so should be simple enough does anyone have any pics of before and after height wise of this conversion? Heard its 4-5"? It has bull bars etc but i also have a pipe bender so looking at cheap mods like making some scaffoling pole rock sliders etc. Also looking at 1.9td XUD engine conversions using a LDV Pilot gearbox (i have a XUD in my citroen which will be running out of MOT next year so engine might get donated!) Also i have a set of decent wellers with 31" tyres from a Land Rover discovery and i also have a set of 25mm spacers, has anyone ever had spacers redrilled into pcd adapters?! Looking at filling current pcd holes with alloy weld and taking to work and CNCing to SJ pcd. This will be somewhat of a budget build so trying to do it all as cheap as possible Any ideas or motivation would be great! Thanks Jack
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Dec 10, 2014 22:36:39 GMT
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Are the spacers the type which are machined from solid alloy and bolt to the hub rather than fitting over the existing studs ? If you have CNC facilities at work why not make new PCD adapters from scratch instead of welding up the existing holes in the Land Rover spacers. Sale of the spacers should fund a set of secondhand LR studs and the raw matierals. My Mahindra has the same PCD as the SJ and I'd also like to fit Land Rover wheels albeit standard SWB steels. I found some of the foreign suppliers who sell PCD adapters on eBay will make them to order quite reasonably. Also as the Suzuki PCD is the same as Jeep CJ then there are numerous US suppliers I've found via GOOGLE searches.
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Dec 11, 2014 11:17:22 GMT
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I would consider carefully before putting a diesel engine in one, the best thing about them is the revs! It would help pull the bigger tyres though. I used to have a stock Sierra, and I can confirm that the two limiting factors off-road are ground clearance and lack of power. On the road, the power is also a definite limiting factor. Mine was flat to the boards getting to 110km/h, and if there was a good headwind it would top out at 105km/h. It was the 1.3 litre. Mine with a mate's: Another mate has a narrow-body one with a Suzuki Swift GTI engine conversion. You keep the Sierra block and rebuild it with the internals and twin-cam head from the GTI. Requires either a pair of special 90 degree angle drives to make the distributors clear the firewall, or electronic aftermarket ignition. They will then bounce off the rev limiter very nicely! In terms of ground clearance, the front spring hangers/shackles hang down very low. Doing a spring-over axle and bigger tyres will definitely help this. I strongly advise you to try it out offroad first before doing any modifications. Take it on at least two or three trips, to see how it goes. They are enormous fun, and much more capable than most four-wheel-drives. I never modified mine, and I went on trips with lots of mates in big 4wds with 33" tyres and lift kits. I got through almost everything that they did, on highway terrain tyres! You just have to put it in first gear, low range, keep the throttle pinned to the floor, pick your lines very carefully and preserve your momentum! The hillclimb below proves that there are limits to everything. I made it up eventually, but only with two people hanging off the side to get the wheels down. When trying to do it unassisted, I nearly flipped the car over backwards! For this type of work, the key is flex. Longer spring shackles would have helped, as well as longer and softer leaf springs. A diff locker would also be good, as I was losing drive whenever the wheels left the ground. This is fine on the flat if you have some momentum up, but on a steep hillclimb it's a lot tougher.
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mt2man
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,366
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Dec 11, 2014 19:50:16 GMT
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The spacers are the kind that bolt to the hubs and have wheel studs as part of the spacer, it might be possible to machine them as is without welding up the other holes but will need to check pcd overlap. Would cost a fortune for billet big enough for 4 spacers and 20 wheel studs and nuts. The stock engine needs a new dizzy to run but will probably get it running first and see how it goes Main mods atm will be lift kit and wheels though, makes a huge difference to how mean it looks haha, i have some vitara side steps i might fit ontop of rock sliders, would look abit better
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Dec 11, 2014 20:57:36 GMT
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The spacers are the kind that bolt to the hubs and have wheel studs as part of the spacer, it might be possible to machine them as is without welding up the other holes but will need to check pcd overlap. Would cost a fortune for billet big enough for 4 spacers and 20 wheel studs and nuts. Billets of alloy would be dear but no reason why you couldn't make them out of steel. Wheels studs and nuts would be pence from a breaker. Have you thought about simply redrilling the Weller wheels to the Suzuki PCD so no adapters needed ?
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mt2man
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,366
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Dec 11, 2014 22:10:12 GMT
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Re drilling the wellers was also an idea! But wouldnt be as wide, should be a fair bit wider than standard though i guess, would be easier on the wheel bearings.
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