What if Suzuki told you that they needed your help in making a new vehicle to compete with the Jeep Rubicon from the factory. You could pick either a Samurai, Trackick, Tracker, Vitara, or XL-7. On top of that they would give you the FULL support of all the top Suzuki after market suppliers and fabricators.
Now the catch , the vehicle has to be able to run the Rubicon following a stock jeep rubicon and come out with no more body damage than the jeep! You can drag the frame all you want.
On top of that they say that if you do this you get to keep the vehicle and a cash prize of $10,000 plus you get the first of the prduction model. Which vehicle would you chose and why?

(at your skill level)

That would probably disqualify me right there, considering that I have absolutely no rock crawling experience, and that's what the rubicon is, no?

sammy. the reason i say that is.....

you know i think it would be cool it we had limits to do stuff with, tire size, spending limit and so on.  cuz i would just go and buy Jake Plambregs(sp) sammy on 44's and unimogs and run over the heep.

stu

Thanks man!!

you know i think it would be cool it we had limits to do stuff with, tire size, spending limit and so on.  cuz i would just go and buy Jake Plambregs(sp) sammy on 44's and unimogs and run over the heep.

stu

Good point....

you know i think it would be cool it we had limits to do stuff with, tire size, spending limit and so on.  cuz i would just go and buy Jake Plambregs(sp) sammy on 44's and unimogs and run over the heep.

stu

Having said that you could not go over 6" of lift body/suspension and engine swaps are allowed but it has to be from another Suzuki vehicle. And vehicle has to look stock except for lift tires and armor. ie; fenders must be intact!....

Now what truck would you choose?
You don't have to go into detail, just what truck and why

ok, sence i can spend all the money in the world, start with a 97 4 door tracker, 6in calmini combo with 33 in boggers(mabey a little trim ) on some beadlocked alum. rims, all steel up front, ARBed front and rear.  Engine would be somthing in the 2.0L to 2.5L range, supercharged, camed, filter, exhaust, and so on, Rhino lined inside, duel cases, hidden winch, stronger rear axles, custom CVs, i'll have to think of more later.

stu

P.S. if i was really doing this i would just call mike up and see if he wanted to sell his.

Suzuki Jimny with a GV 2.0 Turbo Diesel engine.    http://www.suzuki4.co.uk/images/images_jimny/jimny_swf/jimny_tech.html  

- 6" suspension lift

- Front & rear lockers

- 4:1 T-case gears

- 33" TSLs with diffs geared respectably

- Winch Bumper and a warn 8000

- Swing away tire carrier and rear bumper

My dream truck!  

Ohh ...........  Don't get me started, I have
wanted to run the Rubicon for years, and I
Would pick a new body style that has tires
and lift in the plan, The Kick is a better riding
truck, the Sammy is more of a all around off
road design, there needs to be some of both
trucks in this build, and not an easy choice.

Wild

A Samurai with the body stretched to slightly longer than LWB length, and a few inches wider than a Sidekick, with 4 doors. Axels ~6" wider than a Sidekick's, and significantly more beefy. Powered by the 2.7L V6 with some sort of forced induction. Dual transfer cases. Selectable lockers front and back with 5.83 gearing. 6" suspension lift, 35" offroad tires (BFG Mud Terrains or Wrangler MTR's). Modified fenders (essentially cutting, but done at the factory ).

I was thinking XL-7 with 2.5" suspesion + 2" body lift riding on 32" ATs. Lower tranfer gears and lower diff gears. ARBs front and rear with armor all around and under. 2" receiver bumpers front and rear with a winch mounted on a 2" receiver winch plate. Duel red or yellow top batteries and a clean Rino lined interior. One more thing, a snorkel.

Re-release the Samurai in the USA, add small lift, 31's lockers and low t-case.  

It worked the first time, I bet it would work again. Simple, inexpensive, no bells and whistles 4x4 that would hang with the Rubicon all day long.

Zig

ZUKIPILOT
I AGREE WITH YOU BUT WOULD ALSO MAKE THE TRACK VERY SLIGHTLY WIDER AND ADD SOME DECENT POWER STEERING .
PUT THE ENGINE UP TO THE 16V VITARA MOTOR AND A DECENT FREE FLOW EXHAUST SYSTEM ..

WHAT A BEAST

Re-release the Samurai in the USA,

Zig

That's what I'm saying. Any vehicle you choose would be BRAND NEW! They'll handle the politics/paper work.

And I changed (at your skill level.) to following a stock jeep rubicon.