Ok were do I start....


Over rhe years i've owned a few zooks, all vitaras that I've modified for gentle offroad use.


A few years back I sold up, got rid of everything I got 4x4 wise and focused on getting a van for work amd a decent family car to run around in.


I always missed my little zook, and always wanted another but were I live they are few and far between if you want a tidy unmolested one. There's plenty of ones for sale but all soft tops or already been modified or rotten. Earlier this year I decided I was going to buy another and modify it to a higher spec than my last ones, basically build what I always wanted to build without worrying about trying to keep it up together for daily driving.


So this one come up for sale local to me, long story short I seen it a few times and one day when I was on route to view another vitara I seen this one and ended up buying it and since then 6-7 months ago I been slowly working on it getting it up together to a spec the way I want it.


Its still in the process of getting done, I haven't had much spare time but it should be done just after Christmas all being well, all the bigger things have been done its just a matter of finishing painting and putting all the new shiny parts on.



Things I've done and ready to get fitted....


4"x2" 4mm thick box sills/rock sliders, Subaru wrx seats, wellar wheels with diamondback tyres, winch front bumper, custom rear bumper with recovery points,diff/sump guard, 3" spring lift, diff drop brackets, 3point sabelt harness',extended shocks, chequered bonnet,composite doorcards,all sound deadening removed, part painted battleship grey.

What needs finishing....

Painting outside, painting inside, most of the parts listed above fitting, undersealing underneath, waiting on a steering wheel and boss too.

Pictures from then until now...

Appears you are going at the right way to ensure rust doesn't eat out the body of you truck.  Interesting pics and a nice tin top.  keep them coming.

Welcome to Zukiworld too and thanks for posting up your pics of your project truck to date.

Keep them coming.

Really nice looking Vitara.  I capped the ends of my rock sliders so they wouldn't fill with mud, otherwise yours very similar to mine.  Mine is painted Navy Grey also, but you will need to install off road lights in the bumper, then we would match.  I have Bomber seats up front, and they are failing, so I will check out WRX seats.  Yours look to fit very good.
Keep up the work and posts.  Where are you located?

Thanks for the kind words!



I've got to cap the sills after I fitted the front wings, obviously the wings need a little cutting and tacking onto the sill to get em right, ill cap the ends over then all being well!


The Subaru seats are a nice fit, can damm comfy too, they need about a hour of cutting and welding to get them to sot right but its worth it, I always ran bucket seats in my trucks but my back began to suffer, the Subaru seats are more forgiving and offer the same support for a fraction of the cost.

And I'm from Bristol England

This is a great little build.

I was wondering if your front winch bar is made or bought. If home made would you mind taking some close shots as i am finding it hard to find a good low profile bar. Or if made were did you get it from and how much did it cost(if that is ok to ask).

thanks James

The bumper is ready made, I'm not 100% sure what company made it though as i managed to sorce it via a friend so cant quote a correct price im afraid mate! My mate got one brand new off ebay for £200 and its not as heavy or well built as this one so mine could be a off road armoury one but who knows.

Not much to report as of late but things are slowly coming together.


Couple of pictures.

good progress. good luck with the build

Right its been a while, now Christmas is finally out the way and money is slowly coming in again I can pick up where I left off.

For a long time I had the idea in my head of running tubular front wings braced into the front bumper, however with this came a few obstacles, how to finish the tops, how to get it fitted neatly etc, also I was going to run them off my box sills which eventually would of got in the way when my external cage gets fabbed and fitted so standard front wings it was.

I've been trolling ebay and local ads for a set for a while now, I didn't fancy spending £120 on a pair to cut them up so they can accommodate the box sills and front bumper.

Happily for me a set came up near my house and I made a offer for £30 that the seller excepted so off I went to get them this morning.


Got em and got to work, chopped them about got them sitting right and painted them, also painted the rest of the outside of the truck (apart from the roof) and finished painting the inner arches black so all in all a productive day!

I need to get and finish the inside now a good days painting should take care of that then the glass, harnesses, lights etc can go back on

Have some pictures







You can see the amount of metal I had to cut away to allow for the box sills in picture below












Some of you may of spotted a front axel in the back of my van, its off a Suzuki sj and its for my truck at some point as I'm planning a live axel conversion, not anytime soon but a friend of mine was breaking one and give me it so happy days.

Thanks for looking!

Thanks for sharing the build. 

I have wanted to install 350z seats in my Sidekick, but there are always other projects that need attention first.

Thanks for sharing the build. 

I have wanted to install 350z seats in my Sidekick, but there are always other projects that need attention first.

I just installed a set of Firebird Formula seats in my Tracker.  They fit better than the Bomz seats I had, but larger riders will find them tight (as they also thought the Bomz was tight).  I removed the electric portion of seat adjustments as they are mounted to fit me.

there's been a big progress since i last check your build. Do you have other upgrades to be done on the vitara?