Jimny from Dorset Now with Carputer

Hi been hanging about since I got my soft top Jimny late 2008. I brought it to replace my dead SJ410 which had many great years of abuse on and off road. Its taken a long time to decide if I really like it but after I fitted a set of 205 70 15s on black modulars and secured the boot area I think I am convinced. Here is my Jimny...

This is my current off roader

a bit different arent they


Now my boy is old enough to come laning with me and the wife wont give up her seat I am thinking of adding a hard top Jimny to the family and modding for the more testing lanes. I looking a fitting a 2" body lift, 2" suspension lift with castor correction bushes extended hoses ect to allow ftting of 235 75 15 MTs (29" tall) I know some arch cutting may be needed and I will also be fitting a snorkle and breathers ect.
I do have a couple of niggles if anybody can help ? I know the gearing will be affected with the fitting of 29" tyres and I am used to driving a Samurai which has a SJ410 transferbox fitted, I would love to get my hands on a Auto but am not holding out much hope so can anybody say how bad the gearing will be ? The same as my sammy or worse maybe ? Second I have read and seen about the rear shock bushes being quickly destroyed when lifted. Do the brackets which allow the shocks bottom mount to swivel work ? My last question is probably a bit silly but some of the lanes we tackle are quite tricky and fairly bumpy and the thought of the air bags going off worries me. I cant find anything about this anywhere so is this not a problem or do people dissconnect them ?

Thanks in advance for any help (I did search first)and I will leave you with a pic of my old SJ410 rip

and its little brother


Cheers Rich

In my opinion you will be disappointed with the gearing on a manual transfer box Jimny and will want to do something about it.

An auto would be good in this sense as you can get away with larger tyres without too many modifications.

The airbags are controlled by a small computer under the centre console, it is all done on complex inertia calcuations and not impact sensors. I have had the airbags live in my car for 3 years with no issues during heavy off-roading.

The shock brackets should improve the situation although it is also popluar to drill right through and bolt through. This way if it fails you are not left with half a bolt stuck in the thread.

Martin

Thanks for the reply,
Thats dissapointing about the gearing. I do have a SJ410 transfer box stashed away (and a 413 if I had to go rock lobster) Are all these people with 31" tyres all traveling uphill at 25mph I was hopeing not having to change the tranfer box until down the line when it destroyed itself. I have read the excellent write up on fitting the offroad armoury fitting kit which seems one solution but can anybody tell me if a std 410 tranferbox fitted to a Jimny with a set of 29" rubber will work or if I would need to build a rock lobster ?

Thanks Rich

Heh Ritchie-it's asmall world! Wasn't sure if it was you then I checked the link to your site, good to see you are still tinkering-now with Jimny Power! awesome cars.
Good to see the Polo being put through its paces
atb
Mike

I don't think a 410 box will make much difference but I've not tried so I don;t know - I don;t know how it's ratios differ to a Jimny with the differing diff ratios giving a different final ratio.

If you have the boxes for a Rocklobster already just compile the other props and flanges for the rest of the conversion over time - you may already have some bits - and then go to Richard Wattam aka Rockwatt for your Rocklobster as he is cheaper and does excellent work.

I'm not suggesting others are not as good as him but he does it on the side rather than it being his livelihood making him cheaper and he's a very good engineer. He's in Scunthorpe and generally has a 6-8 week waiting period from dropping the boxes off to him ang picking them up.


Kirkynut

Hi Mike, Yes still playing and my Jago is still in residence The Polo has seen some action in its time and proved to be great fun and super reliable Hope all is well with you, your family and your toys

Thanks Kirkynut, I have seen that name mentioned so will bare that in mind when I make my decision. I am lucky enough to have quite a few spares knocking about including a second 410 transfer box so I could fit one to try and still build a rock lobster while being mobile.

Just need to find a suitable vehicle now, may have to wait until the panic buying has finished :laugh:

love the VW polo - what chassis is it on?

if you are handy with the spanners and have both transfer boxes you could build your own - Martin sa a guide on how to do it on here - go to how to and the front page of the website

Cheers, the Polo is based on a un-modded Samurai chassis a vid of some build pics here

plus some recent off road footage





I have read the rock lobster write up and need to have look at my props ect and may well have a play

Nice polo and nice vids!

I have 16" GV Steel Rims ... and have been considering getting 205 70 15s on black modulars - where did you get these from and what tyres do have please?

Oh, and how much were they?

Cheers - Mav

Got them off ebay mate, they have 215/75 bfg mud mk2 on and the rims were 125 delivered for 5!

Seller was neneoffroad but if you cant find him or the rims i have a phone number somewhere for him.

good vids mate i enjoyed them,