Suzuki Swift Mods ?

jamesblade

jamesblade

jamesblade

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19 Jul 2010
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Myself and a mate are doing the Mongol Rally this summer, we've just bought an 03 Suzuki swift 5 door, 1.0, and 53k on the clock.

So we're aiming to drive aprox 10k miles from UK across eastern Europe then Western Europe and onto Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia/siberia and 2/3rds of the way across Mongolia to the capital Ulan Bator.

Looking at 5-6 weeks of travel time, deserts normal Roads, pot holed roads, sand roads, mountain roads and no roads :)

Thinking of a few things we need to prep the car with before we go but was wondering if anyone would like to make some sugestions.

Bear in mind we are on a very small budget and will be trying to source stuff as sponsorship so will only be able to buy as a last resort..

Fire away, cheers.

If you fancy a little more info take a look at the site linked in my sig and especialy the video on the mongol rally menu link, it's called "travelling is for sissies" gives you a good idea what we are going to be driving over. :eek:
 
sump gaurd, prop guard, slimmest offroad tyres you can get, try and drop the suspension, 2nd fuel tank with transfer pump, strip out all excess weight, roll cage is a must, decent air filter which is cleanable, and a satelite phone!

Have a look at a classic mini cooper s rally car, copy all the mods from that!
 
Mattius said:
sump gaurd, prop guard, slimmest offroad tyres you can get, try and drop the suspension, 2nd fuel tank with transfer pump, strip out all excess weight, roll cage is a must, decent air filter which is cleanable, and a satelite phone!

Have a look at a classic mini cooper s rally car, copy all the mods from that!
Click to expand...

This!

4x AT tyres, two spare tyres already fitted to wheels, two fuel tanks, couple of big jerry cans, sump guard, not sure about a roll cage, would be ideal, but gets pricey, then the argument about harnesses, helmets etc comes into it all.

Not sure why doing it in such a small car is some peoples idea of fun!

I'd sell it and get a Jimny instead, still under 1.2L but will be 4wd!
 
cheers people, Some good tips on there and some not so good, Jono8 :)

Thought about a Jimny but then thought, it would be kind of cheating and not realy in the spirit of the rally,

Our budget is realy tight at the minute so thinking we will be doing the essential and most cost effective that our mechanic friend can do for us, with us passing him sockets and rags etc in the way of assistance :)

Looking like a few teams have gone for Swifts must be a good reason, finger crossed. :D
 
Completely off-topic, and not helpful at all, but was it difficult to get visas for the trip? I know that the Russians can be difficult at the best of times.

I would honestly chop off a limb to do this!
 
Suzuki swifts are really reliable, good choice, AT tyres and some jerry cans are about all I would bother with once I was happy the car was in good condition.

The sumps are made of steel and can be prone to rusting and leaking so make sure the sump is in good nick, if you have the time a sump guard would be handy. Make sure drive shafts are not clicking on a full lock when your turning. Brake pipes at rear can be rusty if they haven't been replaced. If you ever have a problem with starting it clean the earth wire from the battery on the gear box.

Spares wise maybe take a clutch kit, a couple of driveshafts, oil, antifreeze, brake pads, a rear wheel bearing and two spare wheels.

Can't really think of any other problems these suffer from, except for the above they are bomb proof.
 
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Loads of cable ties in various sizes, including the absolutely massive ones. Saves you getting stuck over something silly like a snapped throttle cable. I've done a "Get you home" repair on a sheared tie rod with a few king size cable ties.
 
There is a massive thread on here, might be worth hunting it down.

At the end of the day, space is limited as it is a small car and you are doing a years worth of driving in one hit. How often do you break down in a year?

Make sure it has a good service (coolant, plugs, air filter and oil) and the rest of the car is in good nick, most stuff will be availible in the countries you visit.

In terms of spares, i would take:

A full size spare that is pumped up.
Bulbs
Oil
Fuses
Water
Jerry Can w/fuel
Jump leads

I wouldn't bother with sump guards and long springs, unless you can blag it for free.

Springs - D Faulkner
Sump Guards - Land rover forums
 
Sump gaurd is just a sheet of 2mm steel or alloy, should be able to blag it for free then just drill holes in it to save weight, should be able to find a suitable fuel tank in a scrappy for a few quid, likewise an older model cars electric fuel pump.

For suspension i was meaning mod it yourself.

Really depends on what you can do for yourself or blag in these situations, i was helping a friend a few years back, we managed to do all i said for under £500 but then i can weld, have all the tools and lots of spare metal.

we machined some spacers for the shocks on the lathe and welded them to the body tub to lower the std shocks by 2" giving it extra ground clearence.

Sump guard was a bent sheet of 2mm steel bolted to the chassis rails with lots of holes drilled in it with a hole saw.

Fuel tank was from a triumph spitfire (had one lying around) fuel pump from a landrover, fuel hoses i had lying around, then a simple switch on the dash to transfer fuel.

The biggest cost was steel tubing, it wasn't a proper cds cage, just the largest walled tube we could get in the local metal merchant, bent by a friendly exhaust guy who did it for free for a sticker on the car into a hoop and then with two straight supports, all welded to the car. Im a sucker for safety on things like this, you roll that car in the middle of no where with no support crew a cage will save you, no need for harneses etc, what you are trying to stop is that windscreen frame coming in on your head.

Belts! don't forget spare belts, fan belt and alternator and another jerry can just for water.

Then duct tape, zipties, metal host clips, length of rubber tube various diameters, spark plugs.

Gotta think about what you need to keep going for spares, so cooling, fueling, banging.

Tools as many big hammers as you can fit :D
 
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thewanted said:
Completely off-topic, and not helpful at all, but was it difficult to get visas for the trip? I know that the Russians can be difficult at the best of times.

I would honestly chop off a limb to do this!
Click to expand...

We are just in the process of drafting our visa selections over the next few weeks, using a company called the Visa machine, they are used by the adventurists every year so are used to dealing with what a typical rally route ends up looking like. Get a 15% discount on admin fees as well, even though i'm sure thats balanced out in other ways.

As long as we read the good instructions they have given us and take our time writing out forms etc then all should be ok.

Here's our very early draft.. :)

Rallyvisapriceguestimate.png




Which limb ? ;)
 
Some top tips lads, realy appreciated. going to paste a few onto our FB page if thats ok..

Luckily our mechanic m8 has his own welding gear and a good idea of what he thinks we need as well, to be honest I think he's taken it to heart as a project that he has to make the most of and do as good a job as he can, he's scavaging more that a vulture would for us :)

THink we've arranged to have the first full day on the 19th of this month to get things going..

Think the big thread was from a guy called Tres, I remember reading it and it was his thread that got me set on doing this. i've been in touch and picked his brains a little early on when we were fighting for a place...

And Ranger07 thats a good positive post fella, cheers..
 
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