Little Red Newbie

Hey all,

Just joined, got my first ever Jimny recently (Gen 3, 2002, 32k miles). New to offroading so will be taking it slow with the upgrades while I do my research. 

So far.. 
- New tires ordered and getting fitted next week (Toyo Open Country A/T III 215/75/R15)
- Was going to get the underbody professionally inspected and coated but I took a look myself and pretty impressed with how well it has been kept. 

Plans
- 2" lift
- Install wider fender arches. 
- Recieved the snorkel and I should be installing it at the end of the month. 
- Other accoutrements such as rock sliders, roof rack, steel bumpers. Nothing totally decided but open to ideas and suggestions, I'm sure you all know better than me. 

Here is a photo of the day I got it, hopefully more to come. 

 

A JIMNY WELCOME FROM N/WALES

Welcome to the best forum for all things Jimny. It looks like you found a good one, have fun.

Robin

Welcome to the forum. I'll grant that the steel bolt ons look cool but they all add weight and that's one of the main strengths of a jimny, it doesn't weigh much so doesn't sink into the mud and therfore it doesn't need tonnes of power to move itself about.

What I would counsel is to invest in some off road drivers training, jimny specific if you can find it locally, it's not as cool to look at or even to admit to yourself that you can't just be a hero and venture out into the wild and have competence come naturally. If you've never driven off road before a totally standard jimny is going to out class you so much it's not even funny.

To put that into context I started driving things with engines off road on my farm when I was 4 years old, I drive off road every day, I'm now 51 and my most off road focused jimny has the mildest lift possible and a set of standard size all terrain tyres and much to the evident amazement of onlookers goes wherever I point it even occasionally, through different lines, ends up where others struggle to get.

Oh and one other thing, unless you like repairing your car in novel and interesting ways, even with a snorkel deep water is better avoided.

If you plan on going through water deeper than 30 cm then you really need diff and transfer case breathers extending up to the height of the bonnet, unfortunately a snorkel is only part of the gear you need.

Lambert’s right about the rock sliders, steel bumpers and roof rack, they all add a lot of weight, so unless you really need them you are just going to weigh your Jimny down which will impact handling, fuel economy, off-road ability, etc.

The roof rack is of particular concern, the Jimny roof bars are limited to 30Kg, so if your roof rack weighs 20Kg, you can only carry 10Kg of gear up there.

Of course, you might be fitting them for looks as much as practicality, nothing wrong with that, my own (second hand to me) Jimny came fitted with a snorkel and I doubt it had been through anything deeper than a 2” puddle, but we soon rectified that.

Other items to consider are, radius arm protectors, possibly a transfer case protector, rear speakers, stereo upgrade, may be recovery points. Underseal is a good idea if it is done correctly (cleaned, very dry and left to harden on).

Robin

Hello and welcome, looks like a good find!