The ZX-Factor

Originally Published: September 2010 Words: Tim Gibson Pictures: Steve Taylor

Here’s a common-or-garden Japanese engine bay – in all its French diesel-powered glory. Not many SJ owners have bothered trying to fit a turbo beneath their vehicle’s diminutive bonnet, but Carl thinks it was worth the effort. ‘The performance, on and off-road, is great,’ he says. ‘I think it transforms the vehicle.’ Note the height of the intercooler, shown inset, which necessitated further modifications to the bodywork in order to fit beneath the hood

Squeezing a quart into a pint pot isn’t impossible. But, as Carl’s experience shows, it requires a bit of imagination. Here you can see that the brake servo had to be shifted to the wing, in order to create sufficient space for the larger engine. Carl fabricated all the bracketry himself, using parts harvested from a Ford Escort van. The process was very much one of trial and error, although he says he did at least have a sense of where to position things before starting work. It’s amazing to see just what can be achieved with a bit of effort – the Citroen lump is 0.6 litres larger than the original Suzuki unit, after all, as well as having a whopping great turbo to boot

This is a master cylinder for a hydraulic clutch – fitted after Carl installed a manual gearbox from an LDV Pilot van. He originally opted for a conversion that enabled him to use the 413’s box with the new engine, but this didn’t work out very well and resulted in the demise of an AP Racing paddle clutch. Not wanting to risk further expense, he decided to sort the problem himself, and the LDV transmission seemed like a good choice. It’s worked well, and overall gearing has remained lower than he expected. ‘It was a lot of work,’ he remarks, ‘but it paid off in the end’

The exhaust is pretty much completely home-made. Here, what you’re looking at is the down-pipe running from the turbo

The radiator is taken from a Suzuki Vitara, and Carl has used his ingenuity in positioning it. The rad is actually upside down, which means the drain (normally at the bottom) has become a bleed for air. It’s a deceptively simple modification, which makes Carl’s life just a little more straightforward

Installation of the LDV gearbox called for further changes to the engine mounts. Carl fabricated these himself, in order to ensure the correct alignment between the engine and transmission

Fitting a new engine and gearbox will always have knock-on effects in terms of what’s positioned where, and the props were a case in point. Carl had to make a hybrid unit using LDV Pilot and Suzuki parts, which he trued on the lathe before welding up. The result is a prop that’s not even a foot long

Another example of major components getting shifted around is the exhaust. Over time, Carl developed a flexi joint which absorbs movement in the system – until this point, it was prone to breaking

With all the extra power and torque, not to mention weight, of a 1.9 TD, it made sense to convert the rear brakes to discs. Carl used a set of SJ front discs and calipers, meaning of course that the vehicle has the same braking components front and rear. That’s great from a spares perspective, because it means everything is interchangeable. The servo and master cylinder are from the ZX donor vehicle, on the premise that what was specified to work with the engine in the first place should be able to keep on doing so now

One of the first modifications Carl made to the SJ, prior to treating it to a full 18-month rebuild, was to fit a shackle-reverse kit from Rubbers Suzuki (the company you now know as Off Road Armoury). The leaf springs are heavy-duty but not lifted, enabling them to cope with the extra weight of the engine while not generating too much of an increase in ride height. ‘I needed to keep the car quite stable,’ Carl reports, ‘because I use it on the road so regularly. It means I don’t have as much flex as I’d like off-road, but the SJ can still battle its way through most things’

Carl made the roll cage himself, and mounted it directly on to the vehicle’s chassis. Here, you can see how it integrates with the rock sliders, which were fabricated from steel box

Look closely and you’ll see how the edge of the bonnet sits proud from the bulkhead. That’s because Carl had to raise it by 1.5 inches in order to make enough room for the ZX engine. He fitted a steel spacer around the edge of the bonnet, and remade the hinges at the back so that it never fully closes. Coupled with the vents he set into the front edge of the bonnet, this actually offers the benefit of keeping air flowing across the engine, ensuring optimum performance even under duress

The rev counter is a different colour from the speedo – because it comes from the donor Citroen. Carl needed to incorporate this item from the French car, in order to keep track of the engine’s performance. It was a fiddly job to get right, he reports, but well worth doing

Home-made snorkel and 16-inch Grand Vitara rims add a touch of off-road heroism to the SJ’s external appearance. The tyres are Technic retreads, sized 235x70R16, and provide plenty of grip off-road while delivering a reasonable level of on-road performance

The KEW front winch, with steel cable, sits on a heavy-duty bumper that Carl modified to suit his needs. ‘I had no intention of taking the vehicle this extreme when I bought the bumper,’ he explains, ‘but I didn’t want to spend any more money on a proper winch bumper after I acquired the KEW unit.’ Instead, Carl cut a mounting place for the winch and strengthened the bumper so it could cope with the rigours of pulling a heavier-than-average SJ out of the mud. It’s saved him a few quid, and works admirably

The rear winch, which like its front-mounted colleague runs steel cable, was purchased second-hand from a friend. It’s a 3500lb Rule ATV unit, which Carl fitted principally for reasons of self-recovery. He mounted it directly on to the chassis, using chequer plate and the towbar to fill in the gaps – something that gives a good degree of strength to the back-end. You wouldn’t take a small winch like this to a challenge event, but it’s a useful backstop when Carl sets out on solo greenlaning adventures

A split charger mounted beneath the bonnet enables Carl to run a heavy-duty auxiliary battery powering the front and rear winches

A pair of Albright solenoids is located behind the driver’s seat, along with the red cut-off switch you see here which gives Carl the ability to kill the power supply in a trice

The rear loading bay is well-organised and easy-to-use. Carl keeps the grey waffle boards secured with a single mount in their centre, making it very easy to get at them in a hurry. A similar approach is taken with the black storage box, which can be unscrewed by means of a solitary wing nut. Carl keeps spares and tools in here, and is well up to the task of field repairs should the need arise

Diesel converted SJs used to be all the rage, but they’re harder to come by nowadays. That’s why it’s so exciting to see a good example – especially when, like Carl Skerratt’s, it has a few other tricks up its sleeve as well.

A few years ago, I wrote in these very pages that the Suzuki SJ had had its day. Age, I thought, had wearied the doughty Japanese giant killer, and the few remaining examples would soon be butchered for spares or consigned to the scrapyard of memory.

Unusually, I wasn’t completely wrong. It’s certainly harder to find a decent SJ nowadays than it was five years ago. A brief search on the Autotrader website just now revealed only one example for sale across the entire country, and that’s in need of a bit of TLC.

But the little truck can still be seen at fundays and off-road events. It’s not been usurped by the newer Jimny, which always lacked the charm of its diminutive predecessor. And those who know off-roading still have implacable trust in the SJ’s ability to master even the most challenging terrain.

This explains why the likes of Carl Skerratt and his friends continue to extract every ounce of pleasure from the unique abilities of Suzuki’s nimble genius. Carl first got into off-roading because a few of his friends owned SJs, and took him along to fundays with them. ‘I fell in love with it,’ he remarks, ‘as you do.’

A locally advertised SJ410 was enough to tempt him into his first 4x4 purchase – and Carl hasn’t looked back. ‘My fiancée is very understanding,’ he laughs, ‘and has let me spend more hours than I ought to have done in the workshop.’

Carl is a mechanic by trade, and spends his days fixing up motors on behalf of the Cheshire constabulary. That’s given him an undoubted headstart with his vehicle, because he’s got all the skills needed to work on it himself.

After a spell of enjoying the 410, Carl decided he would upgrade to the larger-engined and wider-tracked SJ413. He’d performed a few basic mods on the 410, including a snorkel and a set of reversed wheel rims. Many of these were transferred to the new truck, along with a reverse shackle kit to increase ground clearance. After a while, Carl also replaced the 1.3-litre engine with a 1.6-litre Vitara lump, so as to increase performance.

The project began in earnest when the Vitara lump developed a suspicious knocking from the bottom end. Carl decided it was time to fit a diesel engine, and opted for a 1.9-litre turbo from a Citroen ZX. Lots of Suzuki enthusiasts have fitted the naturally aspirated PSA unit to their SJs, but fewer have taken on the task of finding room for a turbo to spin in the cramped engine bay. Carl’s managed it in style, and the SJ also sports some other useful modifications to give it an edge off-road.

‘I use the vehicle as my daily driver,’ Carl reports, ‘so I’ve always had to be careful about maintaining its on-road manners.’ As it happens, the diesel conversion enhances the SJ’s performance on the black stuff, as well as delivering a torquier drive off-road.

The project has been an unmitigated success, therefore, which confirms what many of us already know – the Suzuki SJ is one of the all-time greats when it comes to bona fide mud-pluggers. So if you want to experience its distinctive virtues, you’d better act quickly. Because it’s not getting any easier to find a good one…

DIY ROLL CAGE, DIY ROCK SLIDERS, SJ, CITROEN ZX ENGINE, LDV GEARBOX, AP RACING CLUTCH, OFF ROAD ARMOURY SHACKLE-REVERSE