Just sold the sold after some serious modding. I was not planning to ever take it off road as it was my main transport, but I wanted to modify for experience. I now know how to change suspension, air intakes, upholster, wiring up bass boxes etc.
I am a student, so every single modification I made involved buying parts from eBay and doing the work myself, or with the help of people I know at the garage.
The final product:
The arches were originally OEM arches, with rubber seals, designed to support larger wheels, but not Fatboy wheels. I found that by fibre glassing these to the body, instead of the seals, the vehicle was much more stable and responsive round the corners. It also looks better. The rubber seals stood out like a sore thumb.
A black vinyl professionally fitted to the windscreen. I tinted all the rear windows using 50% tint. Took me a few attempts but I got it right in the end. The rear was the most difficult due to the bend in the glass and the defroster grid. In future I would leave it for a professional.
The rear piece as potential for a spoiler, but I never got round to fitting one. A shame.
I cut out the front grill pieces and fitted an aluminium mesh. This is to support my RAM air filter.
From the sides you can tell I have added some sidesteps, as well as some mirror strips along the windows.
Don't they look nice?
Check out them alloys! Beast at 255.65.R15 as well as a set of 1.5" wheel spacers on each side, thanks to 'bits4vits' on eBay. The front wheels had to be fitted with camber bolts. You may notice I had fitted a set of auto locking hubs. After almost crashing the thing going round a corner too fast in ice, I decided to opt for some actual four wheel drive. Cost me �90 from Canada. Worth it I think.
I fitted a spare 255 tyre to the rear, although it didn't match the rest. eBayers can't be choosers!
The rear were fitted with Altezza lights (eBay!), which I fitted with security screws due to the theft stats in our area (these were stolen once).
Pro=comp kit fitted to the suspension. I had these off eBay and the original springs were a bit worn, so I had them re-sprayed yellow. Nas! When at the garage, the old ones were rusted on so badly, then had to be welded off! I didn't care much as the suspension was so bad before. I compared the weight of the old to the new, and I can tell you that it was comparing the weight of a toilet roll to a pair of bricks. Obviously a sign of where Suzuki and Pro-comp differ in their opinion of suspension systems and fluid levels.
New struts fitted to the front also to compensate (can't have unequal shock abilities!). I fitted the springs myself! Had to use spring compressors etc, and I enjoyed it all. Something about the relief felt when that heavily rusted screw comes off with a high pitch squeak. Very satisfying!
One RAM induction kit. Yes that is made of carbon fibre. It makes a huge sound difference. Had a friend listen to it whilst I revved the engine. Asked him to put it right next to his face. He jumped high!
The inside consists of a set of seat covers I bought cheap down an Aldi store. I wanted to get a set of Leather ones off the seller 'Glamouride' on ebay. I saw them fitted to a Vitara before and they looked amazing. Only they charge �70 + postage a set. As I knew I was replacing the Vitara, I decided to pass.
The wheel used to be black leather and aluminium, but I switched it to black and blue vinyl to match the them of the car I had planned. I wish I had bought leather though, as I found it to be more supple, and had a sense of absorbency which improved grip.
Yes I fitted an Altimetor. �70 off ebay! Is that good or bad? Regardless it was great fun to see what angles I could get around corners!
Spared no expense! �20 off ebay and it is useless for holding drinks! They just spill all over the place. Nveer had the heart to sell it separately though.
I made the centre console out of Faux Leather. I used a set of large door handles from 'Wickes' (a UK hardware store) to form a support beam. The idea was to have a place to rest my mobile phone or head unit case. The rear console had the same feature, as well as a sliding compartment, purchases off ebay, and original from a BMW.
I used a pair of tax disc holders, some mesh and some black faux leather to make these. I drilled a hold out of the original speaker covers, large enough for a new set of speakers and the tax disc surround. The only problem was the left side, in which the extra padding got in the way of the glove box closing. In copycat cases, I suggest trimming the right edge a bit to make up for a couple of mm extra thickness.
Re-upholstered the rear. Black on the main panel, with blue on the pockets. I fitted chrome covers on the speakers, which have LEDs that flash to the music. NAS!
More aluminium of course!
Made a speaker box out of MDF (any other type of wood leaves a danger of splinters!). Made 3 compartments, so that each set of speakers had their own air pocket, and the centre section had a space for a chrome amplifier, an LED light, plus room for all the cables.
Apologies as I failed to take pictures of my progress. The power ran behind the right speaker (facing the system), and I wired up a system that enable me to fit a push button switch (you may see a small blue switch under the speaker) which turn the blue LED ON/OFF. I would like to thank Maplin Electronics and my Physics teacher for helping my design the wiring schematics. It was plagued with problems as I had never done this before (I blew 3 switches!).
The bass speakers were 300w in total, so set up with a VRX Chrome 4 Channel 300W Amplifier Surprisingly loud! The amplifier was hidden with the use of a tinted screen. The screen was a 6MM LEXAN MARGARD POLYCARBONATE PLASTIC, purchased from 'red-display' on eBay. He was also kind enough to cut it to size and drill the holes according to my specifications.
Oh look! There's my bike too!
For the 4 other speakers, I fitted a set of PYLE BLUE LABEL - PL42BL TWO - WAY COAXIAL SPEAKERS
Specification:
Power handling: 90 watts RMS.
Max power: 180 watts
Non-fatiguing butyl rubber surround3
/4" high temperature ASV voice coil
Blue poly injection cone
20 oz magnet structure
1/2" neodymium film dome tweeter
Impedance: 4 Ohm
Sensitivity: 88 db
Frequency response: 110 Hz - 20 KHz
I know its not the loudest system, but am studying medicine so do have a form of respect for my hearing, and this suits me quite fine, especially since I was only using the car as my project.
To run it all? A Blaupunkt Woodstock DAB 52:
Technical Specifications
Radio
* FM, MW, LW
* DigiCeiver
* MW interference suppression
* RDS-EON
* Digital selectivity enhancement (SHARX)
* 30 presets
Digital Radio
* Frequency ranges : Band III, L-band
* Support of DAB mode I, II, III, IV
* Frequency response - 20 - 20,000Hz
* Dunamic label (Radiotext)
* Ensemble seek tuning
* Service seek tuning
* 20 presets
* Reception of primary and secondary services
* Preselection for weather, sport, traffic news
* Service-following (DAB/FM, ensemble)
CD
* Playback of audio CDs/CD-ROMs
* CD-RW-compatible
* Disc Naming
* CD mix
* Disc Management System (DMS)
MMC / SD
* MMC card reader
* FAT 16 formatting
MP3/MP2 player
* MP3 playback from CD-ROM and MMC
* Display of up to 127 directories
* Filename display
* Display of ID3 tags up to 30 characters
* Bit rate 8-320 kbit
* Supports variable bit rates
* Mix
* Scan
* Playlist (TPM)
Amplifier
* 4 x 25 W RMS power
* 4 x 45 W Max. power
* Digital parametric 5-band equaliser
* AutomaticSound (GALA)
* Bass/treble separately adjustable for front/rear
* Source-specific sound adjustment
* Auxiliary input
* Loudness (programmable)
* 4-channel Preamp-Out (4 V)
* Sound Presets
Miscellaneous
* Flip release panel
* Clock
* Telephone auto-muting
* TMC out
* Pre-equipped for telephone/navigation speech output
* MultiColour display (white+red+blue)
* Night design red
* Front design in black
* Steering wheel remote control RC 10 (special accessory)
* IR remote control RC 10 H (special accessory)
To support my custom amp unit, I had to buy an external sub out. This was from http://www.bluespot.co.uk/default.asp, who I must say I found quite reasonable in prices, and also delivery times.
One disappointingly factor with the DAB52 is that the SD card function only reads off SD cards that have been formated in an outdated file system. Unfortunately XP owners cannot do this, so only 98- can. A very annoying feature and I have not got the feature working as a result. The DAB53 is supposed to have solved this by offering an inbuilt formatting function. Go for that one!
A custom shelf at the back to cover up the system, and match the theme of the car.
NAS!
Any modded car should have a Mascot. Here is mine:
Go on Vash!
I intend to move him from car to car, taking a picture of each occasion as I go. Something for the photo books I guess!
As it began on eBay, it ended on eBay. Compared to the investment into the vehicle, I was disappointed to see it go for �1020. I learnt that customising a car to such an extrreme actually lowers the value of the car. However it was a project car right from the beginning, and I had even though about giving it away. With the mods though, I felt uncomfortable doing it, as I don't know anyone that drives like me. I set the reserve at �1k, as I knew I could get that for parts, so at least I got �20 out of it. That's half a tank of petrol!
My new vehicle is a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I will modify it, but will try to be a lot more subtle. I will post up pictures soon.
