Re:What did you do to your jimny today?

I did think it needed a pad to reduce the step a little, but as I said I am not versed in off road mods and I am of an age that needs comfort.
Should hold you firm over the rough stuff, looks good.

Prepped the car for the long 1300 mile trip which begins tonight!

Inverter in the car working great hooked up to the leisure battery - tested it with a 1000w angle grinder and cut off the rear seat bolts that poke out the wheel arches and no problems. This will charge our various devices properly rather than the somewhat temperamental cigarette lighter.

12V cooler installed - actually got it from my dad and I took it apart to fix and clean and put it back together with a new silicone seal on the lid - works a treat.

Looks a bit overkill for the journey there considering its motorways - kind of want to see how it handles it so when we return from Italy we can take our time and spend a week driving back rather than a few days - use the tent more, go up to the alps etc...

Reason2doubt wrote: Prepped the car for the long 1300 mile trip which begins tonight!

Inverter in the car working great hooked up to the leisure battery - tested it with a 1000w angle grinder and cut off the rear seat bolts that poke out the wheel arches and no problems. This will charge our various devices properly rather than the somewhat temperamental cigarette lighter.

12V cooler installed - actually got it from my dad and I took it apart to fix and clean and put it back together with a new silicone seal on the lid - works a treat.

Looks a bit overkill for the journey there considering its motorways - kind of want to see how it handles it so when we return from Italy we can take our time and spend a week driving back rather than a few days - use the tent more, go up to the alps etc...

Nice set up, who's the maker of your front bumper, were did you get it, have you changed rear bumper as well?
Neil

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No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo just the front.

It's named 'Raptor' front bumper here in the UK which you can get for an eye-popping £600 (I DO NOT recommend buying this!):



If you are patient, you can also buy it for £100 + shipping direct from China through Alibaba.com - need to search around for a seller + price.

Otherwise, if you have the tools I'd have a go at making one yourself.

Why, and what would you recommend ? I ask because I think it's super looking !
Gaz

I'm a bit late wishing you a good journey,,, Good luck anyway...

Tony.

TillymintDLG wrote: Why, and what would you recommend ? I ask because I think it's super looking !
Gaz

I do recommend the bumper, just not at the price it is listed for in the UK. It is a bit of a faff to fit with some bending and gentle taps of the hammer. It comes with no instructions and there are random brackets in the box which I didn't use, stored for a while in case their use became apparent, then I threw them away 6 months later.

Don't get me wrong, the bumper is good and it is built well with good welding and very reasonable metal thickness - weights about 20kg *I think* so won't flatten your springs like some of the other home-made bumpers you see being knocked up (mind, that is mainly those I see on Facebook groups. There are some cracking fabricators on this site and they nail the bumper design).

There is matching rear bumpers to go with this kind of design - no doubt you could order them together from China. I have read somewhere that these are a bit less painful to install and basically just fit straight away.

Got my front shocks fixed by a nice Italian garage.

Problem: Shock bust through its housing on a very badly potholed road in Italy travelling about 90-110km/h!

Solution was to weld top and bottom up using some fabricated steel 'washers'. The shock bushes and cones were destroyed but the shock itself was still OK. The mechanic used a pair of normal washers and some suspension bushes from a fiat 500. He even gave me some spare bushes for the future knowing I would have to return to GB at some point. The Jimny is a little bit Italian now!

I also got the other side checked over and it was found to also be a bit weakened so it received similar treatment:

The guy was very nice - despite the language barrier and wearing face masks, you could tell his enthusiasm for 4x4's. Soon after payment he took me to the side of the garage where he showed me his gorgeous 1996 fully kitted out Nissan Patrol. Lovely looking car and far more solid than the Jimmers, but at 4.2 Litre... I'm not surprised he doesn't daily drive it!

Not today, but yesterday.

New front bumper.

Bust the other front shock mount, this time on the Axle - seems to have twisted off...

Back into a different little local mechanic in Italy. Bloody roads here are proving too much for the aged metal on the underside of my car...

I'm sure it will be sorted but not a nice thing to happen on Holiday!
Good Luck
Gaz

Shock mount reinforced by local garage. Turns out they are extremely familiar with Suzuki's - the owner and both mechanics used to race Suzuki Samurai's, Jimny's and Mitshubishi Pajeros around the world in various rallies.

He said it was a very common place for them to fail - I tend to agree as every point of contact on the front shocks (top or bottom) has had work on them!

Here's it getting put back together after having 6mm metal welded onto the bracket:

Here's a quick snap of some in-action photos I could see (amongst loads of trophies and medals) located above the workshop area.

He recommended that I put in a 1.6 Vitara engine and offered to source one for me in the time we are staying here! If I come back here (highly likely as this is where my partner's parents are), I might take him up on that offer! They knew the Suzuki's inside out from working on them to rallying them. Very happy.