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LOADED4X4.COM.AU
LOADED 008: SUZUKI JIMNY
a civilian-based business and
global. Tim keeps the SA State
rescue helicopters in the air from
their base at Adelaide Airport
and moved down from Brisbane
in 2017 with his partner Bea.
Tim bought his Jimny in 2016,
a second-hand, black, manual
transmission model that was
new in 2005. Now Tim likes stuff
that’s got some cred and was
attracted to his Jimny because
of the colour, its genuine 4WD
capability, along with rugged
good looks, decent economy
and that a lot of the heavy lifting
in making it better was already
done. The vehicle when he
bought it had undergone a bit of a
transformation with the inclusion
of a 1.8-litre Suzuki Liana engine
conversion complete with an
Exedy heavy-duty clutch kit, a 2”
Dobinson suspension kit and a
wheel and tyre change to Federal
muddies - 235/75R15s.
Now the Liana’s M18A engine
made heaps of difference to the
power because those of you who
have driven the standard M13A
with VVT (variable valve timing)
and especially the auto version,
will know that it won’t win any
traffic light Grands Prix at all.
Here’s the difference – M13A =
62.5kW and 110Nm, compared
to the M18 = 92kW and 170Nm
- that’s a 50 percent increase in
the ponies! The problem with
modifying a 4WD is that when
you inevitably go looking for extra
clearance a taller tyre will appear
pretty quickly on the radar and
any useful increase in diameter
always comes at a cost, and
that’s gearing.
Next time you point the car
at a steep hill on the highway,
it’ll struggle to hold a gear that
before would have worked, and
when off-roading and you point it
at soft sand, it’ll bog down easier
and precious momentum will be
lost. Well, the M18A took care
of that and offered significantly
better driveability, but you know
the saying, “you can never have
enough power”.
Tim thought turbocharging
would do the job and be a simple
solution. Surely someone had
been down that path before? As
a member of the Suzuki Jimny
Owners Forum here in Australia
he put the call out and the replies
were pretty mixed, nothing
conclusive, so supercharging
made better sense.
Getting a supercharger
installed was going to be a pretty
expensive exercise until a chap in
the Forum advertised a pre-loved
kit for sale. The kit was originally
from Bullet Cars in Queensland
who specialise in making kits for
Jimnys using Sprintex products,
and it seemed good value at the
time at around $4,000 along with
extractors and exhaust.
Sadly that value wasn’t
realised as the used supercharger
needed a rebuild and adding
the cost of some installation
issues clocked up some extra
coin. Thankfully those dramas
were professionally rectified
by the guys at One Stop Suzuki
Shop in Nerang in Queensland,
an outfit for which Tim has high
praise. He probably could have
done the work himself given his
engineering ability, but not having
access to a garage nor tools,
dictated the work had to be done
at a shop.
I found the tools comment
an oddity given his work, but he
explained. “The stuff I work on