Jamaican Jimny build, mon!

Hello all.... Amazing site you guys have here and I must say it was instrumental in my purchase...

The short story is... I've always liked the Jimny, but never really saw myself driving one. I have a few friends that have started off-roading and pretty soon the off road bug bit me and the hunt was on... At first I wanted to build and older vitara or samurai, but eventually decided to get the jimny, being a newer vehicle and all. Jimny's are hugely popular in Jamaica, but they're mostly commercially owned by utility companies etc, all being very base models. It was pretty hard trying to find one privately owned and in good nick... Eventually I stumbled on the only red one I've ever seen locally and decided I MUST have it and so I did... The previous owner wasn't much of a car guy, so it was kept pretty dirty, but still no accidents. She's a 2000.. I picked her up yesterday.... Most off road duties but she will see some pavement.... For now, my plans are a general restoration, 2" lift and 235/75/15 tyres

4wd light flashes when I attempt to engage 4wd but I can see that the vacuum lines on the FR wheel are pretty brittle and broken in a few places.

The first time I saw her..... Notice the scuff marks.... I assumed the worse and assumed she needed to be painted

Got quite a few stuff done today... I removed the old window tint, which will be redone tomorrow.. Broke out the old buffer and this is what she looks like now... No more scuff marks and that red is popping...

Tomorrow will be a pretty busy day with the tinting and general servicing... Engine oils, diff oils, oil/air filters, plugs, coolant all to be changed tomorrow... Also some amsoil foaming.

Her first rinse to really asses the paint damage



After buffing and tint removal



really hate these eBay foggies

Looking good. Keep us posted.

Hello JamJim, Welcome to this forum and WOW... you have there a very nice looking Jimny !!!
It is very good you did take off the ugly (violet colored) window tinting.
And you're do-ing a very good job with changing all oils and other stuff in and around the motor.
Just make shure you check the brake's too (front and rear) and eventually change them.

The lift and tyres are allready a very good start for making it more offroad worthy.
Just take care... when going off-road with these black mud flaps, they will work as a scoop!

Have a lot of fun with this nice Jimny and from time to time send us some pictures !

Whap'am JamJim. Yep, nice looking Jimny. Welcome and have fun.

One one coco full basket.

Welcome this fine forum JamJim it’s good to have you join us, all ready your jim is looking good ...............

welcome! looks awesome, i was very tempted by a red one, loving the black!

welcome on the forum

I like the contrasting black front and back lids. Cool.
Hope you show us more and enjoy the forum.

I might be wrong but the bonnet looks gloss and the rear door looks matt :whistle:

keep pondering doing mine nato green with a mat black bonnet and roof with matt black bits ie filler cap rims etc but dont think I could bring myself to attack my nice silver paint with a sander.

red and black always looks good

jonesyba420 wrote: dont think I could bring myself to attack my nice silver paint with a sander.

Leave yours alone, it's nice.

Red on black would be startling.

Thanks for the welcome guys!

tinting currently in progress, also changing every single lubricant and flushing the cooling system :silly:

jonesyba420 wrote: I might be wrong but the bonnet looks gloss and the rear door looks matt :whistle:

keep pondering doing mine nato green with a mat black bonnet and roof with matt black bits ie filler cap rims etc but dont think I could bring myself to attack my nice silver paint with a sander.

red and black always looks good

nah. they're both matte... The Jim was wet in the pic with the hood looking glossy...