Where does it become to modified?

[The_Dude]

I have a kinda rough Miata I have been using in place of my Cruiser as DD. In Grand Junction we have Flyin Miata which is more than equivalent of Slee Off Road for the LC. Its a fun little car to drive. Not very good in the winter but parts are stupid cheap and its wicked easy to work on.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I have a kinda rough Miata I have been using in place of my Cruiser as DD. In Grand Junction we have Flyin Miata which is more than equivalent of Slee Off Road for the LC. Its a fun little car to drive. Not very good in the winter but parts are stupid cheap and its wicked easy to work on.

I have owned 5 of them, 3 of which I doubled the stock hp, none of which were ever in rough condition. On the fence about adding a turbo to our current Miata.

 

[WagoneerSX4]

Do you have a pic of your Sx4? I have been looking at those for awhile and they are cool little cars. Have you owned it long? It is primarily Fwd and then when the rear tires spin its AWD?

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/121586-11-Suzuki-SX4-AWD <--- My build thread. I bought it new in the summer of '11. Zero issues except having to replace rear wheel bearings. And I beat the heck out of the poor thing.

It is a FWD configuration as it uses an internal transfer case in the transmission. It uses a wet-clutch pack type center "differential" to transfer the torque to the rear. It has FWD mode (zero torque transferred through center diff), iAWD (95% front/5% rear, if needed can transfer anything up to a 50/50 split on demand) and LOCK which locks up the clutch pack and gives you a 50/50 split full-time. LOCK mode can only be engaged below 60km/h. Once you go over 60km/h it returns to iAWD mode.

 

[The_Dude]

That's pretty cool. What do you get for mileage with it?

 

[rayra]

'too modified' when you're spending all your available money on it.
'too modified' when you spend $5k-$10k on (empty) stowage equipment and a tent.
'too modified' when it's your only vehicle or daily driver and you can't afford to wreck it off-road.

 

[WagoneerSX4]

That's pretty cool. What do you get for mileage with it?

Highway can still squeeze out 30mpg. City anything from 22-26 depending how you drive.

Fully loaded with camping gear, my trailer, RTT and paddle board I still get 20mpg.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

'too modified' when you're spending all your available money on it.
'too modified' when you spend $5k-$10k on (empty) stowage equipment and a tent.
'too modified' when it's your only vehicle or daily driver and you can't afford to wreck it off-road.

Bingo!

 

[eggman918]

Ti comes down to usefulness/driveability,on my F-250 the only things on the truck that came from the factory are the frame the leaf springs and the front clip,but I've owned it since '90 and it has evolved over time to fit our families needs and still sits a factory ride height with factory suspension geometry it has all new running gear but all Ford from newer HighBoys from the T case back and basically it is a Brazilian HighBoy for the motor/trans with a 203 range box in between.It is and always has been my daily driver/workhorse and our toy on weekends it still drives/handles like a stock HighBoy but seats 6 and gets 2x the mileage.and it cost me less than a newer used diesel crewcab 4x4 so I look at it as more of a modernization program....at least that is what I told the Wife and I'm sticking to that story.So I guess the bottom line is dont do a mod cause it looks cool or cause some fool you saw did it,but because it will improve the usefulness/comfort/driveability or lifespan of your rig.....drive it and enjoy the places it will safely take you and your family....this is just my two cents.

 

[Bikemobile]

Too modified would be if it were to become unreliable for long highway stretches to get from home to where you want to explore. I just lifted my WK and while I love the look I'm curious to see how she drives on the highway to my Moab trip next week. Same thing with tires. I would love some MUDs but I need to safely drive on 3 months of ice here in town.

 

[XJLI]

For me, it was this:

Drove my beat up 93 XJ on 33s across the country wheeling everywhere I could following my buddy's more built up truck. I watched every weakness that truck had and eliminated it when building my 98. I was the third owner (was friends with the second) and it was pretty much a mint low miles truck when I started. Fully polished HP44, D60 rear, fully-plated unibody, hybrid exocage, hydro assist, custom valved bilstein 9100 shocks, deaver springs front and rear... the list goes on. It actually drove great on the road. It still did 90 down the highway and tracked straight as an arrow, got somewhat decent fuel mileage (10 around town, 14 highway), and was built enough that I could beat the crap out of it without breaking and still drive home. Did I mention it was my DD?

The problem? Besides taking it out on the beach, I wheeled it twice a year. I had a $4000 truck with $20k into it... and it sure didn't look the part either (unless you were a Jeeper and peeked under it). Parted it out, made a good amount of money back and bought my Disco 1. I'm leaving it pretty much stock, and couldn't be more happy.

 

[Erik N]

I would hate to do this to a DD, but so far the trucks have been dead reliable. Of course, the white is used only once or twice a month and the tan one once or twice a year.

 

[Erik N]

It still did 90 down the highway

No offense, but I would call the cops on that thing doing 90 around other people.

 

[XJLI]

No offense, but I would call the cops on that thing doing 90 around other people.

Just because it could do it didn't mean I drove it like it was a BMW.... It's perfectly legal as you see it in NY state.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Too modified would be if it were to become unreliable for long highway stretches to get from home to where you want to explore. I just lifted my WK and while I love the look I'm curious to see how she drives on the highway to my Moab trip next week. Same thing with tires. I would love some MUDs but I need to safely drive on 3 months of ice here in town.

For Moab and 90% of the trails in UT/CO you do not need mud tires.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

For me, it was this:

Drove my beat up 93 XJ on 33s across the country wheeling everywhere I could following my buddy's more built up truck. I watched every weakness that truck had and eliminated it when building my 98. I was the third owner (was friends with the second) and it was pretty much a mint low miles truck when I started. Fully polished HP44, D60 rear, fully-plated unibody, hybrid exocage, hydro assist, custom valved bilstein 9100 shocks, deaver springs front and rear... the list goes on. It actually drove great on the road. It still did 90 down the highway and tracked straight as an arrow, got somewhat decent fuel mileage (10 around town, 14 highway), and was built enough that I could beat the crap out of it without breaking and still drive home. Did I mention it was my DD?

The problem? Besides taking it out on the beach, I wheeled it twice a year. I had a $4000 truck with $20k into it... and it sure didn't look the part either (unless you were a Jeeper and peeked under it). Parted it out, made a good amount of money back and bought my Disco 1. I'm leaving it pretty much stock, and couldn't be more happy.

I'm in the same position, about to sell our built ZJ because it only gets used a few times a year, built axles with long arms and 35's plus all of the heavy armor gets to be too much after awhile. A point and shoot type rig takes the challenge out of things that used to be fun.