Ola`s jimny project

Found a M18a throttlebody (54mm vs stock 46mm) and intake for sale in Australia, which i`ve now bought! Hopefully that will cover some of my power cravings..

Struggling with the exhaust though.
I would like to upgrade it, with 4-2-1 and full 2", but getting it custom built where i live is very very expensive.
Found a well proven system in south afrca , "De Graaf", but that also got very expensive due to export costs.. So no go..
The header i find on ebay in Australia, isnt made to make any power they say.. Its basicly only made to replace a stock one, no thoughts given for performance. Then i just as well can keep the stock one.
HM4x4 in italy has got a interesting one header/exhaust, but 1500 eur + tax/shipping is totally a no go.

I`d hate to go dyno tune the car on stock exhaust, and then find a nice ok priced system for sale a week afterwards..
But there seems to be very few making good systems for the jimny.. I even asked KAP, but they told me they have stopped selling theire system.

Random picture of my jimny parked by a jeep.. it seems like some of the Jeeps arent so big either

Got more parts from Jimnybits, installed some of them..
Got 4x HD axles (still wating for 26 spline front locker to arrive), rock sliders, snorkel , and some under protection.. Under protection will be installed when im doing my transfer gearing (high on priority list now), HD axles when i have time for the lockers (not in a while yet).

Also still waiting for the M18 intake/TB... Sea shipping from AUS...

Some pics of how it looks now! Pretty much done outside.. Only waiting for a shiny fairlead for the winch!
Will do some changes to the spare wheel as well, either a 235 wheel or a custom holder for something, not sure yet

Pulled the transfer box out yesterday, for installing Trailgear 87% / 17% reduction gears in the stock push button box..
www.trail-gear.com/product/5323/jimny-electric-t-case-gears 3.74 low, 1.17 high..
Finished today, approx 10h of work in total including topping up oil, test drive and quick tidy in the garage!
Very easy to pull/install the box, but there is some hours in swapping bearings, gears, lining up gears, troubling wth the clutch spring/balls etc..
I also installed breather kit to the transferbox while it was out, as it had to be drilled and tapped.

But all in all, not a bad job at all.. Great instructions, but i also had good help in thread on auszookers about it , + good tips from Yakuza which is also in the middle of the same job on his jimny!

The gearing is perfect for me on 235/75-15`s on VVT gear/diffs (manual)... Very low 1st low, and approx 3400-3500rpm in 100km/h speedo (95km/h GPS) in 5th high.
A bit of gear whine noise, but hopefully it will be reduced alittle when i get some miles on it.

Dont have any real good pictures though, i always get to eager working, and forget to take pics other then to remember where things go etc








Ohh and this one, a good tip for those who are about to do this job; install the clutch springs/balls down in a plastic bag, so you dont have to search for the small parts that can fly all over the place while putting them together!

I'm doing this conversion at the moment and am having some trouble seating the counter gear. You have a link to the auszookers thread by any chance?

Sure do
www.auszookers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=49478

I had no issue seating the countershaft , other than that it took 2 attempts before it fit without dropping the clutch/ball assembly.
I did struggle alittle with fitting the input shaft + chain drive though. It has to line up perfectly, and then some..

Ola sent a video to me of his low gear crawl so i am really looking forward to complete mine now.
When putting mine together i had some problems getting the box back together as the 4wd clutch (the one with balls and springs) would not enter properly, and some problems with the shift forks. These problems was that the syncro ring had broke for some reason. The best way to identify problems like this is to test fit the casings with just some of the shafts in there at a time. this way you will see if the casings slide all the way together easily. There are many good tips in the auszookers thread. It is a must to read it before you go at it as the accompanying documentation is lacking some helpful info.
Now i am waiting for the syncro ring to come. Hopefully in time for my trip south to my daughters horse event.

Thanks for that link, it really is well done, the guy must have spent some time putting all that together.

I'll go and redo the bits that he has included but weren't mentioned in the guide that comes with the parts. It almost seems as though the one cog is 1mm too wide so I cant get the bearing to seat in the cup when trying to insert the counter gear. I'm hoping that it's something I've missed and not an issue with the manufacturing (which is unlikely, but after trying for the 25th time your mind starts having doubts!).

I also cant wait to get it finished, have 235s on and am not enjoying the road driving much at the moment. I was also in dire need of a lower low box this weekend, what were Suzuki thinking when they decided on these ratios!

You cannot insert the counter shaft after the low gear wheel have been changed on the main shaft. It is not doable, they must be inserted together like the auszookers recipe says. This info is not in the trailgear docs.
This is where your balls and springs might fly a couple of times..

I found if I put the main shaft and shift fork rods so they just about enter and hold them with one hand, i could stretch over with my other hand for the counter shaft and sneak the bearing past the low gear wheel on the main axle.
Then wiggle them down so the shift forks and clutch rings and everything slips into place.

Venter wrote: Thanks for that link, it really is well done, the guy must have spent some time putting all that together.

I'll go and redo the bits that he has included but weren't mentioned in the guide that comes with the parts. It almost seems as though the one cog is 1mm too wide so I cant get the bearing to seat in the cup when trying to insert the counter gear. I'm hoping that it's something I've missed and not an issue with the manufacturing (which is unlikely, but after trying for the 25th time your mind starts having doubts!).

I also cant wait to get it finished, have 235s on and am not enjoying the road driving much at the moment. I was also in dire need of a lower low box this weekend, what were Suzuki thinking when they decided on these ratios!

Most 4x4 with reduction gearbox have a low ratio of about 2-2.5:1, which works fine if you keep standard tyre size.

yakuza wrote: You cannot insert the counter shaft after the low gear wheel have been changed on the main shaft. It is not doable, they must be inserted together like the auszookers recipe says. This info is not in the trailgear docs.
This is where your balls and springs might fly a couple of times..

I found if I put the main shaft and shift fork rods so they just about enter and hold them with one hand, i could stretch over with my other hand for the counter shaft and sneak the bearing past the low gear wheel on the main axle.
Then wiggle them down so the shift forks and clutch rings and everything slips into place.

That approach sounds promising, will give it a go tonight. Would have pulled my hair out this last weekend (if I had any)!

Tom, thanks for the info, I was wondering how the Jimny compared to other vehicles. I suppose having such small stock tyres means that any increase of a few cm diameter relatively affects the gear ratio more compared to having a starting point of a much larger tyre and increasing by the same number of cm.

First real test of the transfer gears today.. Had a good run in some small river creeks, through tight woods and up/down some banks..

Soo much better to have time to place the wheels correct, and to reduce clutch work by like 300%.. Best mod so far!

The high series also suits the normal driving alot better!