Saw this 2001 Grand Vitara advertised for $800 claiming a bad transmission or at least bad clutch. Sent it to a friend as a joke, and he actually ran down and picked it up for me with his kick-ass Duramax van-bulance. He paid the seller $500 even after telling him it wasn't moving because the transfer case was in neutral :p
Two green cute-utes in one yard haha
As the title might hint, this is going to be a mild off-road build, probably going to take over daily driver duties for the '99 CRV when ready.
Ripping parts off immediately, prepping for tube bumpers, winch, and rock sliders.
Tried to test fit 30x9.50r15s off my F100, but Ford wheels don't have enough center bore.
Hmm, maybe something special out of the shed of garbage?
Eh, better go with real tires.
245/75r16 Kenda Klever AT2 with the 3-Peak-Mountain-Snowflake rating so they'll be fine for me year round.
A 2" eBay spacer lift, diy longer shocks and struts, plus the new tires made a bigger attitude adjustment than I expected.
Mall-Rated parking lot crawler!
I've never owned a 4x4 that I could just buy parts for before, I've always done dumb stuff like lift Subarus and try to make them work with homemade parts. This time I'm hitting the catalogs. Front and rear lockers are on the way, which I will pair with junkyard Tracker 5.13 ring and pinion gears.
Also already received a twin stick t-case shifter kit as well as 3:1 low range gears. This thing should be unstoppable on the kinds of trails I run.
I like where this is going!
Killer buy...$500! Was it really just in transfer case neutral???
Super cool ambulance too.
In reply to John Welsh :
To be fair, the clutch hydraulics feel awful, but it is drivable. Had to replace the brake master to stop a leak but really all that was majorly wrong was the t-case in neutral. Hell, my buddy showed the guy and still talked him down, he didn't even hide that tidbit.
note to self: colorado cars don't rust.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Yup. This example has some bubbling around two of the seat bolt holes, and at the front end caps of the rockers, and that's it. Every undercarriage fastener has come right out so far. You should see underneath the '99 CRV in the first post, it's like new. Hardly even surface rust on the hardware.
Yep... this is awesome. Will be following.
Better than a UTV by a long shot.
Following! I've always had a soft spot for these Suzukis
Our bone stock 2007 Grand Vitara has been a real workhorse, even following the motorhome as a towd for thousands of miles. We had fun with it all around Moab even in stock form. With all 4 wheels locked in low range it does remarkable things.
This is sweet! I just attended the Colorado Gambler 500 last weekend. It was a blast and this thing would be perfect for it! If you're not familiar with the Gambler, look it up, you will be right at home! One of the waypoints on the journey was a salvage yard near Mosca filled with awesome old cars with almost zero rust.
Winning!
Very cool. Those rigs are pretty underrated from what I hear. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
Cool.
Bumpers and winch mount happening. Also got the rear re-geared to 4.88 with a Lock Right; front diff will be coming soon but is currently uninstalled because the gear swap will be a bit more in depth than just swapping a third member.
Also built a 2.5" cat back exhaust with a cheap single chamber muffler to replace the stock rustiness. Sounds nice, not too loud. Run the same muffler on our Suzuki V6 swapped Starlet.
Lock-Rite - let me sing you the song of my people: "clickclickCHIRPclickBANG"
I keed I keed. I just drove my buddy's samurai with a worn-out lunchbox locker that locks and unlocks at will, so it's fresh in my mind. That was an exciting drive, haha. I had one in my old Toyota pickup too. Leaned really quickly to put the clutch in and coast into parking spots. I'd still buy another for a wheeling rig.
Here is the rear bumper in paint, the front is off right now for finishing touches. Added a receiver to the rear bumper so I can do dumb stuff like the H25a freight train...
thatsnowinnebago said:Lock-Rite - let me sing you the song of my people: "clickclickCHIRPclickBANG"
This, is 100% accurate. *sigh* Perhaps I need to save up for an ARB in the rear.
I had a lockright in my old 94 nissan hardbody on 35" mud tires. Fortunately it was a manual transmission, but i got used to it and liked it, even on the street. Coast or clutch on turns, or gas and squeal a tire. I hammered it pretty hard and it never let go. Even with 35.
also this project rocks. These make great little comfortable wheeling rigs. Infinitely more comfortable than a utv/SxS.
I'll be the third or fifth or whatever to say this is waaaaay cooler than a UTV.
A friend had one as a hand-me-down DD years ago when we were younger and (even) sillier, and everyone for some reason insisted on calling it the Grand Viagra.
Finally installed the wench and got some pics of the front bumper.
That is one of the most missed vehicles in our fleet we ever had. Serious off road chops and that low range is useful
I had swapped the stock rear 4.30 gears to 4.88 out of a 4cyl Tracker a while back, which was a simple 3rd member exchange. The front has been waiting due to being less simple.
I had to rob the rear carrier out of a Samurai axle in my shed, in order to be able to install a front Lock-Right and do away with the non-functional air actuated 4wd stuff.
Stock:
Samurai carrier. I had to TIG weld the cross shafts in place because the Vitara ring gear is thinner than the Samurai ring gear. Lock Right installed, not visible.
This particular Grand Vitara, being V6 and manual trans, came with the highly desirable cast iron front diff housing and third member. Hence it was worth going through the trouble to swap the Tracker 4.88s into my stock housing.
Another snag - the differential carrier/case lid bolts fouled on some casting protrusions on one bearing cap; vestigal remains of the air actuated diff stuff. Ground those down on the belt grinder until there was clearance.
Alright, I swear I had leftover gear marking compound around here somewhere...
Still waiting for axle shaft seals; and I either need to get new CV axles or take some good stock units to CVJ for rebuild.
Even in 2wd with a rear locker this thing is pretty capable. My daughter and I took the old mining road route home from the playground today just because.
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