The Heap. A Gen 2 Tracker/Vitara Build

[IdaSHO]

Still waiting on the cylinder head to be finished by the machine shop, so I dug into the transfercase gear swap.
Trans was removed from the chassis and transfercase separated and plopped on the bench.

Its a cute little thing

The gears are legit Japanese gears, that provide a 72% low range reduction over stock.
A bit of clearancing is the case is required to fit the new gears.
By design and according to the instruction you must disassemble the shifter mechanism and rods,
but I ran across a "shortcut" that involved drilling a small hole in the top of the case to access the shift fork roll pin.
This eliminated the need to tear into the shifter mechanism, and worked out great.

Then fresh seals on the input and outputs, and good to go.

A few photos...

 

[IdaSHO]

 

[operator john]

Just AWESOME !!!

 

[IdaSHO]

Thanks, now if parts actually show up....

This evenings bit of work was held up by a single $5 O-ring.
Discontinued by Suzuki/GM, but I managed to find a NOS source.

This single O-ring seals a coolant passage that travels between the main block and the midblock/girdle.
It showed up today, so with a bit of plastigauge and assembly lube, I tossed the rotating assembly together.

Freshly cleaned/inspected/honed block
DNJ (STD) pistons
Mellings rings
King (STD) rod and main bearings
New oil pump chain and guide

A few photos....

 

[IdaSHO]

Quite the saga finding parts, but Im getting there.

The machine shop found a single cracked valve spring retainer in their teardown and inspection of the head.
Obsolete part, of course. After weeks of coming up dry finding the part I started hunting for a cheap/junk head to source the retainer from.
Finally found one, and and once the machine shop had the part they went to town.

All new exhaust valves
All new exhaust guides
A few intake valves
All valves ground
All new valve stem seals
Resurfaced deck

It was a spendy trip to the machine shop, but we are good to go...

So motor is going together, and looking great.
Only part Im waiting for now is a NOS oil pump.

 

[IdaSHO]

Happy Holidays all. I was lucky enough to have a quiet Christmas at the house with just the wife, so some things in the shop got done.

Im quickly running out of parts to bolt to this engine, so that's a good thing!
Still waiting on the OEM oil pump, shipping delays.... so the pan cannot go back on just yet.
Also waiting on a bearing for an idler pulley, and plugs to drop in

Its done up as factory as possible, with the only "upgrade" being a oil port tee to run both the factory oil idiot lamp and a proper oil PSI gauge.

 

[burt]

Awesome that everything you’ve needed has been found. Such a bummer Suzuki parts for these things are drying up. seems Like a rebuild like that may be just about impossible soon. Have you been hitting up trail tough for parts? They have always been helpful and seem to maintain a Suzuki carcass yard. At least they used to

 

[IdaSHO]

Only real hangup was that damn valve spring retainer. To be realistic, thats something that NOBODY needs during head work.
Its just my luck I needed one. Everything else is available, especially if you are willing to order from Japan.
Sources here in the US simply are not keeping inventory, which I dont fault them for it.
These are somewhat rare as well as very reliable, so the actually need to stock parts simply isnt there.

This has been a fun build though, with plenty more to go. This weekend I should have the time to strip things down to bare chassis,
then its a simple (haha) matter of assembling clean new or refurbished parts.

 

[IdaSHO]

Happy Holidays all

The chassis was stripped of the front axle, steering components, suspension components, etc...
Then cleaned up, degreased, pressure washed, and treated to a heavy coating of chassis saver paint.

factory steering rack was inspected and cleaned up, and after chassis paint was cured.... reinstalled.

 

[IdaSHO]

Attention was then directed towards the front axle.
Ive sourced a set of 5.12 diffs front and rear, but the front still utilizes the OEM air actuated diff.

While the diff itself is relatively reliable, the compressor needed to actuate it is not, and I just assume not deal with it.
So the diff was torn down, bearings inspected, and diff modified to delete the requirement for the air compressor.
This involves adding the manual locking hubs, and welding the diff in the engaged position.

Easy enough

During the tear down I marked the locations of the gear lash adjusters with nothing more than a punch and a hammer.
This allowed me to do a complete tear down, and reassembly to exactly how it came apart.
I also welded the air line connection shut, to eliminate any leak points.

Once on the vise, things were wrapped with foil to keep welding nonsense contained, and things were preheated with MAP gas torch,
and a hot penetrating weld was applied to both the ring and the 4 notches in the diff to hold it engaged.

After things cooled down things were reassembled and the entire unit was cleaned up and painted.

 

[Kingsize24]

Such an AWESOME build. Can't wait to see it completed and out being beat on.

 

[IdaSHO]

So I FINALLY found something that is (re)useable. So far I feel like everything Ive unbolted deserved nothing more than a trip to the dumpster.
The front wheel bearings happened to be in great shape, so things were cleaned up, all new seals, repacked with synthetic grease, and reassembled.

 

[IdaSHO]

Took about a month, but the NOS Suzuki oil pump finally arrived.
So motor is officially buttoned up now.

Pump was primed with assembly lube, fresh chain guide adjusted for proper chain tension, and torqued down.
Then the pan was glued and fastened. Good to go!

 

[IdaSHO]

Been waiting on parts, mainly seals. All are finally here, so things are going back together
At this rate I should be dropping motor and trans back into the chassis this weekend.

 

[IdaSHO]

Freshly rebuild calipers, new coated rotors (no pads installed yet), and suspension back together.
Factory struts test fine, so they were repainted and reused. Time will tell if those actually need replaced.
Im also ditching the front sway bar for now. Word on the street is these are streetable without, and you gain a bit of articulation.
I also still have tie rod ends on order. So stockers are being reused just to get things back on the ground.

But the front end is back on the ground