The Jimny Sagas: Crashed Work Jimny & Mk II

Truly a Saga here about my first two 4x4s - both Jimnys.

First I want to quickly send a HUGE thanks to this (and other) Jimny forums for everyone's experiences, technical expertise & advice, which has helped things along immensely.

The story: July this year I needed a proper 4x4 for long-term survey work on a very large Scottish estate involving stream crossings, really rough single track, the whole lot, etc. So game on!

I was going to hire a Land Rover Defender, but after checking prices, I instead used my 4x4 hire budget to buy a (very) rusty but mechanically superb black 2001 Jimny, aka 'Mighty Mouse', with only 46k on the clock for next to nothing - certainly less than Land Rover hire for a month. The seller assured me the Jimny would not go through another MOT. The gauntlet was thrown...

As I wanted a keeper, I worked flat-out for two and a half weeks cleaning & (largely) derusting the entire chassis and underside by hand on a gravel drive (I'm well into my 40s btw) with a ball-peen hammer, chisel, array of wire brushes and finally, about ten miles of 40 grit emery cloth. Happy days, I hadn't thrown myself into that kind of car-related project since I was about 23!

I dropped the exhaust, fuel tank and propshafts, and welded in a full rear floorpan and a couple small patches on the sills - with an arc welder! (yes, there were a 'few' holes until I turned the amperage way down down). If you can't weld when you start something like this - by god - you'll be ace by the time you're finished, ha!

I then undercoated the daylights out of it with around 9-10 cans of underseal (yes, 9-10), and got it through the MOT with relative ease. Nothing hidden mind you, it was now structurally sound. Mechanically, all it needed was a crank angle sensor (the forum saved me on this one, cheers!) a front lambda sensor & an oil change. The 4x4 system & pipes were all good, hubs locked with a satisfying 'clack' every time.

The Jimny was 100% bone-stock, even had plain Jane street tyres with maybe 5mm tread max, not modified for offroad in the least.

Being handed the gate keys to a huge empty Highland estate in summer with miles and miles of single track was nothing short of a dream come true. After being 'very strongly advised' not to cross streams in the wee Jimny, I did the logical thing and immediately made numerous back-to back stream crossings, fast-flowing, perhaps 'only' 25-30cm max depth but very rocky and uneven, and went all the places that the modified estate LR Defenders with big MT tyres did.

I heard things like 'Didnae think you'd make it out to such and such in THAT Ken!'. I loaded all my camping and survey gear and stayed way back in the sticks for a week straight, then went back into the nearest village to restock. Absolutely beautiful countryside - having the time of my life!

It was not all happy days though. Driving back through the village, an absent minded (or perhaps insanely jealous) Shogun driver flew out into the main road without pause and broadsided me, knocking my poor Jimny on its side, writing it off completely. I had to crawl out through the passenger door which was facing skywards. Not injured, btw, but defo stunned. The other driver admitted fault (the village policeman happened to be jogging past when it happened!) and after a long chin-wag, we shook hands and made peace.

I can't begin to relate how gutted I was as I watched the recovery vehicle winch my smashed Jimny onto the back and take it away after only a week's action. R.I.P. I had a few drams than night.

With the survey work on hold, there was talk of once more hiring another LR Defender to finish the project.

Nonsense!!

Going on the ol' bay, I soon found an online auction for another 2001 Jimny with only 40k original on the clock, with an MOT. The seller claimed the 4wd was inop, but after all the work I had just done, I figured so what, this was hardly an issue!

After throwing in a successful bid, Jimny MkII, aka 'The Red Dragon' was mine for a very reasonable figure, sight unseen. I took the train 4 hours south (didn't expect it to be THAT easy, did you?) with a 80l rucksack full of every tool I could cram in, and crossed my fingers. My luck had changed - all good and nice seller! I drove it 250 miles back home without a hitch, making a scenic tour of the east coast past Eyemouth. Why not!

I was back to work the next morning, and got the 4wd working in the field (literally) by temporarily replacing some broken vacuum pipe with copper brake pipe, some plastic tee's and some hose clamps, and learned how to bypass the solenoids with 1.5ft of vacuum hose (dead easy and very important to know if you drive offroad in remote places alone) - score another big point to the forum folks!

Fast forward to present: The project is long over and was a success. I hated to hand back the gate keys to 'heaven', but I still work a lot on building sites and fairly remote places. The Red Dragon is still going strong in the mud, but is also my only vehicle and main work transportation around much of NE Scotland.

I changed the oil & airfilter at 40,500 with QX semi-synthetic, ran it for 2500 miles, then went to full-synthetic Castrol 5W-30. The transfer case & gearbox got full-synthetic Castrol, while the diffs got conventional dino juice with a small shot of synthetic. I replaced the kingpin bearings and put two of the thinnest (0.2mm?) shims on the nearside upper & lower kingpins to tighten things up just enough to avoid the Death Wobble.

Most recently, over the past weekend (in 4C pouring Scottish rain and dark at 4pm, pfff...) I did a 2" suspension lift, + 2" body lift, SS extended brake hoses, new brake discs/EBC Ultimax pads and went with some 205/80/16 Blackstar ATs, which are a huge leap from what I had before.

The big wheels and tyres are not balanced (no point really!), but no death wobble or vibrations luckily. The tyre shop had to use tubes to get them to seat, as they are pretty narrow. The heavier rims/tyre combo does slow it down a lot past 40mph, especially past 45mph, and fuel consumption will be measured soon, but I'll be surprised if it breaks 30mpg. So my advice is keep those stock 15" wheels/tyres for longer road trips unless you are SURE you don't need 'em!

It's a lot easier to access chassis bits, etc. underneath with the 2" body lift, I have to say!

The 'Saga' is not over. I'm buying a MIG welder soon - no more arc welder for sheetmetal, though it is good on rusty, dirty steel.

My arch-enemy Mr. Rust is forcing me to completely weld both sills, two patches in the boot and two spots below the headlamps, sometime in the next months outside of course, so the story continues. By now, I'm beginning to feel like a bit of an expert thanks to all the work I've done and forum advice I've read!

In the future I'm strongly considering a M16a Liana engine swap and lockright diff locker for the rear, because I damn well can't leave anything alone once I've changed a single bolt!

Having said that, the stock Jimny is a very, very capable machine offroad with some common-sense driving (like, er, wade unknown stream crossings first, or what goes up must come down), and as a daily driver can return some great fuel economy on the road - just don't be in a hurry!

So with all that out of the way, my pics below are of the 'Red Dragon', and my old black Jimny, 'Mighty Mouse' (RIP). No idea which order they will be in, but there you go!

Keep you posted, many thanks again. Cheers!

aaaaaah Fond memories of Midge Nets NOT.

I am though, extremely jealous of your exploits, with the exception of getting ploughed into of course!!

Ah thanks man, it was great (smash aside, but ended up ok). I'm trying to think of an excuse to go back to the estate, may be doing a bit more work there next summer. I'm not from Scotland but love it here & there are loads of single tracks around, but most are Forestry Commission or privately owned, so not going on any unless I have permission. I don't really want to do any crazy offroad (had to fix enough stuff already!), but cruising along the rough tracks and a few shallow stream crossings are great fun.

And yes, the midges were awful, but I finally found an open spot to camp that had a constant breeze, thank god!

Looking forward to tackling the infamous Lecht pass over to Tomintoul in a 'mild' blizzard this winter, got my old Vauxhall estate over it in a storm with snow chains last winter, but that was way, way hairy.

Anyway, a bit of welding to do, then relax for a bit. Cheers

Great pictures and a great write up about your jimnys. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the 'red dragon '

Thanks Daniel30, it was long-winded but I figured it was a half-way interesting story for the forum. Hoping Red stays on the road for awhile! More visible than the black one and I usually keep my lights on all the time after that debacle...

Yeah that was lucky you didn't get hurt very nasty!! I'm sure red will be fine you had you bit of bad luck sound like a great place in Scotland where you stayed perfect for the jimny

Wow, what a Jimny adventure!

Red is the best colour so worked out OK in the end!

Yep it's been an adventure. Once this welding is done, I'll be ready to chill for awhile and down tools!

Half my post didn't appear lol?!
Have you had to polish it yet? If you do I recommend FK1000P sealant to protect the paintwork. A couple of coats will last 6 months and is great to protect the paint from the UV that turns it pink!

I reckon he'll be fine for UV damage til at least April... Scotland goes dark from about August onwards

Thanks for sharing a great experience & encouragement for those with second thoughts as to 'is the Jimny capable ..

Now that is one nice looking Red Jimny Very jealous of your job, thanks for sharing