Suzuki 4WD Club of Victoria

Maybe try these guys , I think Chris Leonard has used them.

Thanks Matt, will give them a call.

Just for a second assume I don't bother buying an entire Vitara, am I missing anything:

- G16B in a Long Config
- Vitara Manual or Auto Trans (prefer Auto - do i need anything else for the Auto - does it have any sensors, etc that connect back to the main ECU?)
- Short Driveshaft to Transfer Case or Mod Existing One, who could do that for me?
- ECU and Associated Wiring Loom, pretty handy with a soldering iron and wiring diagrams so I feel fairly comfortable with this side of things.
- Vitara Instrument Cluster for Speed Sensor
- Vitara EFI Fuel Tank, new Fuel Filter, new EFI Fuel Hose where needed.
- 110Amp Falcon Alternator (if I did this upgrade before putting the 1.6 in, would it swap over easily?)
- Exhaust Manifold (Will my 1.3 exhaust bolt up to the G16B? Will probably get a nice new exhaust made up at some point though.)
- Vitara Airbox, Mass Airflow Sensor and O2 Sensor
- Starter Motor (Will the 1.3 work on the 1.6?)
- Engine Mounts (BenT Adapter Kit???)

Found another option.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Suzuki-Vitar ... 1061741944

It turns out this is the guy that actually rolled his swb vitara in front of me.
Going to try and just get the lwb vitara.

If he won't split things up are any club members interested in some of the other vitara bits.
If so perhaps a group buy could be organised...

Depends what you can get it for. $4K is a bit pricey for a donor car alone, and that leaves a LOT of other stuff to shift. I still have most of my donor vitara here and I literally couldn't give most of the stuff away, including stuff like A/C, radiator, transfer etc.

That's quite a clean donor, and that's really the problem. My donor was a lot rougher than that - the cost of bringing it up to saleable condition was higher than the worth of the car once complete, even though the damage was pretty minor. That's what you're looking for.

Everybody wants the same vitara stuff - front diff centres, engine, gearbox, power steer, front brakes from the estate wagon. Everything else is pretty worthless.

Obviously someone will want the calmini kit.

I'd be keeping both back diff axle assemblies, both power steering setups, but the rest will likely end up down the tip. There's surprisingly little interest for vitara parts.

Steve.

Found another one, better price point and it won't seem like I am wreaking a good car.
Only downside no Auto

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/kings-pa ... 1004272154

Hmmm. If you want a 4 speed auto, hold out. That looks like a good buy, but a 4 speed auto in similar condition should be about the same $$$.

Even if you didn't fit the auto immediately, there's be quite a lot of peace of mind knowing you had everything you needed to make it run. Trying to patch an AW-4 into a manual loom later on would be a huge headache.

If you're happy with a trimatic, from a carby vitara, then that car is a good buy.

Steve.

I had already come to that conclusion really the moment I found it.
I think it would be more of a case of making the decision to stick with a manual transmission or not full stop.

Ever since putting the 6.5 gears into the sierra I must admit the manual transmission (apart from the worn syncros - which the vit manual box would fix hopefully) hasn't bothered me too much.
It really is just a case of clutch in or clutch out. And I can kinda get the same result of left foot braking by applying some handbrake. In first low it drives through it all too easily.
The weekend just gone I forget to take the handbrake off at the bottom of a hill climb and wondered why I came to a sudden stop at the top, the rest of the day I used it with varying results.

Anyway will keep looking... the perfect vitara must be out there

how much of a mission is it to find a 4 speed auto on its own ?

Well as Steve said above the hard part would be fitting up the auto to a manual wiring loom and ecu etc.

jonfromhamilton wrote:how much of a mission is it to find a 4 speed auto on its own ?

It's not all that hard - there's one on AZ for $200 at the moment. (sold though, as you'd imagine)

It's really just a matter of integrating it into the manual loom, but I'd say that's quite a lot of work. Anthing's possible, but it just adds another level of work and subsequent troubleshooting to patch two looms together.

there's lots of wires in a Vitara loom





(This is the whole vitara loom minus locks/mirrors/Aircon/stereo/rear fog lights/demister.

The ECU is on the RHS of the column, and the TCM is on the LHS of the column on a Vitara. The whole loom for the car runs over there too, and it's all bound together on an auto vitara.

It's always easier to start with a whole, complete and functional loom and trim out what you don't need rather than start with two looms and try to merge them.

There's also always the option of using the column and whole loom from the donor car, as I did with Piggles. I'm not saying it's the "low labor" way of doing it, but it limits the troubleshooting required.

Steve.