ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Build Diaries, How-To, DIY => Topic started by: Zookie and Me on July 07, 2011, 11:38:58 AM
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This week I'm having my '98 Sidekick repainted. I bought it on New Years' Day, 2010 with 192,000 km on it. Whoever owned it for the first half of its existence took really good care of it. Since then it's been passed around a bit and hasn't been treated so well. I'm hoping to own it for another 13 years.
The plan is to keep it original, except for a set of aluminum rims that I picked up. This won't be a super-exciting project to follow, but it might give someone some inspiration to do something similar.
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I had some nasty rust spots on the front of the hood, but I found a good used one via Kijiji.ca. I tied the hood to the roof and then headed to Brantford Suzuki for a new O2 sensor, rear brakes, hood release cable and some exhaust work. The mechanic, Mike, has worked there for 18 years. Surprisingly, there was an identical '98 in the parking lot that day. Twins!
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The guy who sold me the hood, Bob, had a pile of parts in his barn. This tan Sidekick was sitting in his driveway, and according to him the serial number is 002. He showed me that the headrests were smooth; apparently they test the molds first, then when they're happy with the design, then they engrave the texture into them. A very cool find.
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Last week I spent about three days gutting and labelling parts. The floor is in excellent shape.
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Yuck. Rust. But better than most that have been through Ontario winters.
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Decent condition for an Ontario car. The 98' i just bought in upstate NY had very little rot, slight surface rust on the frame in spots, a quick hit with a wire brush and a coat of chassis saver fixed her up. I do have a spot on the drivers side floor that is punky, I am not sure if I will put steel back in or create a patch with Carbon/Kevlar fiber cloth and epoxy. But i do plan on applying Monstaliner to the cab interior, in desert tan color. The rockers are punky under the plastic body trim panels on the sidekick, I will probably do the 2x4 steel rocker fix.
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Chuck, the body guy, found this huge strip of decay ahead of the driver's-side doorpost. He ended up taking both front fenders off to do the work under them.
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Out of the shop. Some re-assembly required. No more "air-conditioning" in the fenders.
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Thats cleaning up real well, gonna be a great little ride.
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Fenders before.
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Parts are starting to go back on now. Shampooed the carpet and repainted the spare tire mount.
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Lookin good so far. How's the top?
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The top is "good". It has a couple of cracks where it folds over the cab, and it took me about half-an-hour to unzip the windows. My top and the hardware was reclaimed from a Tracker that was sitting in a scrapyard for a few years. I have plans to replace it, but Suzuki no longer stocks them. Anyone know who the original manufacturer of the tops is, and if they still make them?
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Bestop makes a vinyl top(fabric only), expensive. I just picked up a Rampage black denim top, tinted windows and it is a lighter weight material and is properly seam sealed(Bestop is not seam sealed).
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Thanks, talonxracer.
This one looks very close to original:
http://www.ezsofttops.com/p-1596-1995-1998-suzuki-sidekickvitara-top-and-plastic-window.aspx (http://www.ezsofttops.com/p-1596-1995-1998-suzuki-sidekickvitara-top-and-plastic-window.aspx)
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Passenger seat ready for joyriders.
Had a custom decal made based on the Suzuki font.
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Just about done. The silver body panels have been a pain to reinstall. Some of the plastic retainer clips were missing. Just after I put the driver's side door panel on, four cleats broke off the back of the panel. I ended up making a fillet on all of the cleats using 5-minute epoxy, since there wasn't much plastic holding them on.
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Lookin' Good! Like the custom decal ;D
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First joyride.
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Wow that's a new twist , rebuild to stock and now 7 feet in the air. ;)
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It just looks tall, due to the funky Bat Rims.