My Junk (aka: The Black Car)
The Black Car was born of a phone and email conversation between myself and gwagensteve where we discussed all the downsides of my current vehicle (aka: The Green Car) and came with a means of sorting all of those issues before a single spanner was touched.
Aim of the Build:
Heaps of Tyres: I had gotten my hands on one of the first ‘Trent Lean’ ex-competition BFG Krawler sets.
Heaps of Gears: I already had a sierra with a 6:1 transfer case 5.12s in the diffs, but was still craving more gearing for steep and technical driving.
Heaps of Work: this wasn’t an aim for the build, but it’s certainly what we ended up with.
No Compromises: Full Steering Lock, uncompromised cargo area, no engine internal changes, quiet and pleasant to drive.
Stock Appearance: The car had to look like it could have come from the factory as is and I had just swapped in a bigger set of tyres.
Engine / Gearbox:
The sierra engine and gearbox were removed and swapped for the following:
1999 Suzuki Jimny G13BB
1999 Suzuki Jimny 4 Speed Automatic
The new engine and gearbox were installed in stock form with no changes.
A new sierra radiator was installed along with an aftermarket transmission cooler.
Transfer:
4:1 Rockhopper
I have a 6:1 sitting on the garage floor. One day it will get installed.
Wheels / Tyres
The car was built with the Krawlers on a set of 15x10s, but these were replaced with 15x8s which were later modified with weld-in beadlocks.
35 x 13.5 BF Goodrich Krawlers
15 x 8 Sunraysia Wheels with weld-in beadlocks
Front Suspension
OME HD Sierra Rear springs (3 leaves only)
OME N76 Shock Absorbers
1” Longer shackles
Rear Suspension
OME HD Sierra Rear springs (3 leaves only)
OME N76 Shock Absorbers
1” Longer shackles
Front Diff
The front end runs a standard wide-track sierra front end which has been modified to run Narrow track spacing.
The diff runs the following:
ARB Air Locker installed with Solid Spacer for pinion bearing
5.12 Vitara front ring and pinion with 27 spline side gears to accept the trail tough axels
Trail Tough Double Tough Axels and CVs
Rear Diff
The original rear diff was a stock Sierra WT with ARB Air Locker and 5.12 Vitara front ring and pinion. This diff setup lasted a few years until the pinion was stripped on a hard bounce.
The rear end now runs a modified Vitara rear diff with the following modification:
Suspension brackets removed and replaced with sierra leaf spring mounts.
Flipped to run the shorter side on the driver side
The shorter side was then shortened further to match sierra width
Adaptor plates were attached at both ends to accept sierra spindles as part of a full-floater / disc brake conversion
The pumpkin (housing backing) was removed, flipped and re-installed.
The diff was lightly shaved to end up with similar clearance to a sierra diff housing.
Finally the housing was straightened
The diff now runs the following:
Trail Tough Spool installed with Solid Spacer for pinion bearing
5.12 Vitara rear ring and pinion
Full Float Axel Conversion
Grand Vitara front drive flanges
Sierra front callipers and rotors
Chassis Modifications
The list of changes are as follows:
100mm extension at the front to support the Rears Up Front
New front tube cross member
Raised and inboarded front body mounts to support narrowed front clip
New Front shock mounts
New Rear shock mounts
New transmission cross member (lifted above bottom line of chassis), with plate to pick up Jimny gearbox
New transfer case cross member (lifted above bottom line of chassis)
New transfer case mounts (lifted transfer case 2 inches. It never touches the ground or any obstacles)
New cross member in front of fuel tank to accept Vitara SWB EFI tank
Front and Rear spring mounts all in-boarded to accept narrow track spring spacing
Body mounts removed and replaced along length of chassis frame
Fuel and Brake lines relocated to run on top of the chassis to enable lifting the cross members (big job – don’t do it).
Body Modifications
100mm removed from the centre of the grill
2 x 50mm removed from the outer edges of the front clip (between headlights)
Headlights brought in 50mm on each side to make provide more tyre clearance
Front inner guards removed, lifted 2 inches, narrowed and re-installed
Outer edges of the firewall unpicked and pulled backwards to provide more tyre clearance
Rear inner guards removed and replaced with new had-fabricated tubs installed 2” higher
Sills shortened approx 100mm as a result in increasing the side of the front and rear guards
Firewall sucked back on outer edges to align with body mount.
Entire rear cargo shelf removed, raised 2 inches and reinstalled to clear fuel tank, exhaust and rear shock mounts
Battery box sub-mounted under passenger seat
Calmini Style flares installed in place of stock
Fuel Filler deleted and relocated further away from rear tub
Modified Jimny Shifter installed
Removed the stereo and glove box door to make it very obvious that there is nothing to steal in the car
Exhaust
My previous sierra was lots of fun, but it was too loud both on the street, and when talking with spotters when driving something technical. Based on this I wanted an exhaust that would be super-quiet without affecting performance too much. I ended up with:
Extractors
Flex pipe
2” Catalytic Converter
Triple Flow Muffler
2 Hotdogs
2” exhaust pipe – all mandrel bends (exhaust donuts)
The entire exhaust is hard-mounted above the bottom line of the chassis. It never touches the ground on any obstacles. I was warned that the hard mounting may cause cracks in the system, but 5 years of driving have not seen any issues.
Steering
Suzuki Capuccino Steering Wheel
Modified (but not welded) WT Sierra collapsible steering shaft
Vitara Power Steer pump and box
Fuel
SWB Vitara EFI Tank
Vitara In-Tank Pump
Generic EFI Fuel Filter
Other
Endless Air Compressor (belt driven – 6 cfm)
9L Air Tank
ARB Front Bar – Narrowed 100mm to match narrowed front clip.
ARB Box for storage
Post Build Reflection
The Black Car achieved very close to everything I was aiming for. It’s lovely to drive and very quiet.
The ‘stock appearance’ was achieved on everything except for the flares – building our own from scratch was impossible to justify given the effort involved for something that would be destroyed within a few months.
The car is super reliable when considering the abuse it takes every time the hubs are locked. The best part is that 5 years on and all the wiring I did is still working perfectly!
Future Plans
More Power – everyone always wants a bit more go. Probably a 1600 block under the Jimny head with either the Jimny auto (living on borrowed time), or an AW4 squeezed in there.
More Axel – whilst the front end has remained impossible to break, the rear end remains a weak spot.
More Rubber – I’m super keen to get my hands on a set of 35x14 boggers for a play, but I think there will turn out to be a fair bit of work to fit them.
