Jimny Setup - Blank Canvas..

Hi guys, great forum you've got here I have learnt a lot from cruising through old posts. Thanks!

I've recently bought a 2001 auto soft top Jimny with a dead motor. With the help of you guys I am half way through a G16B conversion from a coilpack Baleno - all is going well

My part of the world is surrounded by really soft sandy beaches/ sand dunes and rough rocky terrain so I would like this Jimny to be setup for this. Also we travel quite a distance on these rocky trails so being able to drive them as comfortable as possible - fast- is important also..

My other car is a turbo diesel 80 series Landcruiser with 285/75/16 - 33"? tyres, 2" lift with Koni shocks. Does everything around here no worries.

I did want 235/75 tyres on the Jimny but it sounds like I should stay with 215/75 so I don't sap power too much? Even with the extra torque of the G16B?
All sand driving is in low range but usually 3rd and up so I am not worried about 1st gear crawling gearing changes, only having enough power to muscle through soft sand with aired down tyres.

2" lift will be it but I am not interested in any of the cheap brands available. Speed over rough stuff is really important!
The ride on my cruiser with the Koni 88's is great so I would really like to run Koni on the Jimny, buutt I received the lengths from the Koni rep and they only come a little longer than stock size shocks.
Is this an issue with 40-50mm raised springs? I would go king springs.
Would the shock re locators help this?

haha a bit of an essay sorry. But I really do value all the great info provided by these dedicated sites.

Cheers

Welcome to the forum. I don't have a lot of sand here in Yorkshire but there's others here that do. Not knocking the koni but if you can get them the Trailmaster suspension really suits Jimny's light weight. As for the additional torque of the 1.6 yes it's a definite step in the right direction but it's more versatile on the slightly smaller tyres than it is using it just to compensate for bigger tyres.

A BigJimny welcome to you Nugget, and greetings from the Cotswold Hills

Koni are top quality stuff and I am surprised that we don't get many reports on their use.

I have run Koni adjustables on classic mini's and found them excellent, I would probably have gone with them had they been available for the Jimny but they only do a fixed rate damper and I couldn't find any real reviews......

Adjustability is a key point for me, you can tune the damping to your driving style and as you change tyres or springs.

I fitted standard KYB road springs as I didn't want to lift the car, my intended use has changed and I do want a small lift now. I'm only going +30mm with Eibach pro-lift springs.

The damping will need to change to suit the new spring rates.

AVO ajustables were my choice and they will cope with the change no problem. If you look at the Black Raptor adjustables from Jimnybits, you'll see that they are made by AVO and a hundred pounds cheaper. Thats the way I would suggest you go, they are available to suit a variety of lift heights.

I went +30mm on my AVO's so they will cope, oh don't forget extended bump stops to protect them......

sniper