Deluxs black jimny, Project 'Yap'

I had been looking for a project since moving to a house with a garage. Unfortunately the garage is tiny so I am limited to what I can fit in it. The Jimny fits perfectly! So with that in mind, while under the influence of delicious fruit cider waiting for Mrs. Delux to get ready to go out, I drifted onto ebay and bought this...

s2-l1600 by deeelux deeelux , on Flickr

Didnt look or sound too bad and the reg seemed to suit Mrs. Delux. Problem was it was in Leominster, 400 miles away from me!

Anyway, 1 megabus, 1 train, 1 bemused taxi ride into the countryside, 400 miles, 1 KFC, 1 burger king and £50 petrol, 1 bucket of soapy water later and my driveway looked like this...

20170604_174246 by deeelux deeelux , on Flickr

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/p/2cF6NAa]20170604_174258[/url] by deeelux deeelux , on Flickr

Then I looked underneath...

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It turns out being packed in mud might work to preserve 1000 year old farmers in Scandanavia but it doesnt seem to work so well on Suzuki Jimnys!
I was under no illusion, it had been advertised as spares or repairs, the seller stated his mechanic had told him it would need welded and it had been used as a farm runabout for years.

Anyway, I am no motoring journalist so there are loads of things I could have taken pics of while repairing but never thought to do so and I have not built some sort of greenlane ditch digging monster.

To gain access to the rot, the back axle, prop and fuel tank were removed. I decided to weld the chassis 1st as it looked like the easiest to access. Several sections were cut out and replaced. As the metal is thicker than normal bodywork the repairs took longer as more of my time was taken up sliding back out from under the Jimny to reset the puny 13amp circuit breaker!

20171111_133336 by deeelux deeelux , on Flickr

After welding the chassis back together and stripping out pretty much all the interior I was able to patch up the bodywork...

20171118_110618 by deeelux deeelux , on Flickr

Everything was saturated in dinitrol or hammerite and stuck back together. Suspension was treated to some new poly bushes (because the old ones were knackered) and new rear shock absorbers (cos they were cheap and shiney) Brake pipes were replaced too (cos they were rotten)

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This pic doesnt look very spectacular but I spent ages removing rusty mounting bolts, rusty brake pipe ends, freeing mechanism off and setting it back up...

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Front end was pretty much ok.
Had usual sticky brakes so everything was freed off and treated to new pads and discs

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Suspension arms were treated to a shiney thick layer of hammerite and new bushes. 4wd piping changed to orange silicone to ensure the MOT tester laughed!

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(Yes, I put the nut on the suspension bush bolt soon after the pics were taken!)

On ebay you get quite a lot of silicone pipe for your money!

20180114_132242 by deeelux deeelux , on Flickr

What you see here isn't the whole story. I never took pics of changing the gearbox mount, fitting a steering damper, rewiring the front foglights, replacing the aerial, repairing the gearchange, repairing the exhaust etc. etc. I will next time!

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So with it all back together and a bag of bribery krispy kreme donuts I headed off to the MOT station....

...where it failed!

A good read with a cliffhanger at the end!

Come on then, whats it failed on???

20180811_113919 by deeelux deeelux , on Flickr

Wellll....
No sidelights!
When I had the rear bumper off I removed the wiring loom, cleaned it up and retaped it, the number plate connectors looked a bit corroded. I didnt want to head into work just for 4 brass terminals so I cut them off and replaced them with normal female spade connectors. They were a bit tight so I taped them up a bit to stop them shorting out. However, by the time I drove to the MOT station they were shorting out and had blown the fuse. I had to jump up onto the ramp, diagnose and repair them before the MOT tester finished the test! So basically, I fixed something and made it worse!

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Other than that, it passed with an advisory for the N/S/F tyre being worn on the outer edge. Front tyres were treated to some nice new Dunlops and the tracking was adjusted (1st time since it left Japan, I think!)

Connectors have been replaced with better ones!

Hi Mark. Not sure what you mean! The wheel nuts are 19mm.
I seem to remember them being an option on the higher spec ones. They have special tube shaped wheel nuts. They can be a bit tricky to refit.
I have not measured the thread but M12/1.25 sounds about right.

I dont think the tube section is as big as that! Pretty sure it only extends about 12mm from the end of the wheelnut. I might have some spares, how many do you need?

That rust on the chassis looks scary!
So its a good thing that you dont mess about.
Keep up the good work!

Chassis work felt never ending! Would have loved to have the space to lift the body off. Would have probably been a lot quicker too!

Even cleaning the loose paint off and repainting it was a slog.

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Anyway, its finished now and technically for sale. I say technically because it is for sale, I dont need it and I am craving another project to use up all my spare cash and fill my eyes with chunks of rust but...

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I quite enjoy driving it! It turned out pretty shiney and straight so people notice it and because I fixed everything I could find its a lot quieter and nicer to drive than my daily driver. I've not got round to taking proper 'for sale' pics, advertising it. I've not even finished cleaning it yet and I still need to find a screwy clip to hold the glovebox in convincingly.

LOL! I did think about it but I spend most of my week working on muddy 4wds so taking my own car out in the mud at the weekend would be too much.
Besides I have spent years modifying cars, nowadays I prefer fixing things and making them shiney, LOL!