looking for my first jimny

hey all,

im going to be looking for my 1st jimny and im tyring to get a better idea of what to look for and stuff not to worry about,

i have already seen and looked at 1,

it had off road tyres and underneath looks clean enough but it has been used off road, chassi seems fine got a coat of waxoil on it, some surface rust on things under there, but that can be sorted out, body work is straight small dent on drivers wing and a very badly polish motor, 4 wheel drive makes all the right noises, interior looks no bad, boot under the carpet where the jack and stuff is has rust bubbles i poked at them and they seem solid nothing flaking off, will need to give attention to that, started it engine sounds fine oils ok no frothing, smell, strange colour, metal filings in it, nothing leaking from the car, its got 76,658 miles on the clock. years mot and no tax,

just looking for pointers to anything i may have over looked, and pointers to batter the price down a bit, its a trader thats selling it, they already lowered the price.

any help would be great,

cheers

How much are you looking at spending???

My suggestion would be:

2000 on model with the twin chain driven cam

No ABS - no good off road, more to go wrong and bits need replacement when working on hubs as don't come off like good little parts!!!

Check for body rust in boot, around front lights under body, under rear seats, especially near seatbelt mounts, everywhere else.

Chassis rust but not terminally, more just scabby appearance.

Don't worry too much if front vacuum operated hubs don't work, Martin has just developed a spacer for manual freewheeling hubs and see my entry on the recent post for that.

High mileage cars have been known to blow head gaskets so try to keep the miles down.

Go to KAP's website and cost up the price of a 3 inch lift with springs and shocks along with uprated transfer box mounts and heavy duty panhard rods front and rear. These are the minimum mods to allow bigger tyres (a subject all of it's own covered in previous posts). Jimny's need bigger tyres to perform off road and their enemy are ruts as the radius arm mounts get caught in the middle. I'm not saying that KAP's stuff is all the best but it gives you a ball park figure to add to the price of an unmodified Jimny.

A ready modified Jimny might be a better deal financially and KAP sells them and ebay has several regularly. I can send you details of many that have been on ebay and not sold if you need help looking. I have them in my watched items still as I keep an eye on them.

You can get bigger tyre options to fit your standard wheels. Don't think alloys are worth more money, steels are better off road for various reasons.

Also, make sure there are no leaks from any transmission parts. Changing the oil is simple on all parts of transmission and the engine.

Hope this all helps. Anything I've not covered, ask.

Kirkynut

i think you have pretty much covered everything,

cheers for that very helpful.

the motor in hand is a 2000 w reg,

em as for mods ill be holding off as ill run the tyres for a while and change them but this time im going to fix stuff before modding it,

i have plans of what i am wonting to do but most of that stuff will come later on while i figure out some stuff and find a new job.

cheers once again for the help.

:woohoo:

Just to say 78k miles is very high for a jimny, engine should be quite as a mouse, if its tappety steer clear as theyre known for oil starvation to the camshaft causing camshaft wear and eventually breakage/seizure.
Gary

As Gary says 78k is high mileage and they seem to be gaining a reputation for not being too strong. I guess that as Suzuki gained more power and less emmissions from the old engine design its been pushed to to the limit.

Make sure you have a good test drive and are happy with the steering and the handling on the road. They are prone to wearing out the wheel bearings etc. and gaining wobbles on the road - quite easy to fix but a negotiating point in the sale.


martin

cheers for the help guys once its in my hands the engine will be serviced twice a year, and the only time it will be revved high is when im off roading but ill be looking at things to help that,

i dont drive fast or hard, used to driving a land rover and a shogun when you put the foot dow in that the diesel just disappears.

well finally got my 1st jimny and so far i can say im happy with my choice, theres a few wee bits and pieces i will need to sort out though but that should be done pretty soon.

job for today is fresh oil filter, oil, spark plugs, and a new air filter, and order bits and pieces. so hopefully after the weekend it will be sitting a bit better.

good stuff bro, welcome to the winning side