chadriley5
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- Joined
- Nov 12, 2012
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Well since it is a couple days before CHRISTmas and probably will not be in the shop much in the next day or too I figured i would write up some info on my project.It started out as a 91 four door sidekick that I built my own suspension lift for and welded the rear end an put on some 31x13.50 thornbirds that were thrown in when bought the kick.It did great for the 500$ vehicle that it was.After a long night of wheeling it got a pinhole in the transmission pan and over a couple weeks it leaked all the fluid out and I have a 16 year old little who jumped in it and was gonna drive it while I wasnt home. So he puts it in drive and it doesnt move i guess he figured he just needed to give it more throttle and burned the transmission up. So i decided to take it out and have it built.Well the trans fought me the whole way and due to some severely rusted bolts I could not get the trans out without removing the engine.Since the Kick wasnt very street legal due to having no power due to those heavy thornbirds I decided I wasn't gonna go to all the trouble pulling the running gear,fixing it and putting back in and still have something that would only run in low range I decided to go a different route.I had a 77 chevy truck that i bought just for the tires and the truck had a mild motor and a 12 bolt and dana 44 locked.The reason i didn't do anything with the truck is because of the sorry lift kit"blocks in the front" and would not turn right when the hubs were locked and it was a 4 speed with tons of axle wrap, I hated driving it.Plus I couldn't ride the wife and 2 kids in it.So I took the 2 and made 1 and got rid of a piece of yard art.Keep in mind this is going to be a very low buck build mostly out of what I have laying around.
After stripping all the factory running gear out of the truck and Suzuki I started the suspension SAS front and rear.I used some factory XJ leaf springs with a 3" add a leafs in the rear turned around backwards to stretch the wheelbase. I attached the shackles on the rear with mounts that come off the 2x4 .250 rear bumper.As far as the front I used some 6" Rusty's XJ leaf springs offset to the front to also stretch the wheelbase to the front and attached them to a crossmember I added to end of the frame horns.I am using 16" pro comp shocks all the way around.The suzuki frames are boxed from one end to the other and with the crossmembers I have added and all the suspension SAS leafspring mounts were made from 3/8 plate and were welded and bolted to the frame so I know it should be plenty strong.I know i can flex it all the way out and the doors open easily.
The 350 out of the truck is under the hood it fits really well side to side I can put the headers on from the truck with the motor bolted in place.I am able to use a HEI distributor and a long water pump set up and @ 3/4" between water pump pulley and radiator.The radiator is an aluminum 23x19 4 Flu with built in trans cooler.Yes the hood does shut with the air cleaner on.
The trans is a 350 turbo which just a dummy trans is what is in there right now because I have to get an adapter for my 205.The actual trans has a 203 bolted to it and it is just to big and bulky to be used in a sidekick.I plan on using the suzuki shifter and making tcase shifter come the the factory hole.My plans for this build is when the engine is off and the hood closed you would never now it was v8 powered. I have pics on my iphone of the build so I am gonna see if I can post the pics from it.
After stripping all the factory running gear out of the truck and Suzuki I started the suspension SAS front and rear.I used some factory XJ leaf springs with a 3" add a leafs in the rear turned around backwards to stretch the wheelbase. I attached the shackles on the rear with mounts that come off the 2x4 .250 rear bumper.As far as the front I used some 6" Rusty's XJ leaf springs offset to the front to also stretch the wheelbase to the front and attached them to a crossmember I added to end of the frame horns.I am using 16" pro comp shocks all the way around.The suzuki frames are boxed from one end to the other and with the crossmembers I have added and all the suspension SAS leafspring mounts were made from 3/8 plate and were welded and bolted to the frame so I know it should be plenty strong.I know i can flex it all the way out and the doors open easily.
The 350 out of the truck is under the hood it fits really well side to side I can put the headers on from the truck with the motor bolted in place.I am able to use a HEI distributor and a long water pump set up and @ 3/4" between water pump pulley and radiator.The radiator is an aluminum 23x19 4 Flu with built in trans cooler.Yes the hood does shut with the air cleaner on.
The trans is a 350 turbo which just a dummy trans is what is in there right now because I have to get an adapter for my 205.The actual trans has a 203 bolted to it and it is just to big and bulky to be used in a sidekick.I plan on using the suzuki shifter and making tcase shifter come the the factory hole.My plans for this build is when the engine is off and the hood closed you would never now it was v8 powered. I have pics on my iphone of the build so I am gonna see if I can post the pics from it.
