YP's Jimny Adventure

A couple of months back I picked up my little Jimny after clearing the driveway of all the other motoring rubbish that was getting in the way. I bought it for cheap fun - laning, P&P sites and maybe even the odd Euro tour (we'll see).. I love this little thing, it’s just so much fun hustling this along the road and seemingly getting in everyone else’s way!

In all her glory.. every good sports car should be in red

It’s in tidy condition for its age too, not much sign of rust and 75k miles on the clock.

Got rid of the standard cassette player and radio after dismantling the dash to get rid :blink: and replaced with an equally cheap radio cd palyer which also has a USB port - always hand nowadays. Changed he fluids in the diffs, transfer box and gearbox - still enjoying the smell of transmission oil on my sleeves to this day

Reading up on all the various mods, I decided I won't rush into suspension lifts and big wheels until I've got to grips with what it offers in (nearly) standard guise and also once I've seen a few modded jimnys in action myself. That said, I noted Jimbospanners long standing sale add for his smallish recip muds on vitara rims.. perfect! A quick phone call and he even offered to drive an hour a meet me half way. Stellar guy! Fleet services and a KFC with the man himself whilst I got the benefit of his experience on all matters jimny - cheers James.

195/80,15

Looking a little better now

and having fun down some tight little lanes near me. No way an old disco I had would have made it down here. Was actually quite relieved to get out the other side.

I should add that I'm really pleased with the tyres. They haven’t brought on any death wobble, no rubbing, very capable and the tyre noise is reasonable. I do have pretty bad tinnitus anyway so I can happily live a few extra frequencies :whistle:

I started on my diff breathers and only got as far as doing the front one when a few deliveries arrived to divert my attention, including this

Bit excited by this so the rest of the breathers will have to wait..

Cheers
Mark

Anyone fancy getting under there? No me neither!

bumper off

Holes drilled and a bit of rust treatment

On with hidden winch plate and winch. At this point I will say that the winch plate is a great bit of kit but if fitting the t-max 9000 then you might want to drill some additional holes about 0.5"-1" closer to the rad for mounting. It wasn't until I then started hacking away the bumper that I realised it sits quite far forward.

Then on with the bumper. Note that I had to cut a channel for the clutch arm on the winch. Had I mounted the winch further back I would have probably avoided this - Hey ho.

As she stands today

I've learned to multiple my time estimates by three when I start something now..

Looking really good mate love the winch done a good job fitting it, any skin left in your knuckles?? And knees!!

Thanks mate, yep the frost kept me well preserved :pinch:

Cheers
Mark

Nice job, well done. I do think you have made the right choice with the tyres. They look cool and
work well. Regards. Al.

Thanks Allan. Yes, I'm pleased with the tyres - although today they proved next to useless on what looked like fairly innocuous roads which were actually untreated and very icey. The car got sideways on me more than once!

Same here, its the joy of mud tyres in the ice.

Jimny Birthday treat, albeit unwrapped.. any guesses? :laugh:



So my list of unfitted mods is growing fast.. (in order of scheduled fitment)

home made diff breathers
Birthday present
transfer box guard
front diff guard
steering damper

But not before I finish off my winch wiring. I'm relocating the solenoid to behind the windscreen washer bottle. Not much space near the bumper plus I figure it'll be better protected when wading. Applying this x3 rule for estimated completion time, it's taking me.. errr much longer :laugh:

snorkel?

That looks like the size box my rock sliders came in.

Riccy wrote: snorkel?

That's what is says on the box.. so unless its a cruel joke

Allan, would love some tree sliders.. but must make a point of fitting some of my stuff before I buy more now :blush: