I had it suggested to me to consider trying to fit Grand Vitara front axle shafts as they are longer than the Kick and as there is about an inch of unused space in the CV housing, they may not pop out as easily. Has anyone considered this or have the parts to measure to see if this is workable?

I'm considering it but haven't had a chance to measure up. I'm currently having a GV steel front axle rebuilt with 5:83s so now seems a good time to check it out.

Might be worth trying.  Let us know how it turns out.

Well so far I have front and rear axle parts spread across most of Southern England   I pulled the front springs off this evening and took some measurements on one side (the side without the three bolt flange). With the wishbone jacked up so the shaft is straight out of the axle there is about 5/8" spare movement in the driveshaft (with the circlip off I pushed the shaft inwards). Haven't tested the other side but I know someone who has been running a 1" spacer on that side for several years without a problem.



Surprisingly with the driveshaft straight out the wishbone is almost against the bumpstop. Against the bumpstop there is hardly any upward angle of the  driveshaft.
I have to pick up another rear diff hopefully Wednesday so I will see what they have at the breakers. I'll take my shafts to compare.

Awaiting with interest.

I managed to get to the breakers today and I've looked at LWB driveshafts (Euro 2.0V6 - probably same transmission as Sidekick Sport) and GV 2.5V6 - and they all look the same   I even checked the difference between the 22 and 26 spline shfts and I can't see any difference in any of the CVs across the range.   .
I just reread your original post, I was looking for bigger CVs so I didn't measure the length, sorry about that I was in a bit of a hurry. I will have to check that out next time.