I am starting this log with work that has already been completed.  I had done a lot of reading and was hesitant about building up a Sport.  There wasn't a great deal of information on the Sports and most people said it couldn't be done with regular parts.  When SewerZuk and Kreator did a Sport conversion, they confirmed that many of the items are the same.

This is what I started with.  It had a 120k miles and wasn't running.  It had a bad fuel pump, which I confirmed with a short blast of starter fluid and a temporary battery.  I used my AAA account to haul it to a mechanic to do the fuel pump.  I was only going to be around for a few days and I didn't want to spend my limited time dealing with a fuel tank and pump.

A common issue with the J18 is a bracket that holds the fan mount and pulley.  It isn't the pulley that you see under normal circumstances, it is behind it.  The bracket breaks and lets the fan belt come loose or break off into the radiator.  Mine was not broken completely, but was allowing the fan belt to slip.  Time to switch to an electric fan.  You can see the remains of the bracket below the idler pulled and the water pump.

I was still having some high temperature problems.  It was running about 200F in mild heat.  I had read about parts house thermostats being a problem, so I bought a factory thermostat and replaced the water pump.  The thermostat on the right is factory and is supposed to stick into the center of the flow better.

I later found a few small hoses on the back of the engine that had leaked.  I also bypassed my heater.  I don't have any heat issues now, but the heater is a question mark that I need to address.

Next up was the fun stuff.  I installed some spacers, so that I could move from the factory 215/65-16 tires to some 225/70-16, which I think were 29 inches.  I bought a Harbor Freight spring compressor that worked well, after I rounded down the backs of the spring hooks with a grinder.  Grinding was necessary, because the hooks were preventing the compressor from getting into the springs where I needed them.  The install took a few hours with the right equipment on hand.  The black rig is a random Sidekick I pulled up next to for a comparison shot.

Later on, I decided I wanted to move to the next stage.  I read though a build log on Pirate for lifting a 4 door Sidekick to be a good daily driver.  I ordered the parts and bought new tires.  The tires were installed first, but they rubbed on hard bumps and full turns.  The tires are 255/70-16.  The tires gave me another inch of lift and the new springs with spacers gave me a 4.5 inches, not including tires.

OME 962 and OME 955 springs
replaced 1.5 inch front spacer with 1 inch
rear 2" Jeff spacer left in place, new 1.75" spacer had too small ID

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/suzuki/444978-4-door-sidekick-buildup-cool-daily-driver-4.html

I am on a new laptop and don't have any editing software to reduce the file size.  I can only post a couple pics at a time.  Here are two more.

This is my Sidekick now.  I replaced the Thule roof rack with a factory one.  I may switch back to the Thule, as this one is noisier than the Thule.

Another Sport issue is the exhaust manifold cracks.  Mine is cracked in several places.  I found a new one for $360, but I can get a header for $300.  The tri-wye may help the performance slightly, but it is mainly to replace the cracked manifold.  I won't have time to install it for a few weeks.  A friend is bringing it as checked baggage from Australia next week.  Picture taken from online.

This is my Sidekick now.  I replaced the Thule roof rack with a factory one.  I may switch back to the Thule, as this one is noisier than the Thule.

But... this one looks better on your truck!  It's unique too!  Is it more functional than the Thule rack?  If so, I'd keep the new one.  Just crank your stereo up a notch.

I do like the looks of the factory rack, much more than the Thule.  The factory rack is just as useful for the day to day items and I can get most of the same adapters to mount things to the crossbars.  I have a large Thule basket with the extension that I will mount to the new rack this weekend to see how it fits and looks.

I try to do something to Sidekick nearly every weekend.  There isn't always a major project, but I will do small repairs or cosmetic repairs.  It had pinstripes when I bought it, but after a while the pinstripe tape was starting to come off.  I decided to remove all of it.  I have also replace plastic rivets and repainted items to clean up the way it looks.  The paint on the wipers has been blasted off after 232k miles of driving.  I pulled them off, cleaned and scuffed them and then repainted them.

The lever that flips my rear view mirror between day and night driving broke and the mirror was hardly usable.  I could buy another 17 year old factory mirror for $35 or a newer one from a Lincoln for $55 ($40 mirror, $15 cable).  It has auto dim for night driving and has much better map lights than what is in the headliner.  The cable has wires for battery hot, key hot, reverse lockout, and door switches.  The reverse lockout prevents it from dimming when you are in reverse.  This is nice when you are backing up to your garage at night.

That mirror was a great upgrade idea.

That mirror was a great upgrade idea.

I also liked that I could mount it higher and get it out of my direct line of sight.  I had to look under or around it before.

I had to remove some random photos the forum added to the last post.  The forum may have some old links in the database that is causing to add photos to each new post in this thread.