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A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?

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Offline Icelandic

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A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« on: December 04, 2007, 05:01:01 PM »
Does anyone here have a picture of there GV before and after the 2,5" Calmini lift kit?
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Offline 90Stomper

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2007, 09:13:10 AM »
will an 04 4door zr2 tracker count?  i will have mine done in a week or 2 if your are interested let me know.
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2004 chevy tracker, 4door, V6
says 'Chevy' on the outside,
but its covered with lots of big 'S's on the inside ;)
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Offline Icelandic

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2007, 11:05:15 AM »
Yeah sure..Im interested in seeing the diffirence with only the calmini lift kit. Im not getting enough flex with my 35x12.5´s, they just stop at the fender so the idea is to go calmini
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Offline Davyboy

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2007, 12:43:18 PM »
Icelandic,

Did you ever investigate that 3" kit from FTS in Taiwan.  I was thinking about it for when my Rocky Road Kit gets replaced (it's starting to sag) in the next year.  Only thing is, it doesn't come with new control arms, so it makes me wonder.  Calmini feels that longer control arms are needed for 2.5 inches of lift (3" should certainly use longer control arms).  Plus, mine are ancient, and the ball joint is built into the control arm, so I'm gonna want new ones soon anyway.  I'd like longer brake lines too.  Mine are close to being maxed out with the RRO body and suspension lift.  Just wondering if you looked into it.....
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1999 Grand Vitara w/CALMINI Suspension and RRO Body Lift, 31" Goodyear MTR tires, Skidplates, 5.12 Diffs with a Lock-Right in the rear.
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Offline Icelandic

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2007, 02:17:21 PM »
I never made it happen. Still wondering and money is always a problem since Im in school. But I did order a lift kit from them for the a friend of mine has Suzuki Jimny and that seems, so far, pretty good. Stiff but good and everything turned out right. Will post pictures of it soon
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Offline blacknight

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2007, 11:29:37 AM »
I'm running the FTS 3" springs on my Calmini lift. Rides a little hard and that's on an XL-7

George
 
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Offline Davyboy

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2007, 11:43:42 AM »
Quote from: blacknight on December 06, 2007, 11:29:37 AM
I'm running the FTS 3" springs on my Calmini lift. Rides a little hard and that's on an XL-7

George
 

Yeah......I wondered about that.  Between those springs and the Rancho shocks in the kit, it seems like it isn't exactly matched to the weight/characteristics of the Grand Vitara.  Offroading would be bone-jarring with a setup like that.  I guess it's either Calmini in my future, or the new 4.5 inch kit from Zukination if and when it comes out (although I'm not sure I'll have enough $$ for the Zukination kit).
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1999 Grand Vitara w/CALMINI Suspension and RRO Body Lift, 31" Goodyear MTR tires, Skidplates, 5.12 Diffs with a Lock-Right in the rear.
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Offline Yankee-Tim

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2007, 02:50:30 PM »
A Trail Slayer seems like it would be cheaper that the Sukination kit.
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kingzoo

Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2007, 04:10:09 PM »
    It should be.$2700 for the trail slayer kit,and we got Toy front and rear for a hundred.If you rebyuild the diffs and go for gears,it would be higher.But with any more than 3 inches of lift,I would want a solid axle anyway
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Offline 90Stomper

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2007, 05:36:14 PM »
well i got most of the kit on.  looks pretty good.  got a wrong part and i am waiting on calmini to send me the right one...... in the mean time i have no 4 wheel drive.  the kit cost about $1150 shipped.  took 2 months to get.  rids a little rough, seems very stiff which i like.  left the sway bars off and turns pretty good.  felt top heavy before.  i dont mind a lil bit of a rough ride.  i have not looked into the cost of puting vttr drops, om emu struts, boondox strut extenders and spring spacers all together, but i think you could get the same amount of lift that way.

right now i am running 3 1/8" body lift, 2.5" calmini lift with boondox 1.5" spring spacers and strut spacers on 30" tires.  feels pretty tall, dont know how that compares to stock height.

trail tough told me that the trail slayer kit wont fit on my year of Track/Vit.  frame rails are too wide.

dont know anything about the zukination one.
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2004 chevy tracker, 4door, V6
says 'Chevy' on the outside,
but its covered with lots of big 'S's on the inside ;)
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Offline ZeusZuki

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2007, 01:32:50 AM »
Hi ice,

I am running the Calmini kit and got 3" of lift ( actually measured and not guessed ). I also fitted Old Man Emu front struts when I did the lift. It rides REALLY nice, the springs are well suited to the vehicle and flex is much improved according to my buddies ( I am always driving so have not seen it in action myself LOL ). 

NB: The struts supplied with the Calmini kits are too stiff giving the impression of stiff springs - ditch them and fit some OME ones instead or run your old ones.
NB: The Calmini kits are engineered to give you back your castor and camber with the lift ( lifting your stock suspension does not - you lose castor when lifting stock arms ), what this means to you is that the Calmini kits castor adjustment causes your ball joint to move forward giving you more room between the tyre and the rear of the front wheel well. This is why the guys running the Calmini kits fit big rubber easier  ;)

My opinion - Calmini kits are worth every cent. They are very good out of the box and you can tweak them a bit for a little xtra. Face it - IFS is pretty hard to modify and their kits work  >:D
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1600 Escudo / Kick, beam front, coils all round, 37 MTR's, 97" wheelbase, locked fr & rr,twin stick, front stock ratio, Calmini 5.14 t box rear, Warn XD9000i winch, blah blah!

2.0 V6 auto, Calmini 3" kit, 33" jandles, LT struts, blah blah

2.5 V6 man GV, Calmini 2.5" kit, 235/85x16 jandle
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Offline bzzr2

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2007, 09:36:30 AM »
90Stomper, we're going to need to see a pic of that thing.  i am very curious as to how well things will go with the spacers included in your calmini lift, my hopes are that they go well for you!

Trail Tough told me the same thing about the trail slayer kit :-(
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03-ZR2, 2dr, 31x10.5 SSR's & stuff...--sold :-(
03 xl7, jeff's 2inch spacer lift, 225/75/16's; sold
09 taco reg cab short box 4x4
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Offline Davyboy

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #12 on: December 07, 2007, 10:58:23 AM »
ZeusZuki,

Question for you.....  If you're using Old Man Emu struts with your Calmini kit, instead of the shorter Calmini struts, are you using the Calmini strut spacer??

I didn't realize the Calmini kit brings the front wheels forward.  That's what I need.  I'm running out of room behind the front wheels, even with trimming!

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1999 Grand Vitara w/CALMINI Suspension and RRO Body Lift, 31" Goodyear MTR tires, Skidplates, 5.12 Diffs with a Lock-Right in the rear.
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Offline ZeusZuki

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #13 on: December 07, 2007, 05:10:27 PM »
Hi Davyboy,

Still got the strut spacers in - the thing is, that with this much lift on the standard Calmini kit the struts were topping out and made a hell of a noise. The OME struts allow more down travel and stop this problem - and yes I checked to make sure the CV's do not bind. It works really well now. NB: I would NOT go any higher than this though - steering and CV angles start to get maxed out at about this height ( well in my book anyway ).
The axle is only moved forward about 1/2 and inch but that is enough room for a 1 inch bigger tyre  ;)

Just fire me ANY questions you like and I will relay my experiences  :)
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1600 Escudo / Kick, beam front, coils all round, 37 MTR's, 97" wheelbase, locked fr & rr,twin stick, front stock ratio, Calmini 5.14 t box rear, Warn XD9000i winch, blah blah!

2.0 V6 auto, Calmini 3" kit, 33" jandles, LT struts, blah blah

2.5 V6 man GV, Calmini 2.5" kit, 235/85x16 jandle
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Offline 90Stomper

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Re: A GV with a Calmini lift kit pics?
« Reply #14 on: December 07, 2007, 07:10:21 PM »
i will get you a pic when i get my part from calmini put in and it stops snowing every other day.

"Trail Tough told me the same thing about the trail slayer kit :-("
if i had the $ i would just buy it and mod it, but they also said that the rack & pinion steering would not work, would have to put a toy power steering in.....  lot of work, but i have seen an 2nd gen 4door zr2 with this done on something around 35" tires.  looked badass!!  i have tried to find the guy with no luck...

my thoughts about the CV angle - it seems acceptable to run stock with strut spacers and coil spacers to give 1.5" lift.  not perfect, but will work.  so the calmini kit drops the tires 2.5" and then the front axle housing 2.5", so, pretty much back to stock.  so then i put the strut extenters and coil spacers back in and i am where i was before the calmini kit.  not perfect but acceptable.  this is my theory anyway.
the camber was off a bit with strut and spring spacers, even after using camber adj bolts.  calmini kit fixed that pretty much.  then added the spacers to the calmini kit and the camber is off just like before.  so that seems to indicate that i am were i was before as far as cv angles and stress goes.

like i said i run 30x11.5 ss tsl sx.  the height was ok before calmini lift, the width was the issue, rubbed a bit on the plastic trim.  now with both lifts together the width is not a problem.  i think i could get away with running a 32x9.5.  might try this next spring.
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2004 chevy tracker, 4door, V6
says 'Chevy' on the outside,
but its covered with lots of big 'S's on the inside ;)
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