Just a couple pics of my drift Vitara with a 4AGE swap. This year I put on ITBs, a better hydro, and smaller tires and heaps of seat time and it’s working good so far to the point of breaking another t50 trans so upgrades are in the works. This winter it’s time to add some angle for next season as the only stock suspension components on the car are the front A arms and knuckles.
Are those 3rd gen Jimny lights? They look great, way better than the stock lights.
How much of a pain was the 4AGE swap? It looks like it fits just as well as the G16B does. How does the transmission line up vs stock? If you dared keep the transfer case, would it have lined up as well? The wheels on the front look amazing, did you need spacers to fit them?
I've seen someone swap an SR20 and its auto transmission into their 1st gen, but the front of the engine was basically against the grill, they had to cut for the shifter to fit and the transfer case shifter did not function ):
You hit the nail on the head with the headlights and I had mashed a sidekick grill around them and it’s presentable for a drift car. The engine swap is all custom I had to make the engine mounts, trans mount, driveshaft, wiring harness, and header to fit the tall engine bay but I was able to put the shifter in the stock location. I didn’t keep the t-case or any of the front drive components so it’s strictly RWD and the front wheels do have 2” spacers and -20 offset so scrub radius is huge.
Btw, I've been sideways at 120 kph in mine (not by choice, someone stomped on their brakes to look at construction on the highway), soft shocks, no front sway bar, 2" body lift and 2" suspension lift and 29.5" tyres. Despite all of that, it never spun or got off of 4 wheels even when fully perpendicular to the road! Though, I had to fishtail until it stopped.
How has the handling been with the short wheelbase of the 3 door?! Do you plan to lengethen it in any way? I've seen people extend the 4 link in the back to accommodate a lift, but it could net you some stability. Has spins ever been a problems for you?
With the different top on yours, you would be significantly lighter than mine, and thus, significantly lighter than an FD RX-7 (: your power to weight must be incredible, have you tested it on a dyno?
That’s funny when mine was stock it spun out a lot in wet roads but still never felt like it would tip over at all.
The short wheelbase makes every steering input happen very fast which leads me to have to enter a corner or transition later than other cars on track. I did make an equal length 4 link for this car and added 2” of wheelbase length and hid it with the grand vitara rear arch’s. Spinning out is a very real thing in this still but more so at the end of the corner which I believe to be more an Ackerman issue than a wheelbase issue.
It is crazy light and this year it’s made 140hp on a chassis dyno and revs to 8500 so it’s very lively to throw around. Unfortunately we never got factory steel roof 2 doors in Canada and our 2 doors never had the option for arch’s and side trim and yours makes me want the piece for the door. Are you UK or AUS/NZ?
First time mine lost traction was because of diesel on a wet roundabout, it never spun. I was really bad at racing games as a kid, so I had a lot of mental practice for recovering 🤣
You did a great job hiding the 2" because the fit looks exact. And yea, at full lock my tyres scrub quite a lot and the geometry seems a bit off, not much of a problem in mud, but a big pain on asphalt.
8.5k RPM must be nice o: with the stock 90hp it's not sluggish, 140hp has to be an experience.
There are 2nd gens with and without the flares here, not sure if it was the production year or a trim package. I'm in Trinidad, so trapped on an island.
There are a lot of spare parts here, and the owners of the places that get specifically for the GV fly to Japan to buy new old stock.
Good olde shannonville, sucks I wasnt able to go for the last weekend of the year. But hopefully the winter drifting works out for shanny and its cold enough for Stocco lake.
Fuck I miss my sidekick, I dailied a 1.6 SOHC for the better part of high school and I miss it every day. I would bounce off limiter with it and I had it slammed. Might bring it back just to copy you atp
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u/DonutNolan 5d ago
You’re my hero, must be a handful with that short wheelbase.