Dave's Gold (Beige!) Daily Driver

Should have started a build thread in the first place! So this is all the posts on the Gold Jimny summarised and built into a build thread

March 2017, for some reason I bought yet another Suzuki, a metallic beige Jimny -



A week later...



A trailmaster 2" comfort suspension lift, from the BigJimny store, was fitted...



Then towards the end of March a 2" bodylift was fitted...



Needs bigger tyres!



Including steering spacers from ZookBOB (that's me too!)



And a brake bracket too...



Then the 235/75/15 BFG ATs were fitted...





Getting there!

As the bumper had to come off for the bodylift, I swapped the foglights out for combined daylight running lights and fogs -



Next at the end of April the roofrack arrived from Poland -





The new tyres had of course affected the gearing...

... so I had to change the gearing -



Top - the original VVT transfer box with solenoid engagement,
Below - the older stick transfer box



Cut a hole in the carpet and removed the blanking plate from the transmission tunnel



And then popped the earlier transfer box under the Jimny



And then had to swap the diffs to suit too...



At the end of May, having rebuilt the front axle to get the earlier diff in, I also fitted a steering damper.

On the road gearing and handling now excellent, and a better than stock ride on trailmaster comfort lift

The beginning of June...



Light bar added, and...



Reverse / work lights on the back...

And then...





A little winch I had lying around was fitted, I made the bracket myself to save on cost, and also as the Jimny has a 2" bodylift off-the-shelf ones wouldn't have fitted.

Mid-June the snorkel was fitted, that came from Italy as I wanted a sleek one -





The wiring was finished off around the roofrack





Switches all wired up...





Lights and winch working.

That brings us almost up to date

So, recently...

The Jimny failed it's MOT (annual inspection) on rusty sill on the driver's side -



So that needed a large patch seam welded into place... Sorted!

And last week, some leather seats popped up on here for sale, so they went in -







So, the gold / beige Jimny is nearly complete... not that they ever are?

How are you finding the roof rack for wind noise?

11/60 wrote: How are you finding the roof rack for wind noise?

You wouldn't know it was there? Just been to the KFC and back with the windows down and you can hardly hear it!



Not sure if it's down to the design? That perforated panel at the front? The chequer plate was an optional extra over the round tubes going side to side like a traditional roofrack... whether that has all-but stopped wind noise too?

That's handy - you can see on my blue one behind that I had to rivet that ally chequer plate between the two front bars of the tree bars / roof protectors as it whistled like buggery!

[aside] It came in useful the other day when I was changing a fluorescent tube in the shop's facia... I just drove up to the front of the shop and used a step ladder to stand on the roof rack and change the tube safely! [/aside] LOL :lol:

Nice build! Where did you buy the rack?

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationThis seller on eBay -



They do a couple of sizes and with optional extras (my light bar protection bar and the chequer plate were options) You can even get it with a little winch at the back if you're a hunter and want to get your quarry into the back of the Jimny... Nice?!

Finally got round to starting the boot folding floor yesterday...



The idea being... with the rear seats folded down in a (later VVT) Jimny, the boot floor becomes very irregular?! (My Mum's SX4 is the same)



My sketch of what I wanted... basically a box above the jack well, so that I've got a bit of storage space for a tow rope, dog's water bowl, leads, etc, and then a floor that folds up behind the seats, but then when the seats are folded down it creates a flat floor for my two chunky labs to lie on, or for carrying other bulky items...

So...



I cut a piece of ply to shape...



Worked out the shape the base would have to be to fit in and clear all the obstacles in the boot floor!



All welded up...



Test fit in the boot - after adjusting the metal work slightly to avoid the bulbous rear door card!



Test fitting the folded panels...



Test fitting the floor "folded out"



Hinges starting to go on...



Whoops, poor photo, but made some strengthening plates to go under the hinges of the 'box' in the boot, and as the second 'fold' will have the hinges underneath - although the panels will butt together - I wanted to add more strength to the join as my Labradors are indeed of the chunky variety, so the top plates will close over the top of where the hinges are underneath and brace it all up (as shown in the sketch at the top of this post)... The big holes are to go over the nyloc nuts holding the other side of the hinge on...

Bit more drilling, lick of paint, final assembly, and then a rubber matting on the top... so more soon, can't do Sunday though as we're out greenlaning!

Trucks looking good mate look forward to watching the progress also can I ask if you still have the vvt diffs? And if so would you sell them?

Ah, no, sorry... the VVT diffs went to James Priestley (J999PRE) on here as a kind of 'part-exchange'...

He might have a set though? Look him up and send him a PM

(Haven't seen him on here for a while? )

Dave

Hi Dave, You don't hang out about when it comes to modifying. If you fancy selling the rear headrests I'd be interested. Jim.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNice!

You can make the seats fold flat in a vvt... just pull the seat base up and stuff it behind the front seats, the backs then fold flat, albeit with a small step.

anyway. Nice job... except the hinges!

you need this sort and put them in the gap between the panels, much neater and spread the weight much more evenly..



Riccy