02x05 & 02x06 - Suzuki SJ410 (Part 1 & 2)

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler
Dealers where we find

future classics and
bring them back to life.

We're going to be working
our magic on a Suzuki

Jeep. We're aiming to turn it into a
mud plug-in mini monster truck like this.

Now I've got just two
grand in my back pocket

and with it I've got to
buy a standard Suzuki.

SJ410 4x4 and convert
it into a mini monster

off-roader. So I'll
be giving you lots of

advice on what to look out for when buying
a second-hand one and my mechanic Ed China

will be showing you
every stage of the

transformation. Believe
me, this is going to be fun.

The original SJ410 got a bit of stick for
being too much like a hairdresser's car.

But it sticks some big wheels on it and
some roughy-toughty bits and wow, what a

makeover. A lightweight body and simple and
reliable mechanics made this the perfect

off-road car. With its
short chassis in standard

form this car had
great ground clearance

and that meant it was
fantastic over the bumpy bits.

Some cars are classics from day one, others
grow into the role and that's the case with

the Suzuki SJ410. After its launch in the


and underpowered but
now this cheeky off-roader

has found a huge fan
base amongst the alternative

off-road fraternity who modified them
into real mean machines. A big plus is that

there's plenty of them around and prices
are realistic. One like this is a serious

bit of kick costing
thousands but entry-level

cars can be hunted
down from a hundred quid.

This time to track down a donor
vehicle I'm thinking outside the box.

Now one of the most exciting ways to buy
cars these days is the convergence of both

the Internet and
auction houses. They've

got together and now
there's online auctions

so it means you don't have to go and stand
out there in the rain. You can sit at the

comfort of your desk with a nice cup of tea
and see if you can find your next bargain

online. Now the way to find an auction
house is to simply type in any search engine

car auction. Already there's a whole
list of car auction sites that I can go and

visit. I'll go to one of the most popular
which is this one here. So it's a fairly

simple process of typing in once you
get to the auction site the car that you're

looking for. Once I
type that in press return,

sit and wait and
hopefully it'll bounce

back some results for me and there you go.
Right but the one that really excites.

me is this one right at the very top here.
So let's click on it and see what it says.


top which is handy. The bad news is that.

it's developed a misfire and it's only
running on three cylinders and the other

bad bit of news is
looking at this picture

it's white but you
know I don't really care.

about that it's white we're gonna paint
it and I don't really care about the fact

that it's running on three cylinders that's
why I've got Ed. I'll tell you what I'm.

gonna bid 200 quid. All I gotta do
is sit and wait hopefully nobody else

had come in and beat me to it and I'll
come away in a cheap bargain. Oh no

and somebody has come in it
gets frantic towards the end of the

auction and somebody's
come in with a higher bid. I'm just

gonna have one last shot at
it. I'm gonna bid 250 pounds.

Yes results I've just a confirmation
that I'm the winning bidder on that car

at 250 pounds. Fantastic and remember
I bought that car on description so when

I turn up it'll have a misfire in the
engine and it'll have a bodywork but

hey who cares for 250 quid that's a
right bargain. All I gotta do now is go

and see it. The next stage of the
auction process is to actually come and

see the car. Now the guy that's selling the
car is called Sam and he's immigrating to

Africa so he's left the car the keys
and the paperwork with his sister

Penny who lives at this address. Now
normally I'd recommend you only speak to

the owner that way you can ask
them the relevant questions but as it's

only 250 quid I'm prepared to take
the risk and trust my own judgment.

Hi you must be Penny
I'm Mike. Hello. I've

come to see Sam's car.
Okay here's the keys and

paperwork. Oh lovely. You can take it to the test
drive if you want. Can I? Yeah. So I can just

help myself and have a good look round it. Yeah.
I'm not gonna make off with it are you? No I'm not.

Alright I'll give you
a knock then when I

finish. Alright then.
Cheers my love. Thank you.

Oh look this is a bit of a result.
Reams and reams of service history, bills,

receipts for the car but to be honest
with you I'm not gonna waste time going

through this now I'm gonna see
what the little car tells me. Now it was

described with a few little rust spots
and it has got quite a few on it but

look at it it's pinned straight
down the front there's no signs of

accident damage. Rust like this down
there on the front wheel arch doesn't

really bother me too much because I
am gonna paint the car. See what the other

side says. Yep the story is exactly
the same round this side of the car as

well it's dead straight no signs of
accident damage. Now these seals they

look to be in good order which is
very important. Now the other surprising

thing is this roof usually less slashed
torn buckled and bowed but this

one is perfect no signs of rips on it
whatsoever and now 400 pounds to

replace. Let's have a look under the
bonnet. Alright let's have a look in the

engine room. Oh dear it's all gone
peep-tong in here. It looks like this

car has suffered a major oil problem
once or twice in its life because you

just sprayed oil all over the
internals of the engine bay and up

there on the bonnet but they did say
when I see the car on eBay that it did

have a misfire and I bet you
that's due to this oil problem but

the good news is it's nice and
straight the legs are straight down

either side it's original across the
front it doesn't look like it's had any

signs of accident damage. The other
good news is I do have that mechanic

called Ed and Ed can fix this engine
I don't think he's gonna like me very

much. Time for a test drive. Well my first
little drive of the SJ410 and I got to

tell you it's awful it's completely
underpowered there's something really

wrong with the engine they did
describe it on the Internet as having a

misfire they didn't
quite say how bad it was.

The steering's woolly it's all over
the place look I can put a turn on the

steering wheel and it's still going in a
straight line but the good thing about

this car is it is straight it has got a
brilliant chassis it doesn't look like

it's been in a fight it doesn't
look like it's suffered any signs of

accident damage so
we could be all right in

that sense. With a
little bit of help from Ed

we can pull this car around and
make it something totally different and if.

this hill gets any steeper I'm gonna
be in first gear. What am I doing I must

be mad. Well I now own the little Jeep
and I bought it for 250 quid which seems

about fair I haven't paid


years which makes me happy
I just hope it makes Ed happy.

Either I've just made the worst
mistake of my life or this is gonna be

a roaring success either way it's gonna
be tough to sell to Ed he's gonna look

at this and burst into tears so it's into
full-on motor mouth mode to persuade

him that we can turn this
into something extraordinary.

Ed China. How are you
fella good to see you.

What are you wearing
man? These are my off-roady

style boots countryside
bit of well ears

bit of a turn up trying to look
kind of trendy me little off-roader.

Again you just chucking the money away
and you might as well stand in this field

and burn 50s this is
rubbish. No what you want

about mate that is
cracking 250 quid off eBay

what a bargain. Listen mate it's it's
fine I've got a great idea I mean it's

kind of mad but you're gonna like it.
You know these off-road sort of monster

tracks you see them in the arenas
jumping over cars and stuff. Okay. When I

was watching that the
other day on TV and I

was thinking wouldn't
it be great to build a

sort of miniature version.
That would be cool but

not with this thing. No
no we could do it with this

because all you got to do is you've
got to rip you know whatever's there off

and then I know you can do
this and then put some bigger

axles on and some chunky
little. Yeah definitely some big

tires big chunky tires I can
see that. Yeah and raise the

ride height and all that kind
of stuff. Loads of work then.

You like it don't you. I'm
beginning to well yeah but

the paint's rubbish you
have to change that as well.

Oh no don't worry about the paint I was
thinking you know the paintwork would do it

really hardcore something like matte
black. Yeah a bit of satin black. A bit

of satin black yeah. Maybe urban
camouflage. I mean other than that it's a

cracking vehicle then I mean round this
side it's all in good order a little bit

of rust down there but
don't worry about that.

Notice that. It's good
mate the roof's all nice and

tidy and the interior well it's
got one. It's rubbish. It's got one

no fella I mean look it's nice
and straight it's tidy it's clean

it's got some seats
gearbox works beautifully. So

any other problems with
it? There is this one little.

niggle. And how little is that
niggle? Well it's a misfire on the

engine but it's not bad it's sort
of 20 mile an hour bad that's as

most as I could get out of it.
So you're saying you're engine

then is that what you're
saying? Well I'm probably just a

HT lead man like you you could
probably fix it. You are getting

dodgy by the minute. I'm not
getting dodgy by the minute you're

gonna love this Ed. Well you can do
it can't you? I'm gonna have to aren't

I? Yes. We could get our money
back with this thing. Fix it Ed. Good luck.

I barely got this piece
of junk back to the

workshop it was running
like such a dog. Mike

thought it was something
simple like HT leads

but after closer
inspection it turns out to be

way more serious. I
had a good route around

under the bonnet and I
noticed that one of the.

cylinders is actually
down on compression. Now

a second-hand engine
for one of these is to a

penny so rather than
waste any more time on this

I'm gonna whip it out
and put in a replacement

and that fits in nicely
with my plan to totally

rebuild this car. Well
this is the heart of our

car and quite clearly
it needs a transplant.

Normally swapping
engines around can be a little

bit tricky but there
really is nothing to this

it's gonna be quite a
simple job. My first thing

to do is drain the
water and whip out this

radiator. The radiators
gone and the airbox is

next because what I'm trying to do here is
remove all the peripheral components so I

get better access to
the engine. The next

bits a little bit fiddly
but it's well worth.

spending the time I'm
gonna label up all the

cables pipes and wires
and that way when I drop

the new engine in there'll be no confusion
and I know where everything connects. Well

that's all the fiddly things taken off
the engine and now I get to do all the

really fun stuff which is take off the big
bolts. Thing is I can't have all the fun to

myself and if I'm
being honest all the jobs

on this car are gonna
be huge so I brought in

my mate Paul, hi, to
give me a hand and he's

gonna help with the
engine and all the other

jobs on this car too. So the starter motors
off, the radiators off, all the pipes and

wires and things are disconnected from the
engine. The engine is no longer attached

to the gearbox. The only thing holding
any of this in is the exhaust which is just

down here. So Paul can you go and get
the engine noise for us? No problem. Thank

you. And I'm gonna carry on with this.
You can hire a hydraulic engine lift quite

cheaply and you should.
Pulling an engine out

without one is rather
difficult, trust me.

And that's how you remove a Suzuki engine.
With the engine out I can now crack on with

stripping stuff like the front and rear
bumpers and disconnecting all the electrics.

This is a matter of subtle persuasion
and brute force because lots of these

retaining screws have rusted into place.
With the prep underway it's time to start

thinking about the axles. Mike wants the
Suzuki to look and feel more macho so I'll.

need to raise the ride height and widen the
track. Problem is I can't do that with the

standard axles. Let's see if Mike can do
something to help. Over to you Mr. Brewer.

To turn our little Suzuki SJ410 into a
mini monster truck has taken quite a bit of

investigating. I found that you can get the
bits off the shelf all over the country but

once you get them together they may not fit
together. So what I've done is I've tapped

into the very healthy club scene and that's
men and women all over the country who get

together at the weekends and go off-roading
and orienteering. And I spoke to a guy who

knows a guy who says
he's breaking his little

Suzuki SJ410 and he's
already used it for some

off-road use so he's
got all the proper kit

and apparently it's
behind this door so I've.

come to meet him. Hello
Andy. Hi Mike. How are

you fella? I'm okay. Spoke
on the phone about the

Suzuki SJ410 bits? We did
indeed. What am I looking

at then? These bits
you see here. What that?

It's a pile of rusty bottom
bits and pieces isn't

it? No these are the
bits you need. These will

do the job for you. Will
they? Yep. Are you sure?

Definitely. What's this
then? This is the front axle.

And what's different
about this front axle than

the one we got on the
car? It's the same isn't it?

Basically we've taken
the leaf spring and it's

normally mounted
underneath and we've bolted

it back on top with a
new mounting point. Oh I

see. So that sits
underneath. Yeah. You've put

it on top and what does
that give you in terms

of clearance then?
About six inch. About six

inches clearance and this
would be the other axle?

That's your rear axle
it's modified exactly the

same to give the same
lift. Your vehicle sits

nice and level but with
six inch height. When we

spoke on the phone I
didn't realize it was as

rusty as this it looks a
bit decrepit. Off-roading

you don't really worry about a bit of rust
it's all engineered a bit of paint really

it's only surface. Well the only shiny
bit here is this what's this bit? That's a

wheel space so you've
got one each side it

just makes the axle
even wider. You can turn

your off-roader into a
carless fandango. That's

it. So these wheels
and tires you've got one

two three four five
and this little dinky one?

This dinky one that's the
standard manufacturers

size of tire. So what's
the difference in size?

This is 27 inch this
is 31 inch. So that's

two inches extra lift
on the radial? This one

will give you two inch
of lift over a standard.

An 8 inch lift that's gonna
make such a difference?

Yeah it sure is. Right
Andy there's quite

a bit of stuff here but
is it all complete? It's

all complete. How
much is it? 520. But I only

give 250 good for the
car. Yeah but when you

need modified it always
costs money. But I'm

spending twice as much
or over twice as much

on just to get it up
in the air. But it will

save my mechanic a
lot of time I think so go

on I'll have a deal
with you thank you very

much. Now although it
appears that I've spent

a fortune of money
on this kit the bottom

line is I think it's gonna save
Ed a whole heap of time and I

think it's gonna make a whole
heap of difference to the car.

And there we have it
a pair of modified axles

looking as good as
new ready for our mini

monster truck. So all
I have to do is replace

these items with the
pair that Mike got me.

My first job I think is to take off the
wheels. Well the wheels are off so now Paul

and I are gonna
disconnect everything else

we're gonna take off
the calipers we're gonna

disconnect the prop shaft here also the
steering there at the front and then once

we've taken off the Springs we're
actually gonna lower the whole thing as

one assembly to the ground and then
of course got to do the same thing for the

back. Pretty much there now all
we've got to do is unbolt the Springs so

there's two bolts at this end on
each side and one bolt at the back and

then we can lower the whole thing
to the ground. I'm just using the trolley

Jack to take the weight of the axle
because otherwise when we take the

pins out it's just gonna drop to the
floor and that's not what we want.

It's an amazingly quick job it's only a
couple of hours. And there you have it

one front axle removed from the car.
Now this could have been a real pig of a

job but actually it turned out rather
easy so let's hope the rear axle goes

the same way. And it does! That's a first!

Before we put the new
axles onto the car I just

wanted to show you
why we've gone to all this

extra work. Now on our
modified unit the spring

sits above the axle
on the old unit the axle

sits above the spring.
If you compare the

mounting points you
can see there's a massive

Mark difference in
height and that difference

in ride height is
going to translate to a

seriously hardcore Jeep.
Now hopefully this should

go in just as easy as
the other one came out.

Now that the axle is bolted to the car we
can attach the shocks and the prop shaft.

Well everything seems
to be going really well in

fact a little bit too
well so fingers crossed.

the back axle is just gonna slip in just as
easily. We're in the process of rebuilding

our tough-looking mini
monster truck but it's

not just about looks it's
also about performance.

Now this car was
originally fitted with disc

brakes on the front and
drum brakes on the rear

but our new modified axles actually had the
facility for disc brakes all around. Now

on the kind of mental terrain we're going
to be going on with this we need that extra

stopping power. The
disc brakes on this car

just like any other car
are actually very easy

to fit. You have your brake disc, your
caliper and the carrier is still on the

axle that sits about so
and also as an additional

thing we have these
rather magical looking

little rings. Now these are wheel spacers
they widen the track of the car by a good

few inches because we have some very
very special wheels to put on this thing.

You might notice that the brake disc is
a little bit rusty well don't worry about

it too much because it's actually a pretty
good Nick it just caught a little bit of

rain obviously in transit. First touch
of the brakes all that will go and it'll be

as good as new. I'm fitting the caliper
which of course is the business end of

the brakes you put your foot on
the pedal hydraulic fluid is forced

through the pipes into this piston
and then the caliper crushes the brake

pads onto the disc and the car is stopped.
So I'm going to fit this on

here but you might notice there's
the old one still hanging up here in the

bodywork. Now the reason for that
is that the old pipe is now too short

because the suspension is lowered
away from the bodywork and doesn't reach

but handily in Mike's kit
there's a new caliper with

the right length pipe so
I'm going to use that instead.

These tough looking boots are
part of Mike's monster parts package

now just to give you an idea of how
much bigger they are here's one of the

original ones you can see the width
is almost double but that's not all.

when you compare the height
the new ones are so much

bigger they're going to make
this car look hard as nails.

Paul and I raced through putting the
new wheels on I can't wait to get the

Suzuki on the ground
because Mike is on his way.

Ed? All right mate.
Hey all right fella hey you look at that

what a difference is this
really our little weenie SJ410?

It really is but of course it's a
lot bigger and it's a lot wider a lot

taller and a lot tougher.
Oh wow you've really been working on

look you know I like bringing
your presents look what I've got you

some great big off-road rugged
wheel arch extensions. That is just the

ticket. Could make it look fantastic
what you've been up to? Well I've been a

lot of rubbish obviously and I put
new axles on it with the extra lift kit so

now we've got the extra height as
well they've got discs all around and

they've got these huge boots on as well.
So will it drive all right? I think

it's going to be fine everything went
together retreat. Now if it does drive

well what about safety because it's
a bit wibbly wobbly. It's going to be a

bit of an issue it's quite a lot
higher up now so I think a roll cage

or a roll bar would be a good idea.
Now what about this

colour? Colour is rubbish isn't it
but I think satin black make it really

hardcore that'll be sorted.
Make it look tasty I'll tell you what it's

worth it because when this is
finished it's going to be awesome.

Why? Well usually we like to
restore cars to their former glory

but this time we're turning this


a mini monster truck. So it's out with
the standard axles in with modified ones

giving us an extra six inches of ride
height. Ed's stuck on some big wheels

and tyres but there's still some
way to go before the transformation is

complete. Now there's still plenty
for my mechanic Ed to do on this car

it needs an engine for one thing but
to be honest with you I can't wait to get

behind the wheel so I'm off to meet
a guy called Bruce who's got a mini

monster truck and believe it or not
he's prepared to let me have a go in it.

Bruce thank you very very much
for bringing this fantastic looking

mini monster truck down to show us.
First of all what made the SJ10 so special?

I think it was just because it was a
cheap and cheerful buy and people could

actually get something
they could go and play

in the mud with you know
for a reasonable price.

Now your car is obviously
not a standard SJ410

it's been radically and
heavily modified just

tell us what you've done to it. Have we
got a couple of days? We haven't got long

no just tell us in summary but was it hard
or difficult to do? Well some jobs are hard

and some jobs are
easy quite often there's

hidden difficulties as
well but I mean the most

obvious thing when
you look at it is the height

of it that's mainly too
by putting the axles

underneath the Springs rather than sitting
on top where they're located as standard.

but obviously with that comes along various
other problems like longer shock absorbers

brake hoses such
like the roll cage that's

there because although
we don't travel at great

speed there is quite
a good possibility of

rolling over and also it
defends the body from

trees you know
should you get in a tight

spot. The other big
modification really is the

fact that there's a two
litre Vauxhall engine

under the bonnet. No?
Yes well I found with the

with the bigger wheels and tyres which
are used to get the traction that I need.

the little 1000cc
engine was struggling a

little. So I didn't know
that you can get a much.

larger sized engine
and it will still fit under

the bonnet in one of
these little weenie things?

Well yeah basically I
mean if you're ready

and willing to have a
go you can literally put

anything under there
all you need is a tape

measure and make sure
it'll fit and away you go.

Fantastic now what
do they drive like I mean

just tell us a little bit
more about the driving

experience on road I
mean this is road legal

this car isn't it? Yes
they're not quite up to

today's standards
without without a shadow of

a doubt um leaf Springs
are not we're not known

for their road holding
capabilities a bit woolly

shall we say. A bit
woolly on the steering so

it's going to pitch and
dive and rock and roll

around a bit. It
certainly will yeah yeah.

Okay so the driving
experience isn't great

but off-road obviously
that's where they come

alive and you can that's what it's designed
for yeah 15 mile an hour it'll go anywhere.

Well I was hoping you
was going to say that

you know go off road


that's my next question
Bruce. I was going

to ask you if I can
have a go. Help yourself

mate. Really you don't mind?
No carry on carry on. Let's off road!

I do hate to pigeonhole
cars but when I first

seen the Suzuki SJ410
in the early to middle

ages I did I pigeonholed
it. It's a hairdresser's

car you can't get away
from it most of them are

white most of them have
white hoods and lots of

them were soft tops
and I always thought they

looked really stupid to
be honest with you but

the one thing that
they did have these little

cars is they have
bundles and bundles of

character they're durable
they're worthy they got

bulletproof reliability the engine the
gearbox it all stands up to the test of time.

But the beauty of the SJ410 wasn't just the
fact that you could take it to the beach

or take it to the
forest to go and have a

picnic it was the fact
that when you got there

you could hook left
and take it off road and

that's where these
things really come alive.

Once you get them
on the muddy stuff or on

the grass in the ruts
and in the bumps they're

fantastic they've got
leaf sprung suspension

and they're pretty
agricultural you've got a

frame chassis underneath which
bounces you all over the place.

and great big off-road tires which meant
that you could get out the sticky stuff.

Now what Bruce has
done with his car is he's

taken a bog standard
SJ410 and he's turned it

into a mini monster
truck if there was a ramp

here and a few cars to
jump over do you know

what I've asked to be
tempted. Now Ed really

needs to put his foot
down because I can't

wait to get hours finished and
his next job is fitting a roll bar.

We've sourced this
roll bar from a Suzuki

specialist it wasn't
cheap but then you should

never skimp on safety now it's quite simple
there's the main hoop with a crossbar

and also some rear facing struts to stop
it wobbling around when it's on the car.

Now unfortunately I can't just drop it
into the car it needs loads of cutting

about and lots of welding luckily
that means I get to use my big toys.

The rubber mats in the
back just come straight out.

The more metal I remove from this car the
weaker it's going to get so to keep that to

an absolute minimum I'm getting
it into exactly the right position

marking it out and then I can remove exactly
the right amount of metal and no more.

I'm using an angle grinder to cut these
precision holes into the bed of our Jeep

it's fitted with a 1mm disc rather than the
usual 3mm just to have a bit more control

but also it's partly
worn too which means I

can get right into those
nooks and crannies.

Now because there's loads of metal
flying around safety gear is a must.

The roll bar will slide down into these
holes and attach straight to the chassis.

Take extra care here not to
damage any structural part of the car

a heavy hammer blow
here could cost you deer.

That's great the bottom
of our roll cage fits

around the chassis like
a glove but I can't just

go ahead and weld it
you can see all this under

seal and paint in the
way I'm going to have

to grind through that
and then I can weld it.

By marking the chassis
with a scriber when

I remove the roll cage I can
see exactly where I have to clean.

Remember this is an old car and the
chassis isn't in the first flush of youth

so I'm being very careful not to stress
any areas that aren't strictly necessary.

This job isn't hard to do but
it's hard to do well when welding

take your time and try and keep
the welding seam consistent and tidy.

Now it's important that
this welding is done right

so if you're not confident
get someone who is.

Well that may seem
secure enough but if I was

to hit that with some
ground chances are it

would bend one way
or the other that's why

I'm going to use our
struts as triangulation

that way it's a structure
and it won't budge.

Attaching the strut to
the car is pretty much

exactly the same
procedure as before all I have

to do is cut a hole
in the floor piece here

weld it to the chassis and then of
course weld the other end to the hoop.

These feet are supplied as part of the kit
the idea is to weld these to the chassis

and then I can cut
down the strut to the right

side and then weld
the base of that to this.

I'm going to cut the strut down
to size using my trusty grinder.

With the struts cut to length they
fit beautifully so all I have to do now

is grind off the paint here
so I have a really clean weld.

And after less than
an hour the struts are in

place and soon the
Suzuki will be safe enough

even for Mike's driving.
Our mini monster truck is

looking considerably
less mini and substantially

more monster but it does still have an air
of hairstylist about it so I'm going to get

rid of this horrible effeminate white
and give it a rugged hard coat of black.

As usual with any respray the first
job is to strip back all the old paint

now these stickers
are stuck on really tough

so I'm going to use
an angle grinder to get

rid of them all the rest of
them come off with a hair dryer.

It's a long and fairly
dull job this particularly

when I come across any corrosion which I
have to make sure is completely ground off.

Well I've got my decals off they did take
quite a while because they've been baked on

for quite some years
but now they're off I can

get on with the painting
but I can't just throw

the paint on because
chances are it will fall

straight back off again.
I'm going to have to

give this paint a key
which means rubbing the

whole car with one of these an
abrasive pad that's the whole car.

It goes without saying that preparation
here is very important and if I don't spend

time doing this thoroughly I might end
up with a very poor paint job in the end.

I'm on the next stage
now which is masking

up so basically anything
I don't want to end

up black I'm going to
cover in masking tape.

What would I do without
my surgical gloves?

Every surface has to be
masked another time-consuming

job but it will be worth
all the effort and I think

this little car is going
to look great in black.

Well the car's masked
up and ready to go oh hang

on sorry about that the
car is masked up and

ready to go and no this
isn't a fashion statement

nor is it clothing from
Mike's wardrobe. I'm

about to use a spray
g*n and this is protective

clothing now the reason I'm going to use a
spray g*n rather than loads of aerosol cans

is because it's going to
be a whole load quicker

and it's going to give
me a better finish.

The first coat of primer is the base for
the paint it goes on in long even sweeps.

In next to no time I'm
ready for the next stage.

That primer only takes
five minutes to touch

dry so it's already due
for its black overcoat.

I always knew our car was going to look
good but our mini monster truck is looking

so tough I'm almost scared myself.
Just picture the scene mud flying

everywhere rocks bouncing off the
bodywork and not a hairdresser in sight.

Eagle-eyed viewers
will recall the old Suzuki

engine was pretty dead
and had to be removed

so now it's time to put in
the new lump a salvage

unit which is apparently
a sweet little runner.

This is our replacement engine
it's a standard Suzuki four-cylinder

just like the last one
only this one works.

Well this shouldn't
take too long all I've got

to do is connect the
engine to the gearbox and

the engine mounts and
of course then there's

the water the heater pipes got the
throttle cable the fuel pump the fuel lines

got the exhaust on this side got a bit
of wiring to do a couple more cables

and okay it's going to take a
while but you know bear with me.

It's actually very easy
to relocate the engine

even winching it into
place can be done without

help. Believe it or
not after all that work

this engine is in and
connected up all I've got

to do now is fill up the
radiator with coolant

turn it over and
see if this thing runs.

That is brilliant and
didn't even take that long.

Now I love the way
these big fat wheels stick

right out of our arches
but unfortunately

the law has something
else to say about that

matter so we're going
to have to fit these

plastic arches that
Mike managed to get for

us. Now you may have
noticed that these wheel

arches don't exactly
look standard and there's

a reason for that they
were designed for a

completely different
vehicle but I will get them

to fit all I have to do
is find the position.

screw them onto the car
and then cut off any surplus.

For once a quick and easy job that really
gives the car a completely different look.

Now I can put the bumpers
grills and bull bars back on the car.

These are all prepped and sprayed
with the same paint and they look great

and the rewiring is a piece of cake and
that brings the Suzuki build to a close.

This has been a transformation and
a half come on doesn't it look fantastic.

I found this car on
an Internet auction and

paid 250 quid for it.
The SJ was as advertised

misfiring and a bit
tired. Ed got to work it

actually needed a new
engine and that was the

first to come out then to
raise ground clearance I

saw some modified axles
and tyres. Ed refurbished

the axles and bolted them onto the chassis
he then connected up the new disc brakes.

A custom built roll cage
was welded on to improve

rigidity and safety.
With the axles in place it

was time to get rid of
that awful white paint.

Ed stripped and
prepped the whole shell,

masked it off then
sprayed on three coats of

satin black. A salvaged
engine bolted straight in

then the bumpers and
lights could go back on

and the result cracking
a mini monster truck.

The second hand axles, wheels and tyres
were £520 cash. The roll cage was £200.

Salvaged engine just £150 and paint and
parts £150. At the purchase price of £250

and the Suzuki owes me £1270. To sell for
top dollar it just needs an MOT to make it

street legal. Nah that
shouldn't be a problem

should it? Right I'm on
my way to see Ed and

our Suzuki Jeep that
we're turning into a mini

monster truck but on
the way down I've had to

pull over and take a
phone call from him and

he sounded worried on
the phone he said there's

something wrong
with it so I'm a little bit

worried myself now I
was really looking forward

to coming down and
taking the thing for a spin but

I better go and see what
the deal's all about eh?

Oh yes wicked look
at this Ed fantastic look

at it Ed it's brilliant
it's big it's bold it's

got wheel arches it's
black is everything you

said it would in fact it's
better. Well thank you

very much but it is a
real shame because it's

got a big problem.
Well you said something

on the phone about you
got a problem you sounded

really down about
it. Well I took it to the

MOT and it's failed on
welding. Well welding's

no problem for you
you weld all the time.

Yeah ordinarily that is
the case but there's like

a four or five days work
on this you know it's

going to be totally
uneconomical I mean there's

just all the rust around
here on the wheel arches

and down on the plate
you know you have to do

so much work on this
even though the chassis

is fantastically strong
and the roll cage

is tough you know it's
a really good vehicle

it's just never going to be on the road.
Well that's a shame because that's going to

have a knock-on effect to its resale value
I was hoping to get good money for this.

So we're just going
to find somebody who

wants to have a bit of
fun trashing it around

our farm on their land it's the
kind of thing that I'd want yeah.

Too right I think it's
going to be a lot of fun.

It is going to be a lot of fun well
before we get rid of it I want to go.

Go on then.

Cheers fella.

Well good old Ed he's done it again hasn't
he he's taken what was 200 pounds worth of.

hairdresser's car and he's completely
transformed it into this fantastic

roughy-toughty tonka
toy that I can go and

have fun with off-road
and what a shame this

car's got to live off-road
all we can do with

it is hopefully oh is
hopefully find somebody.

who'd be pleased enough to go and
do exactly what I'm doing with it now

and that's rag it around some farm tracks
and off-road course something like this.

But you got to remember
how this car started

out it really had nothing
going for it and just

with care attention a
welding torch some stupid

wheels and axles it's
completely transformed

and how much fun is this
it's great it's a well done Ed.

The only thing that's not so well done
unfortunately is money I was kind of hoping

we get like a thousand
pound for one of

these because that's
what they seem to go for

but unfortunately
because it's failed its MOT

I reckon we'll be lucky
to see 500 quid for it

so it looks like we've
lost money on this one

but that doesn't really
matter it's a shame

but it's all about the
fun and before this

car gets sold that's exactly what I'm gonna
do I'm gonna go and have a bit more fun.

I advertised that Mini
Monster truck in an

off-road magazine and I
had quite a bit of interest

the guy behind me he's called Phil and he
got down here nice and early because his

father's got a bit of land and he wants
something he can have a bit of fun with

so wish me luck as I try
to put our Tonka toy to bed.

Phil thanks for coming
down I really appreciate

it nice you like it yeah
it's cracking isn't it.

it's got bog-o standard interior looks all
right doesn't it oh these are quite a good

idea aren't they yeah little plastic seat
covers they work you can get them dirty and

muddy and just hose
them off in fact you can

hose off the whole of
the inside of this car.

that's irrelevant to be honest because it's
got a new engine in it all right okay so

it's got a nice lump
and it all works and it

goes and it sings
and it does all the right

things yes yeah happy good work round the
back we've got this fantastic rollover bar

it's welded to the
chassis it is yeah it's

bolted right down onto
the chassis it's actually

bespoke it was made for this car and it's a
competition one and that means in the event

that car ever falls
over this will protect

you it could save your
life all right and what

about the hood yeah
we've got hoods for it

it's great it matches
the cart looks fantastic

got no holes in it now
the actual vehicle we

changed the geometry
to get it to look like this.

what we did is we
raised the ride height by a

whole eight inches so
it's eight inches more

off the ground and
it's six inches wider and

it's emphasized by these
big chunky wheel arches

so what do you
think well it's pretty it

looks nice and um
it's got a bit of a bit of

damage at the back
there you know in the pen it

needs some welding
done yeah but that's why it's

only 600 quid if it if
we did the welding and

tidied the thing up it'd
be well over a thousand

pounds i just want to sell it and i want it
to go to a good home and i want someone to

enjoy it and have a
bit of fun with it yeah

um and you're just
gonna have to accept it for

what it is really yeah
it's pretty much what

i want so 600 quid


yeah cash of course yeah i'm

never gonna say this
again but do you promise

not to look after it do
you promise to rag it

to bits and really
have good fun with it I'll

wreck it all right yeah
you will how about

your end all right fella
congratulations you

bought a very very cheap
car well done thank you

very much a financial
loss but not a dead loss

the tzatziki was inches
from the scrapper and

thanks to us it's now
out there riding high

and i feel pretty good
about that and i'm sure

field does too all right
we never earned the

money out of it that
we was hoping to that's

because we never
got it road legal but hey

we can't win them all
can we make sure you join

us next time on Wheeler
dealers when me and

ed will breathe life into
another old jalopy just

for you people back at
home we'll see you soon.