03/05/10 - Neils Jimny

Neil (Aka Nelson) has sent in some pictures of his Jimny.

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My Jimny was orginally bought in Wiltshire 3 years ago, but recently made the relocation back to my home town of Stoke with me this year. Its your typical Jimny with all the usual problems. Its had the death wobble 3 times now in the time I've had it and also the crank/ cam sensors go. The sensor first went on a journey from Wiltshire to North Wales. I wasn't aware what the problem was, until I googled it after it happened 5 times on the return journey, but it was soon fixed via a bit of good old Big Jimny forum knowledge and two new sensors.

My jimny has the following spec:

52 plate Special Tin Top
205/75 R15 General Grabbers AT2 - It had Kumo AT when I bought - these were fitted by the dealer for the previous owner

Other than the wheels, the rest of the car is totally standard mechanically. I have however made some other modifications which I'm sure the rest of the forum made be interested in.

I have worked in education for the past 2 years and prior to that worked on a very well known country estate on the grounds team as the head groundsman. Surrounded by lions and tigers all the company vehicles were fitted with a variety of lights and sirens - so I decided to join them :-) why not?!

My Jimny currently has the following

EVS compact all in one siren
EVS wig wag flashing headlight kit
Axitech dual (amber/ blue) covert grill flashers Britax twin amber magnetic beacon Single amber beacon Single blue beacon Variety of visior signs

The first to be fitted was a "cheapy" siren and the single beacons. When I left said estate, I decided to upgrade my system as I could use my Jimny as a "learning resource" - I work in college education teaching a variety of courses countryside management, so the role and legalitites of "ranger/ warden etc vehicles" became part of some of my modules - this became my "justification" to have the best fitted to my jimny. So the process began. I fitted dual 12v sockets in the rear cuuby holes, controlled by sperate switches under the gear lever. These allow me to have the beacons mounted at the back of ther roof with the cable exiting via the back door. A third extra socket is next to the hand brake as a dedicated phone charger socket. The siren, wig wags and grill flashers all have a seperate mounting box above the gear lever. All the rest were fitted a few months later with the help of a friend whos spot on with electrics.The extra sockets are wired  into the existing cigarette socket and the others extras are hard wired direct to the battery via in line fuses. Everything is seperately switched and the siren has a hidden master switch to prevent "unauthorised used". The rear sockets have also been used to power a tyre compressor and small 12v cooler when camping.



The first shows the sockets in the back which allow the magnetic beacons to operate

Second shows one of my visor signs in action on my friends farm whilst I was tree felling

Third shows the seperate 12v socket switches and the grey box master panel for everything else

Fourth the grill flashers on amber mode

Fifth the grill flashers in blue mode with the wig wag headlights

Just a few pictures to show the various adventures my Jimny has been on

No 1

A little mishap whilst off exploring Red Wharf bay on Anglesey in 2009. Typically the jeep was 20yards from the car park and the tide was coming in. Luckily a quick phone call to the AA allowed me to join there and then and get recovered that same night. Was a pretty expensive recovery though :-/

No 2

The morning after the Red Wharf mishap

No 3

Loaded up for an expedition. The roof box doesnt hardly affect the fuel consumption given its size, however on the motorway I avoid the outside lane

No 4 and 5

The Jimny has been up and over the Hardknott pass in the Lake district, no problem, even with the roof box attached (the front spots were removed when i fitted the grill flashers)

 

No 6 and 7

Xmas 09 saw a quick day playing on Salisbury plain with my mate and his modified Fourtrack. Everywhere that went, so did my Jimny, usually in 2wd, much to his annoyance :-)

No 8 and 9

These show my ever expanding recovery kit. The larger flight case contains a decent tool set and the smaller one contains strops etc. The mini shovel was purchased the day after the Red Wharf bay mishap (I learnt very quickly that recovery is costly). The tow rope was spliced myself and the towbar in the plastic bag is your everyday road use one. The cover is a Tesco's finest value seat cover that hides everything from view. Interestingly the flight case fill the step in the floor/ seat difference so the floor is pretty much flat. I have the seats down 95% of the time.