YEAH! I found you guys, now you are going to aswer a million questions about 'how to pimp my kick' I think Iwant to start with the engine, since I use it on the road still. I have an 8 valve, and I've seen those air intake/filters from calmini, are they worth it? also to pair it up with a header, improve the performance (and the sound).
but about the lift can I get 2" suspension plus a spring spacer (1.5") so it will fit a 30" tires? or should I go for the 3" sus. lift? I also have 2" wheel spacers to get that mean look, and improve stability and handling..........but all this is just theory, so what you guys think?? :-/

Welcome  

I haven't done much modification to my Tracker, but plenty of folks here have so you should get some good answers.

I have put the Calmini cat-back system on mine, and rigged up a K&N open element filter.  I do believe that has helped, but how much increase over my 80 HP stock?, I couldn't say.  I also like the addition of Bosch Platinum +4s.  I'm sure a header & a cam would help, but I've never seen dyno numbers on how much.

Mine is still not lifted, but there are some recent threads on body lifts, spacer lifts, and a comparison of the Calmini 2" and 3" lift, and some combinations of all of these.

With the 2" lift, some light trimming and stock wheels you can probably fit the 30's on your Kick. If you use the 2" wheel spacers you will run into clearance problems and need more lift and/or trimming. With 1.5" spacers added to the 2" kit your suspension travel (struts) will be close to maxed out and might ride rough. I would opt for the 2" lift and a 2-3" body lift fir the extra clearance needed to clear the tires whan using the wheel spacers.

Welcome to the BBS.

Zig

Question... I keep hearing people talking about using stock wheels on 235/75's or even 30 to 31 inch tires... how is that possible?? Stock wheels are only 5.5" wide, right? Seems like that's pretty dang narrow for a 30x9.50 or so. I went to a 7" rim just for my 235/75's.

Back on topic... If all you are concerned about is getting bigger tires on there for looks, a body-lift is the better bang for the buck. You could get a body lift and 1" to 1.5" coil spring spacers for up to 4.5" of lift at less than $200.

As far as engine, the things you mentioned will help, but with these engines the car will never NOT be slow. Adding big tires is like taking away horsepower too... and lots of it. Mine is hideously slow and I run tires WAY smaller than most of the people on this board... I don't know how they can stomach it!

Question... I keep hearing people talking about using stock wheels on 235/75's or even 30 to 31 inch tires... how is that possible?? Stock wheels are only 5.5" wide, right? Seems like that's pretty dang narrow for a 30x9.50 or so. I went to a 7" rim just for my 235/75's.

I have 235's on my stock rims and they are working out fine.  When I put them on the beads seated very easily.

As far as speed goes I find the Tracker has enough.  It is no speedster for sure, but it gets out of its own way fast enough.  The engine has enough torque that it doesn't feel extremely slow to me.

Thanks a lot for your super fast response guys!! well, I really dont care much about looks, but I dont intend to do any hard core rock crawling/4wheeling with my 'sidekick', I need it for 'mountain biking'! yup! well it has to be able to take me to the very top of the mountain,(usually there is not much of a trail there) and then I ride my bike 'down hill' thats why Im not sure 2" susp lift+ spring pacers+ wheel spacers+ 245 tires, or 3" susp lift + wheel spacers+30"tires?
Also if any of you guys tryed or heard about the CALMINI mid range cam-shaft, it says that improves 'drivability' and horse power....... :-/ what do you think

Yeah, that cam-shaft is a fun upgrade if you can afford it. So, you're going to do some climbing? The cam-shaft will improve on that, but how much, I have no idea. If you are considering investing little by little, the lifts and new tires are your best bet. My stock 4-door can do some great things without the lift, but there are definately a lot of places I dare not go! Engine performance isn't your primary concern here as I see it. In my limited experience, I have found that the engine performance upgrades free up a bit of horse and thats great, but I cannot go places where a lift and big tires are needed. Anyway....

steveo

Mine is hideously slow and I run tires WAY smaller than most of the people on this board... I don't know how they can stomach it!

I'm currently running 33x12.50 MTR's with 5.83 gears in the axles. Merging into the interstate I can hit 60-65 mph before I merge into trafic and it can hold 75mph on the interstate all day (will go faster but not confortable with 33's, i've had it to 85 ). Considering it's an untouched 89 model 8V pushing 250,000 miles with a Calmini Header and Flowmaster exhaust. It's plenty quick for me.

My 98 X-90 it alot faster with 235/60/15 tires and a two in lift. 75 before I merge into traffic on the interstate and confortable at 90MPH. It would go faster but the light weight starts to get that floating feeling around 95 Only performance addition to the X is a Flowmaster 2 1/4" exhaust.

HTH,
Zig