Hey guys!
Just wanted to introduce myself as I've been lurking the last couple months, trying to educate myself about these little Suzuki's. Still don't know much...
An unexpected job change (read: layoff) brought me and the family over to the Charlotte area from Texas back in May, and I sold my car to help fund the move.
Soon thereafter I was needing a new set of wheels, and the budget was tight. My wife stumbled across this little guy on Craigslist one day:
..and $800 later I brought it home! Think I got a pretty good deal on it... It's a '91 with a 5 speed - unknown miles since it was towed behind an rv for a lot of its life. ODO is showing 80k on it now. Doesn't leak any oil, has used about 1/2 a quart in 3k miles which isn't bad. The guy I bought it from messed with the wiring a bit. Supposedly he replaced the throttle position sensor because it wasn't running, or wasn't running right. Occasionally the motor bogs, especially when getting off, then back on the gas (ie. shifting). I'm not sure if it's running a bit rich, but sometimes there's a bit of a gas smell. I seem to be getting around 22 mpg, up to 26 on a hwy trip. Oh yeah - fuel gauge doesn't work either.
The other issue is it idles around 1500rpm, and I'm pretty sure it's because the PO wired up an aftermarket switch to the a/c compressor. When the compressor is engaged it idles around 8/900 rpm, turn off the a/c and it goes back up. Doesn't bother me too much, maybe even handy for off road? Wouldn't mind fixing it either...
Already taken it camping a couple times. Fits the 4 of us and all our gear pretty well:
So, after using it for a couple months in stock form (and getting back on our feet after the move), I'm ready to start the modding. Honestly I wasn't sure if it would be worth putting much money into, since I bought it so cheap. But this happened Sunday and changed my mind:
(hey, I needed avatar material, right?)
Oh and I'm no stranger to these situations either... Here's our Land Rover stuck in Florida:
Luckily I was able to find help relatively quickly both times... First things first I'm getting a hitch and a utility trailer (gotta have something to haul the dirt bikes again!). I'm probably going to go with the Trail Tough bumper/hitch combo:
After that I'd really like to do a suspension lift and mount up some good meaty tires. Also think I'm ready for a winch (my wife agrees!). I think the trail tough front bumper looks pretty good.
Anyway, as this Suzuki thing is new to me, I'm all ears when it comes to suggestions. I know most topics have probably been covered a million times, so I'll do some poking around. Hoping to stay away from a body lift and just do 4-6" of suspension lift and maybe a little fender cutting (never done either before, so again I'm a newb). I want it to stay road trip worthy for camping trips to the mountains, etc - but I also want it to be fairly capable off road.
Mostly I just wanted to say hi, and thanks for having an informative site on these little trucks! Any and all advice is welcome!
