Dave's 'New' Grand Vitara "Build Thread" and subsequent use, etc...

So, I recently bought a 'New' Grand Vitara as a daily driver -





It's an old one, soon to be hidden behind a new personal plate - "S2 NGV" I've bought especially for this vehicle, as it's non age specific, and cheap, only £250, to hide it's age, and can be passed on if I ever sell the car, rather than paying to retain a number I might not want at the time...It's not my first NGV though... it's my fourth! :woohoo:

First there was -



A 3 door silver one... and then I went in to enquire about some roof rails, as you do, and came out with...



A five door one, which was fitted with a Rocky Road 2" lift and Pirelli Scorpion AT tyres...

Later, fairly recently, I had...



A red 3 door one, which was a diesel so it had the low-range option... (this blue petrol one doesn't )

That one had a 2" lift with trailmaster rear springs, ProComp rear shocks (both sourced from JimnyBits) and some front strut spacers I was selling at the time that had been made for me by the OffRoad Armoury...

So, to the blue one...



This is as I bought it, and at the time of taking this photo I was sat on the drive, leaning against the porch and wondering whether I could live with it un-modified...?

I rang Adrian Flux to ask them how many years NCD I had (17 years) as I was on "Compare the Meerkat" looking at insurance quotes... and Adrian Flux (who I've been insured with for many years) said they also do un-modified insurance, so I agreed to get a quote off them too... They couldn't quite beat the best quote on the comparison site, but could get close enough that I thought I'd stay with them as I've been happy with their service over the years... "Just out of interest", I said, "how much more would it be if I did modify it", I said... The very helpful chap came back and said "forty pounds"... a month I enquired?... Nope, for the whole year...

Might as well mod' it then?! :woohoo:

So, I began sourcing parts...I emailed Eibach, as I'd retailed their parts for many years as Bits4Vits... and... They wouldn't even give me trade pricing So I had a Google and ended up ordering some 20mm wheel spacers from a company in Germany who had them listed cheaper than my old cost prices?...

Next... a lift kit... I had a good Google at all the options, and ended up this time..



A 2" spacer lift kit from Richard Fox "Suzuki Mods", which seemed to be the best value I could find...

When It turned up I was very happy with the quality and the way it was put together... Front Strut Spacers, Rear Spring Spacers, Rear Shock Spacers, and some front castor correction bolts (although I've never needed them on the previous two I've lifted?)

That leaves?... Tyres!

Hmmm... another good Google one night trying to get a definitive answer to that age old question "how big can I go?!" LOL...

So after much debate...



I settled on a 245/65-17 which is just a bit bigger than the standard 225-65/17 tyres... So the gearing and Speedo won't be too far out, yet the tyres will nicely fill the arches and suit the 2" lift...

So, what brand?... I started searching again and looking at prices 'v' tread pattern, and kind-of settled on the BFG ATs... but, blimey, they're expensive!... So, more Googling, and - don't laugh (yet!) I ended up with...



"Roadcruza" tyres? WTF?... :lol: These are BFG AT copies but half the price! :woohoo:



A nice tread pattern, so I can live with the weird name on the sidewalls! :laugh: ... and they're a "new" tyre too, rather than the remould I would have expected them to be at the price... I did consider having them mounted with the name on the inside... but it will mostly be a "Roadcruza"! It might do the odd scenic flat greenlane, but will mostly be a daily driver...

I'll update when the lift kit and tyres are on!

Ok... pass me the angle grinder! :woohoo:

Well... I wasn't going to work on the GeeVee today, as it spat with a little rain this morning, it's our youngest daughter's 22nd birthday today, and she's gone to Chester to meet a friend from dance college, and then bring her home for an evening of fizzy wine and hot tubbing... so the missus didn't want my car in pieces on the drive So I went in the garage to work on the buggy (see the other thread), but...

The courier arrived with the tyres! :woohoo:

So, it would be rude not to?...



Blummin' heck! I hope they're going to fit?!



Nice tread pattern! You can see the size difference by the one hiding behind! :laugh:

So I message my mate who runs the tyre bay, oooh, 150 yards away! LOL :lol: and he said pop the GeeVee round and he'd squeeze it in...

So I went back to work on the buggy until he messaged me later..







:woohoo: ! It definitely needs that lift to make it "look right" though

Hmmm, but he'd only managed to fit the four road tyres...?...



The spare... is a 16" steel wheel?! Whilst the road wheels are all 17" alloys! Penny-pinching Suzuki! LOL...

So I jumped on eBay and ordered a matching alloy for the spare wheel on the back door so it all matches... it should be here Friday :laugh:

Meanwhile...



That weird plastic trim at the bottom of the spare will have to go... to make room for the bigger tyre!



Drilled out the self-tappers holding the bracket for it in place...

Meanwhile... whilst carrying on in the garage...



Another carrier arrived with the Eibach 20mm wheel spacers from Germany... they'll be fitted on Sunday along with the lift kit

I liked my GV, but the diesel motor was nothing but grief! Much preferred it to my Jimny as a daily.

me101 wrote: I liked my GV, but the diesel motor was nothing but grief! Much preferred it to my Jimny as a daily.

Funnily enough, that's exactly why I got rid of the red one, I bought that as it was a diesel and thus had the low box option in a three door, which the petrol (3-door) models don't*.

It had a Renault (! in a Suzuki?!) 1.9 diesel engine which was plagued with DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) errors which numerous garages couldn't fix... in the end a taxi-driver customer of mine put me on to a couple of his neighbours who didn't speak much English, but turned up with a normal laptop and an ODBC cable, running a dodgy foreign copy of Delphi's diagnostic software, and they fixed it in ten minutes on my drive with basic hand tools... So I wrote to my local Suzuki dealer's service manager and suggested if he wanted his bill paid we'd talk about it in court... Funnily enough they credited the workshop labour invoice in full...

I then sold it to the trade through "webuyanycar"... I wouldn't have sold it privately knowing it may throw the same faults again...

So this time I thought I'd buy the petrol model! :woohoo: :laugh:

*I did toy with the idea of trying to fit a low range equipped transfer box under this one... but at the end of the day it's just a daily driver built to "look right"... the buggy will be for some serious T&S (Tight & Scratchy!) 'laning :lol:

I traded mine - wouldn't want to sell to a private buyer either. Nearly bought a 3 door petrol one (the 2.0 I think, but deff the 2.4 came with low box). However, the 'boss' said no due to the issues with the diesel one. Can't remember what tire size I had, but certainly went bigger, and has a 2inch lift with sump guard. Very capable when it wanted to work.

Wifeys got the same model now.....I'm turning the 2005 GV into a tube bender

Got a Swift sport engine from you know who to put in it.

Keithy wrote: Wifeys got the same model now.....I'm turning the 2005 GV into a tube bender

Eh? You're caging it? Or using it to bend toob?! :ohmy:
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Keithy wrote: Got a Swift sport engine from you know who to put in it.

From Gary then?

The new spare wheel turned up at lunchtime (the existing one was a 16" steel with a bigger profile tyre fitted?), so...



I dropped it round to the tyre bay with the new tyre... and he dropped it off on his way home



That's better!



Secured in place with three locking wheel nuts!



Just fits nicely against the door, I have ordered some 5mm shims, but I don't think they are needed...





Sat waiting for the 2" lift and 20mm wheel spacers on Sunday...

This is something like what I might have done with our 2.4 if it were mine.

When it’s quiet in the Post Office I’m always thinking about Suzuki’s... my mind wandered today to roof baskets... and I ended up looking at this very nice one on the Ramingo4x4 Italian website...







A very nice rack, quite nicely proportioned, but I did think it looked a little bit short at the back, but then realised that was because the radio aerial is in the way... BUT, it’s £350 plus £85 delivery :ohmy:

So I carried on Googling...

And ended up finding this on eBay -



A bit long, but a lot cheaper at £75.99 with free postage... and by the look of it it will fit around the aerial... and as the description says it comes in a box and needs self assembly, that makes it ideal for Mr. Angry (my angle grinders nickname) to cut the longitudinal bars to suit?

It’s ordered... I’ll just have to make some mounts for it, to connect to the bolts on the flat roof rails, as per the Ramingo photos...

What a great build thread! My partner has been looking at this exact model of Vitara for a while now. She has a Suzuki alto at the moment but wants something she can use to get out and about with me in the ol’ Jimny.

I’ll be keeping tabs to see what you can do with the Vitara!