1984 Suzuki SJ410

[DavidB]

It’s only £40, sure I’ll haggle him down possibly. Anything is better than having the mechanical version of Buddy Rich under the car.

[DavidB]

21 hours ago, Andyrew said:

It will fit into yours.

?

are the mounts different? It’s about 2 inches off and the shifter is already bent against the space in the floor.

[DavidB]

I did get some fetching bull bars though

[Andyrew]

Sorry dude. 

I glanced  at the pic, noticed the lack of drum and assumed samurai. 

That other photo tho. That's a tbox from a jimny 

[Andyrew]

Finding a not shagged axle is pretty rare. If you can fit a tbox you can fix the axle. Cleaning up, regrease and reassemble about 2hours a side. The Swivel leak will be the half shaft oil seal failed, age or caused by up and down movement from worn kingpin bearings. 

Swivels on these don't retain grease or oil like a land rover so the balls and the axle and dust seals can be pretty hanging and not cause problems unless wading in mud etc etc.  

King pin bearings will probably be worn unless they have been changed. White box cheapo bearings are sub 5 quid each on ebay. Front halfshaft Oil seals are a few quid on eBay

Tons of info info and dimensions on our club site. Link below is all axle info.

https://forum.suzukiclubuk.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2801

You can buy swivel rebuild kits from India but the quality is laughable on most parts. 

 

[DavidB]

Thanks, it’s worth spending money as it’s so easy to work on, I’ll get the rebuild stuff for it.

Theres loads of Indian Maruti stuff on eBay but even the quality in the photos looks terrible!

[Wack]

Don't know much about Suzuki's other than 80s motorbikes

Anything of use on this, not mine , just spotted it on my travels 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/329511665100838/

 

[DavidB]

That might be, I need a rear axle, I wonder if they're the same? I kow Jimny's aren't similar, hence driving 220 miles to buy a transfer box that doesn't fit.

I've made a bit of progress with this, it has new doors, the driver's door now has glass in it, and I've replaced the ignition components. I've also replaced cam belt, tensioner, etc.

The distributor could not be turned to adjust timing anymore, so I pulled it out, turned it a little bit and put it back in and now have more adjustment. It actually runs very nicely now, but I have a rumbling from the back over 30mph, getting louder the 'faster' it goes. I think it might be bearings or even wheel related. It drives like a normal car at the moment and doesn't feel sluggish apart from missing an extra gear.

I've since put it into garage to start big tidying up.

 

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Nice garage!!! Minimalist!

[Bazfr69]

We’ve had a couple of these, our first was the 1.0L Santana which leaked through the bulkhead so much that you had to drive it with a carrier bag over your right foot when it rained and my o/h had to hold the soft top on manually on the motorway. Our second was a Samurai tin top and it was a much better all rounder. 
Both much loved at the time and I’d happily have another. 
 

Well bought.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Loving this thread, wish I could find a photo but my very first car was an SJ410 soft top (A343FLX) a really early one that still had drums all round and a metal glove box lid, I still miss it occasionally.

[DavidB]

Look what I found under the black whatsit paint job:

Someone painted black spots. The top coat came straight off in minutes with b&q paint stripper. Spots not so much.

[DavidB]

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks welding this up and painting it. Only two bolts snapped on the entire car and I’ve swapped every bolt with new Toyota ones.

Ive pulled the numerous dents out, but there’s a few I’ve missed as there was no access behind and they add character I reckon.

 

I’ve yet to weld the metal arch attachments on for the plastic arches to clip to, and the roof and the interior is getting painted next. Also bumpers etc. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them or the bull bars.

Ive put the new engine together but I think I’ll wait a couple of months to put it in.

[Dick Longbridge]

How good is THAT looking? Where are the rest of the photos?!

[Rod/b]

I have very fond memories of piloting a ragtop one of these around Mauritius 15 odd years ago. And one not so fond memory of being chased down a dirt track in one, in the pitch black, by a fucking Tata bus. 

[DavidB]

I've pretty much finished painting, I'm still waiting on my new regulator to come so I can start welding. After three weeks spent rollering, I've come to the conclusion I'll never do it again - it really is hard work getting it not looking shit, I think I confused 'cheap' with 'good'. I've flatted most of it and it's pretty good so far, but five coats and hours and hours of rubbing down. I started mixing it with thinners (white spirit/turps, etc), but have reduced it as it seems to have no effect apart from making it look shitter (and it destroys the rollers) and produces more bubbles in the paint. There is nothing more satisfying than using a dry roller to flatten out the bubbles when the paint goes a bit tacky though.

I sprayed half the interior and it took twenty minutes without needing any follow up. Ah well! ?

Has anyone used these to replace rotten rear arches? They look like they would fit the job perfectly, as I only have to replace half of them if they come in the same size as mine:

 

 

[DavidB]

Also, what's behind headlining that's been stuck onto metal for 36 years?

Fortunately, surface rust came off with a flap disc.

[DoctorRetro]

That's an awesome job, a great read too. Love these little things, they sound horrid and amazing all at the same time. 

[DavidB]

I found a small hole near the accelerator pedal - someone had put a piece of metal over a rust hole and then screwed the pedal base to that.

 

Look at them wood screws of random lengths.

I’m using the old door for my metal, the metal on this is quite thin, but it’s better than rust.

The garage poltergeist pushed my gas bottle over and broke my brand new one hour old regulator clean off at the union, and nearly sent the bottle off into the stratosphere in a rush of escaping co2 gas, so that stops any welding for a while.

Bastard!

[DavidB]

Been putting this off - with the engine out, I have to start welding the arches so I can spray the bay and then put te other engine in

i spent ages getting new stuff to fit perfectly

And welded some new mounts on

Back not so tidy, but you’ll never see these parts. Other side isn’t so bad so I’ll get cracking with that. Worst is the inner arches to do as there’s a lot of curves.

[DavidB]

I put the original wheels on and got new tyres on. I think they had the originals, they were ancient.

What colour would go with light grey?

[Forty45]

Orange.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Dark grey?

[Ghosty]

Orange would be cool and 80s. I like the lemon yellow though for maximum 80s.

[Dick Longbridge]

White.

It's so rare now, a bit of an OEM+ look would work really well. It doesn't need to be garish to get looks. 

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

Great work sav8ng great car

[Spurious]

4 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

White.

It's so rare now, a bit of an OEM+ look would work really well. It doesn't need to be garish to get looks. 

Yeah my vote goes for Beige or White. It suits the SJ well I think. 

[1duck]

On 7/5/2020 at 12:08 AM, Spiny Norman said:

Fun wee things these, my mate bought a new one on an F reg which I christened 'Bouncer', not after the dog in Neighbours but because you travelled about a mile vertically for every five you went forwards in it.  Just trying to drive it in a straight line was a challenge and that was a split new one.
Fuck knows what a 35 year old one is like.

My uncle had one, with a mismatched blue door on a red car or maybe it was the other way round...i assumed his example was just completely shagged, glad to hear they are all like that.

[Spurious]

18 hours ago, 1duck said:

My uncle had one, with a mismatched blue door on a red car or maybe it was the other way round...i assumed his example was just completely shagged, glad to hear they are all like that.

It's the trouble of a small chassis on body design.  All down to unsprung weight which makes them very jitterish.  Defenders/Discos are better in this department as they're simply heavier which irons out a lot of the bouncy ride.

You've got to think you've the front and rear live axle, brakes and wheels aren't sprung, only the body, chassis and engine is.  The Jimny suffers from the same issue as live axles aren't light in the slightest.. 

 

[DavidB]

I’ve been over speed bumps in a Land Rover and a Hilux and they absorb them but this takes off and your arse hits the ceiling, never mind your head. Once I realised it wasn’t going to roll over, you can go through corners quite fast, it’s so much fun.

The sticker under the bonnet says it’s an SJ40V, and not SJ410V - I wonder what this means?