ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Model Specific Suzuki Forum => Suzuki Grand Vitara, Vitara, Chevy Tracker (Gen. 2 Platform) 1999-2005 => Topic started by: wezeles on September 15, 2007, 07:04:21 AM
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hey guys just picked up a 2 door 99 tracker 2.0 5 speed 4x4, really just picked it up for gas millage and the cheep 4x4 for living in michigan... but when i found out how cheep it is to mod and how solid of a 4x4 it is now im just in love with it... not alot done to it yet k&n filter optima battery and some cooper private brand 235 75 15 mud terrain tires... i was planning on a little lift 1.5-3 inches on suspension but nothing more its still a daily driver for now what do you guys recomend? new springs, spacers a combo of both? i dont want a harder ride softer if possibal, ive been going twards http://www.boondoxmotorsports.com/ kit because of how the spacer is shaped to fit the coil of the spring and because its of good grade material...
future mods include limited slip in the rear, manual lockers for the front, headers and exhaust? do they make them for the 2.0 yet or am i going to have to make a custom one? anyways thanks guys give me some pointers
dave
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here are a few pics for you guys
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/101_1455.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/back.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/front.jpg
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Looks good man. What part of MI?
Lock the rear and leave the front alone. That'll get you through 90% of what Michigan has to offer that's doable for street driven vehicles.
Those are good spacers that Boondox sells but the problem is you get more lift from the front due to the geometry of the suspension. So 1.5" spacers in the rear give you 1.5" while 1.5" spacers in the front are more like 2".
Spacers can be a bitch to install though. You definitely need coil spring compressors.
If you want a good ride consider Old Man Emu's coil spring lifts. Famous for their nice ride and flex. Also famous for not being cheap.
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thanks ill consider that, i took it out to the local bog today pics should be up soon it made it through just about everything the mod bog had to offer was going up to the windshield and still plowing through it all in 4 low and 2nd gear like it wasnt a problem, very impressed with the cooper cheep O tires so far, did get hung up on the frame on a wooded trail though, usually only sees large trucks with 36 and bigger tires and mine fit right in the ruts of there old tracks laying it flat on the frame, thought i broke the exhuast but the collector are the spring style and was just pushed up... all in all im pretty impressed i think a couple more inches of suspension is all i need for this area, no real rocks to climb
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I'll sell you 2-1.5" spacers for the front and 2-2" spacers for the rear for $80 shipped to the US or $85 to Canada. My sets only come with the coil spacers and not the strut spacers or new rear shocks. I you want to see pics of my spacers go to ebay under seller name: hoepkers. I've sold 140+ sets with no unhappy users, all the guys on here seem to be happy with them. If you are interested let me know at: hoepkers|removethispart|@charter.net. Welcome to the madness that is zukiworld.
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that looks good to me, let me just look around a bit the shocks are no big deal but i would like to find the 1.5 strut extenders to do it up proper, ill try to get back at you monday...
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You may try to contact museboy07, he had a set of strut spacers for sale or find out where he got them. No hurry, I have the spacers in stock and can ship anytime.
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well i know http://www.boondoxmotorsports.com/ sells them i just havent been able to get ahold of him, bitsforvits on ebay has some great sets but he is way over in the uk... so ill look around id like to get the lift started by next weekend if i can get the parts
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I got a set of extensions from BDS directly, give them a call as they may still have some
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wezeles, I can for sure get the spacers to you by the weekend if I ship by Tuesday. That all depends on where you are of course. SO where are you??
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michigan, fort gratiot north of detroit about 100 miles.... middle of the thumb if you wanna hold your hand up..lol right where michigan and ontario meet
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Gotcha. Mom's from the tip of the Thumb and dad's from Dearborn Heights. Familiar with the region.
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Cool should only take 3-4 days to get there.
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havent tracked down the strut spacers yet but drop me a line wezeles|removethispart|@hotmail.com with your paypal info and all that and ill try to get them from you tomorrow...
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I'm a newbie too.
Two months ago I put on spacers. The original shocks and struts had to be ground off. Ended up rushing out and buying new shocks and struts, but not the ones I would have prefered.
Take a good look before you start. You don't want to have to buy something now, what you're thinking of replacing later.
I've looked and have not yet found a Header for the 2L. If you find one that doe's not effect pollution control let me know.
I've had a new 2" exhaust put on from the cat on back. Noticed the change, now I have to be doing at minimum 100km/hr (60m/hr?!) in 5th gear without the rpm dropping to low. The wife and kid don't seem too impressed with the increase in noise. It's still the FAMILY vehicle, so long trips are hard on the ears. I'll be looking for a new muffler or adding a resonator/2nd muffler.
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well i already found headers for it... acctually searching on this site... they are so far only made by hurricane headers as far as i can tell the 1.8 headers for the vitara will also fit the american 2.0 motor just fine little tight to the steering but will clear im gonna call on prices see how much to ship it here if its cheeper than making my own ill do it... pat number HU333STM
http://hurricaneheaders.com.au/hurricane/products.htm
so im gonna look into getting that, as for now i got everything for the spring spacers camber bolts,strut extender, shock extender are all on the way, and i have plenty of tools between me and my buddies to get the job done so hopefully aslong as everything shows up it will be on this weekend...
what exhaust did you use to make it that loud? it would take almost straight pipes to get that little 2.0 to get annoying i would think... i plan on ditching the cat replacing it with a glass pack and a high flow muffler and running 2 1/4 pipe the rest of the way back... common mod i do to most smaller engine cars ive owned you usually need something inplace of the cat to keep it running right on a stock tune so i toss the glass pack in its place, and a high flow muffler to let them breath..
i saw the power differance the exhaust system made on the older gens and i just hope i can get about the same results outta the exhuast on this
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alright i got the lift kit on the way spring spacers from jeff camber bolts and strut extender from boondox and some shock extenders from my local parts store... id like to have an idea what this will look like finnished... anyone have a picture of there 2 door using jeffs 1.5 and 2 inch spacers?
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on page 12 of the members rides section (post is in the 1st gen trackick section) is 2 pics of my 03 2dr with 1 & 1.5 inch spacers and 30in cooper muds, will give you an idea of the difference in height you should expect.
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nice i saw a tracker with the 1.5 front and 2.0 rear on the next page with the same size tires as me... it was a 4 door but it gives me a good idea...
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ok guys here it is some befores and after
here are some pics of it just on stock suspension and with tires 235 75 15 MT's
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/front.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/back.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/Rightside.jpg)
and this sunday i tossed in a 2 inch lift consisting of 2 inch spacers in the rear and 1.5's in the front from jeff1997
2 inch strut extender "which didnt go on easy at all" from BDS as well as his camber bolts
and just basic 2 inch shock extenders from autozone/murrays you dont have to pay 25 bucks guys they are in just about every auto parts store for 5 bucks... you will notice the red boot on the front struts i had a heck of a time getting the stock boot of the strut along with the rubber gromet so i just used this from a set of old ranchero shocks turned out great and looks good i think... just used the rubber gromet and the metal disk that holds the stock boot and pushed it up into the small end of the shock boot...
anyway enough said here is some pics after the lift
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/liftfronttire.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/liftside.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/liftfront.jpg)\
camber is still off a bit didnt really mess with it to much just bolted it down tight and came home... i did however decide to leave the stock boot issolator in the front the 1.5 2 inch combo was perfect to lift it and keep stock angles but i wanted to level out the front a little more so the extra 1/4 inch worked great no cv noise at all but i think thats at its limits right there...
total clearance went from 8 inches frame to ground stock to 13.5 with tires and lift
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LOOKS AWESOME!!!! ;D Glad the spacers fit well and they worked out on a newer Tracker. Hope to see more pics when you do more to it. I just finished my cargo roof rack. It is 40" wide, 66" long and 6.5" tall. I just need to mount it on top and wire in the 4 lights. I'll try to post pics but am having a hard time getting them the right size to post.
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the only ones that didnt want to go right on the spacer was the rears for some reason, they had to be "influenced" to go into the spring... no cutting or trimming just a hammer and screwdriver... worked fine no issues with outter diameter at all...
the BDS strut extenders were a pain in the butt though, they fit but very tight had to hammer and pipe wrench them on... they are on good didnt mess up the treads or anything but if someone uses them on stock struts i would say sand down the bottom of the stock strut mount "non threaded surface" and the inside of the BDS spacer "non threaded surface" use a little oil on the non threaded surface and locktight on the threads... you will need a buddy or a vice to get it on proper...
and dont bother trying to save the strut boot if its rusted on just pound it off if it rips the cheep plastic boot just pick up some shock covers to cover the strut... better design anyway... and looks better.... i eventually just cut the plastic boot off just saving the metal disk and rubber gromet... if i did it again i would guess it to be a 3 hour job...not bad but bring some beer...
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There's the guy in England that has the "Bits4Vits" site on e-bay. He sells the strut extenders. Heavy boogers too! He maintains a site and sells his products there. He has a 99.3% satisfaction rating. Check out his line of gear as well. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Bits4Vits
He also offers a complete coil lift kit (1.5"), with the strut extenders and rear shock extenders in a set. I think this guy has it going on. Camber bolts too. He's picked up on those parts most people (not all) in the forum are continually asking about and pulled them all together in one web address. He also bulk puchased the front end drops from VTTR and sells them on his web page as well as Hiem jonit extenders he had made from solid steel blocks. The one thing he hasn't addressed yet is the 2 Liter header. The only manufactureres I have found in the world for the 2 Liter is Hurricane exhaust in Australia. http://hurricaneheaders.com.au/hurricane/products.htm
The one small draw back to the British guy's parts is his parts are priced in British pounds (conversion), and you pay a heavy fee to have them shipped to you.
From everything I have read on the forum, I'm thinking a 1.5" lift (whether springs or coil spacers) is as high as you might want to go without the drops for the front axle. Unless you're going rock crawling, 1.5" plus the 235/75/15 tires should provide you with about 3 more inches of ground clearance on your body not including you rear end pig head.
I've read several forum members comments this past year that "someone needs to buy these parts and stock them here in the USA". I've been thinking hard about doing just that. Some of the company web sites are hard to navigate (VTTR a prime example) and some manufacturers don't sell to the public so you have to go to their dealership venders to buy their products... who live in a different time zone and many don't have nor maintain a website to conduct business. On top of that are the many forms of VAT taxes that just beat the crap out of the pocket book. I think the focus needs to turn to the newer Suzuki/Trakcers (09-05) versus the older models which are no longer made and are rusting and dying daily. I retired back in April. Just got a one year gig in another job, but I'm seriously thinking about doing this. I have to believe alot of $ can be saved by buying the parts by the half dozen or dozen. Not to mention the VAT tax costs. I really enjoy these little trucks. I haven't found any other small trucks with the same ability, quality and durability for the price. I enjoy working on them, driving them, and listening to all the forum members who have similar interests.
Norm
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well there are a few companies... i knew about bitsforvits right away, i looked at calmini,rocky road, and http://www.boondoxmotorsports.com/ none of them had everything bits for vits does, although boondox does sell the same spring spacers,camber bolts ext.. that bits for vits does "the basic 1.5 lift" but the rest he doesnt... i agree with you though there are plenty of newer gen 2's flying around now that are off warranty and people are willing to dump some cash into them and mod them up, im kinda suprised there isnt more offered on the market specially with the prices these people charge for everything... i e-mailed VTTR just for the drop brackets and the price of shipping say a lot of 10 drop brackets then doing a 1.5 OME spring lift and 1.5 spacer lift with new shocks and strut extenders i could offer a complete set for like 350 bucks for a true 3 inch suspension lift as long as i bought it in bulk
the headers i was still working on till i saw the factory exhaust manifold and really its a good header/manifold design on the newer 2.0 it really doesnt need it you wont gain that much power from the headers without a full exhuast... and the difference will be small compared to the same exhuast on the stock manifold i think, but no one offers that eaither no bolt on exhaust kit... im waiting for my high flow OBD2 cat to show up then im gonna match that with some 2 1/4 pipe and flowmaster aswell as some ECU mods to give it better burn, these cars run crazy lean for there fuel economy i had the laptop on it and it was close to the 15 range... just nuts this is probably one of the only cars that an EBAY chip might acctually help...if you could get this into the 12.9 range or so maybe a little more with mid grade or premium it should pick up well over 20hp and 20ft lbs i would guess more in the 30 range and it might cost me 2mpg.. im good with that... that with a full exhaust might bump it up a good 50hp or more economy vehicals are always very restricted...
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A 20 HP and 20 LB of torque increase would be awesome and greatly appreciated. I think there is a great deal potential in these engines than the way they are packaged from the factory. 2 LT engines are regularly pulling 160 HP in several production vehicles and I know they can scream at high RPMs. I'm just looking for another honest 10-15 HP increase with a modest torque increase and I think I'd be good to go (satisfied).
Do you know who makes/offers these modified ECMs for these trucklets? I don't have to worry about any manufacturer warranty and so I am willing to look at what is available.
Norm
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well i just have a full diagnostic tools right now cant tweak much but if you look into air fuel ratios you know that stock vehicals usually run lean to get the fuel economy the automaker wants in are case i was seeing numbers in the 15.2.1 range... very lean indeed... so i ordered a chip the other day that says it will keep it at 12.6.1 "none of the others said what they changed the air fuel ratio too" its much richer mixture better burn more power... i have used the ebay chips before and you will notice a difference they just trick the computer to think the air is colder and then adds more fuel... this will effect the fuel economy of the vehical i garantee it if they say it wont or even increases the fuel economy then the chip is crap... like i said the automaker put it in that range for a reason... they know where best fuel economy is they dont cheep out on there R&D... although with this light of a vehical i dont see it loosing alot of mpg with a richer mixture... i average about 28 mpg now and im gonna guess ill be about 25mpg range when chiped... so once it shows up in the next couple days ill let you know the company and where to buy it... untill then dont waste your money yet let me see if mine is good if not you can try the next one and let me know..lol but i dont see how any of them could hurt power with the numbers i was reading... no one in there right mind would go leaner... normal is about 14.8.1
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O.K. appreciate it. thank you.
norm
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what exhaust did you use to make it that loud? it would take almost straight pipes to get that little 2.0 to get annoying i would think... i plan on ditching the cat replacing it with a glass pack and a high flow muffler and running 2 1/4 pipe the rest of the way back... common mod i do to most smaller engine cars ive owned you usually need something inplace of the cat to keep it running right on a stock tune so i toss the glass pack in its place, and a high flow muffler to let them breath..
i saw the power differance the exhaust system made on the older gens and i just hope i can get about the same results outta the exhuast on this
Yeah you'll notice the increase in HP. I have a little pop-up camper to tow, so I really needed an increase in torque but there seems less options for that. When the exhaust started to crack I replaced it hoping that this might help with the towing. I 'm being picky with the sound, it is the family vehical. The wind whistling with the soft top any increase in sound is a pain on a family trip. Over all it's fine, the increase in performace is better then the noise (from wife and kid).
I had a shop put on a larger 2" cat and glass pack muffler, and 2" aluminium pipes. The noise is mostly between the 2.5k - 3k RPM range when going up a bit of a hill. In this range the noise is just low and loud enough to be a pain.
I think I'll go back to the shop to check on any mods they can do. Maybe I look too young, and they thought noise and a cheaper muffler would be good, but I'm not the kid rev'in down main street. Most importantly it is the family vehical, and a happy wife is a happy life.
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On my first 2002 Tracker I had my local exhaust shop put a turbo muffler on him without changing the stock exhaust tube size (1 7/8). The exhaust note was alot more throaty and at crusiing speed, it was a little louder and could be annoying. On my current one, I had him put on the same type/brand of turbo muffler, but had him increase the tube from the CAT back to 2". Same 2 liter engine, same 5 spd set-up on my newer truck, but the exhaust became more throaty sounding on take off, not as loud, and almost dissappears at highway speeds. That crazy 1/8 inch tubing increase made a pleasant difference. Seems to breath a little better as well. Don't know if you've tried a turbo muffler yet, but I have run them on my last four Kicks/Trackers and I liked them alright. They don't burn out quickly like most glass packs do either. You'll get more miles from them and I think they help the engine breath better with their reduced restriction. I like this last set-up with a 2" pipe alot "more-better".
Norm
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sorry it took so long to get back to you guys, the site was down and i could get my password to reset... anyway i installed the chip and it made a nice improvement... and just like the guy said it riched the fuel by a few points like i said stock when up to temp these things run 14.5-15.2 very lean with the chip it was reading from 12.5-13.5 pretty much drops it 2 points all around for a nice power boost... its not sluggish like it use to be on the e-way going from 60-70 you can actually see it moving faster on the speedometer and power all around was improved faster acceleration and more grunt when playing off road... no noticable gas millage differance as of yet... and unlike most chips this doesnt just replace the IAT "intake air temp" sensor it is an inline chip and works with the computer as it changes fuel air ratios and just drops it a couple points as what the sensor is saying...
here are some pics of the installed chip
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/101_1488.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/wezeles/101_1487.jpg)
and here is where you can get it... ive checked it myself and it meassures up well... this with a nice air filter and exhaust will give you a nice kick in the pants over stock and makes the larger tires feel like they arnt even there...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevy-Tracker-NITRO-High-Performance-Chip-Module_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33597QQihZ018QQitemZ280117920691QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V
try it out guys for the money you cant beat it...
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SWEET! Thanks for the product test and review (and for finding this thing). 25$ isn't a huge investment either.
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Well, I had a look at that EBay listing, and it says better fuel consumption because it gives better fuel efficiency.
However, on the chart it actually admits that the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio is best for economy (as everyone knows). So a lower ratio (i.e. more fuel for the same air) is bound to reduce economy.
Now any company which makes claims that are so obviously untrue would make me back off completely.
I think there's also a lot of technobabble in that ad. Talk about not needing error checking, for instance. As far as I can see all the thing does is reduce the voltage out of the air sensor, so where would error checking apply?
To my mind it's a higher class scam than the cheapo resistors - I'd want to see before-and-after dyno records (not the butt dyno!), and fuel consumption records before giving it any credence.
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like i said it does the same thing as any other IAT sensor chip... it just tricks the motor into thinking its getting colder air so it feeds more fuel... all of them claim better fuel economy but there is no way it is going to be better... they already lean them out so far for the economy we get now... to get any better would risk engine damage... the only reason i picked this over the other 5 dollar ones is because its not just a resistor... you can pick up a 5 dollar resistors at radio shack and toss it inplace of the sensor... keeping the motor always running the same IAT reading... this is an acctual chip you can take it apart and see it.. granted it does the same thing as a resistor would do in the end... but it still takes use of the sensor and adjust the fuel air ratio.. just by kicking it down a few points from what the sensor says... highway driving i dont see any differance but cruising around town when i would normally get about 25mpg it seems to be more at 22 or so but it is a nice differance in power... not the best but good for the money
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... highway driving i dont see any differance but cruising around town when i would normally get about 25mpg it seems to be more at 22 or so but it is a nice differance in power... not the best but good for the money
That makes sense, because in steady state driving, the air/fuel ratio is controlled using the lambda sensor, and the chip would have no effect. It only comes into action before the engine is warm, and when accelerating and decelerating.
It would be nice to have a switch (maybe mounted on the gearshift) which you could use to bring the chip into play only when you wanted the boost. That way it would hurt your fuel consumption even less. Combine it with a dash lamp and call it a power button and everyone would want one ;)