"Mild" off-road plans for Jimny commuting and playing - Opinions welcome :)

Keithy, Redacted some time back replied to a question of mine regarding full time 4wd. Apparently the Lada Niva transfer box has a central diff as part of it, so if you install one of them you have a beefed up t-box (built Russian tough!) which can also be 'lobsterised'. All you need to do is fab new mounts for the t-box, nothing major at all, and he had a couple Niva t-boxes lying around his workshop at the time.

I'd reckon that uprated half-shafts and CVs are a must for the conversion though.

This is very high up on my list of things to do, just waiting for my lotto numbers to come in, I've got a feeling they'll be this week...

Thanks for the info....and I hope your lotto numbers come in for ya!

I passed a couple of Niva's for sale a few weeks back.... £550 each.....If you win the lotto you can buy me one!


Thanks for the info Venter

Installing turbo to an engine and installing a transfer box from a different vehicle definitely ain't "mild" any more, even with double quotes applied.

When I bought a Jimny and joined this forum, I did not expect to find any threads about turbocharging the thing It had never crossed my mind to do anything other than make it play off-road.

Mind you (and this will date me), "turbo" to me conjures up images of cars with big go-faster graphics down the side, perfectly decently-powered petrol engines that just wanted "mooorree pooowwweeerrr" (Copyright Top Gear), and lag that needed to be planned ahead for! From the days when you could hear the turbo whistle from inside the car. It is more likely now to mean something added to a car to make up for it being a diesel, or having cylinders removed.

Disclaimer : the motoring world may have moved on in the last few decades, but I am struggling to catch up. Go easy on me

Having said that, I doubt I will ever get round to that sort of "non-mild" thing anyway, but, hey, it's nice to dream

Nick

Many things have moved on Nick.

In the "olden days" fitting a turbo meant having to reduce the compression ratio and massive amounts of work to get the ignition to not destroy the engine.

Nowadays you can type your ignition timing into the map along with the fuel and it's so so easy.

No loss of torque low down in the modern age..With a really light right foot you wouldn't know the turbo was there..knock detection is sweet....as is wideband lambda.

I think I'll go to an M16A with VVT next...that's how it escalates!

If Hillary had won the US election I'd have stuck with the M13A and built a fallout shelter

I hear you, Keithy!

I work in automotive (not in the detail of engine design and fuelling), so I have moved on in mind, but stuck in the "olden days" in spirit

I think that is one reason why the Jimny appeals. I can work on and under it on my drive with my daughter and simple tools. In contrast, my Octavia has a MIL light on at the moment for a sticky inlet manifold flap/actuator (probably gummed up from EGR), but the amount of removal/disassembly just to get access to it to clean it means that I lazily just wiggle the external actuator by hand, clear the codes, and it is good for a few more weeks.

I do still like the sound of a turbo. My Octavia's is virtually silent. The Saab Aero it replaced sounded great - allegedly the turbo sound inside the cabin was considered while they designed it!

The snag with my escalation path is that it quickly gets to a point where a garage to work in would be handy, and that means a new house

I hadn't thought to use Clinton/Trump as a justification for spending on the Jimny - nice

Nick

Bosanek wrote: 4.
Install axle breathers. They are dead simple to install. Just buy 1/2" internal diameter good quality rubber hose (approx 6-7 m of length) and a few good quality metal screw-tight straps for hoses. Remove factory breather caps from the axle differential housings and put on the rubber hoses, and tighten the metal straps on the connection point. Lay the hoses through the underbody, in the engine bay, up to the bonnet height, avoiding hot surfaces. You do not even strictly need a "T" hose connector, as each hose can go independently up to the top. Tie the hoses with plastic strap ties.
I would recommend this mod even if you do not intend to wade, just for the peace of mind, as I have found water in my front differential even without ever going through a water deeper than 15 cm. I suspect that the splashing effect contributed to water ingress through the factory breathers. That's why I installed hoses.

Hi Bosanek,

Thanks for you posts here and the in the wiki, I'm finding them very useful.

Question re your point (4) if I may. I'm reading that the transfer box and gbox also have breathers so wondering why it isn't mentioned that these should also be extended in the same fashion. Is it that it isn't possible to reach these with the boxes in place?

I note from peoples signatures that the diff breathers are quite popular but haven't noted anyone that's extended the g/transfer box breathers. Do people just accept some water ingress and do regular oil changes with these instead?

Cheers
Mark

I did not mention transfer box and gearbox breathers for two reasons:

1. They are much more complicated to install than axle differential breathers, because they require dismounting the gearbox and the transfer box in the process.
2. Gearbox and transfer box sit higher compared to the axles (and are much less likely to get splashed by water from running wheels), and there is a lot less chance of getting their tops in contact with water, except for really boggy offroading.

So, I would advise to install breathers on the gearbox and transfer box only at the same time when you have to dismount them anyway for some other work.
On the other hand, if you venture so seriously off road that you need them immediately, then you probably have many more things to modify on the car anyway, and you know the name of the game ...

I am informing the public that I have finished all my additions to the Wiki article about tyre sizes, models and best usage practices.

The article is located here:
www.bigjimny.com/mediawiki/index.php/Tyr...age_-_best_practices


I have also finished my additions to the article about improving and modifying a Jimny for mixed on-road and off-road use:
www.bigjimny.com/mediawiki/index.php/Imp..._and_all_terrain_use

I consider both articles to be 98% finished, as far as I am concerned.

Part of the content of the first article is replicated in the second article.

Top work mate.

An excellent write-up - your hard work is much appreciated (and read)!