May 23rd
Well this is my first small 4x. I have been a K5 lover for a few years now and with gas going over 4 bucks a gallon, I decided on something smaller. A friend of mine has a Geo Tracker that he built and that thing is bad a$$!!!! So I decided to start one of these projects up myself.

A little back story about my Tracker. It is an `89 manual trans, 1.6L, 4 wheel drive. With a blown engine. Bad things happen when you drive a low geared vehicle 90 with no oil in it! I purchased this for $500 bucks and am in the process of stripping it down and disassembling the motor to remove it.

I will be doing a solid axle conversion on it in the near future. Plus swapping out the stock suzuki rear axle and tossing in a toyota 8" with 5.29s and a Aussie locker. Up front will be a Toyota 8" with 5.29s and either a Aussie or an ARB locker, plus adding Chromoly axles and longfield joints. Steering will be handled using a Toyota IFS box and a GM pump with a Calmini Hi Steer setup and Rancho steering stabilizer. I am using 2.5" Jeep YJ springs with Currie hangers and shackles with Rancho 9000 shocks. Plus a Calmini 3" body lift. I will be running some 37x13-15lt Super Swamper TSL/Boggers on 15x10 Eaton beadlock wheels. Keeping the engine stock except for a custom exhaust and header, intake and snorkle, dual optima batteries and a bigger cam. So I have just now started getting rid of some sheet metal and tearing apart the engine. I forgot to take a complete "before" picture so the one without front fenders and front bumper with have to do. You get the idea. It was a tad rusty mainly on the driver side floor board and in the rear cargo area. I have never done a SAS before so this will be an interesting journey.

May 24th 2007

I removed the rear bumper and bumper cover, rear carpet, doors and started on the engine. The person who had this before me really did a number on that poor motor! I am trying to salvage as much off of the engine as I can but this thing was toasted. I removed the valve cover and it smelled like burnt oil and the oil residue was very black and peanut buttery, mmmm.

Well this weekend I am going to Highland, Mi to pick up 2 more Trackers. One I am going to use for parts for this thing and the other will be a DD. I am going to get the motor unbolted and hopefully pulled out today, but you never know.

May 25th
I finished pulling the motor and stripping off the parts that I am going to keep. I am scrapping the block, the exhaust, and the exhaust manifold. Hopefully the cylinder head isn't to bad. I also drove to Highland to check on the other two trackers I was going to buy, but when I got there they were in worse shape than this one. They were very rusty, one had the front end smashed up, no guarantee that the engines work at all. Plus they had automatic transmissions. So the search is on for a couple donor vehicles. In the meantime I am going to finish the interior and start cutting the fenders and sand out the hood.

Before I pulled the engine...

...and after

Here is what the engine looked like when I first pulled it.

...and when it was stripped down to the block

To be continued...

July 7th 2007
Well I haven't had any time to work in this thing. Getting the house rebuilt and living somewhere else. This fall it will be going full swing!!!

Aug. 17th 2007
Well I am almost finished moving so I can begin working on this again. Next week the new motor will be installed. I am not going to do a SAS, yet. I am going to fix it up using the IFS probably up on 31's for now, until I brake something. Then I will probably do Trail Toughs SAS coil over suspension kit for these things. More pics soon!!!