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PART 8

SLICE AND DICE

When X-90s first rolled off the production line in 1996, Suzuki hadn’t really thought about the possibility that someone out there might actually use them off-road. And, as with any 4WD, once you get a taste of offroading, the ‘must make it better’ bug bites and so the modding begins. Often, the first mod will be tyres... BIGGER ones!

To get bigger rubber underneath without ripping your entire guard off every time you hit a pot hole means making some extra room underneath. A good start is a suspension lift and/or a bodylift, which we’ve already done... and as you can see, we’ve got heaps of room to play with around the stock tyres. But those Barbie-Camper slicks have gotta go!

After doing all the calculations for rim offset, caliper clearance etc – 31x10.5x15 turned out to be the maximum we could go without fouling or scrubbing. So, the boys put Oscar up on the hoist and tried on a Goodyear Wrangler MTR for size... perfect. But, as predicted, we had some metal trimming to do.

Now you could just grab a hacksaw or Dremmel and carve away to your hearts delight to get your rubber underneath, but we wanted to keep the X-90 looking good, so it was off to see Ben over at Ajay’s Smash Repairs in Ryde for a professional job. Ben’s pretty well known in 4WDing circles and has had plenty of experience with custom cutting jobs on fourbies... as well as fixing “tree kisses” and “rock cuddles”.

Ben and the boys whacked on an MTR and grabbed a marker to see how much metal had to be sacrificed. It’s vital to be careful with your measurements and know exactly what’s behind that panel you are about to cut, otherwise you could end up with some expensive wiring repairs. The guys carefully removed the inner guards and had a good poke around to ensure nothing apart from metal was going to end up getting chopped. So whilst you, a hacksaw and a mate may get the job done, a pro can make it look like a factory job and save you plenty of “ooops” money.

Ben made up a couple of templates to ensure everything matched up on each corner, and went to work with the air saw to remove the excess metal. The guards were neatly folded under to retain a lip, enabling the fitting of rubber flares if they are needed to keep your rubber legal. Ben took his time gently working the metal to prevent stretching it... see Ben, I was listening!

Most comp vehicles are not just butt-kicking, terrain-eaters... they are also their owners pride and joy. What’s the point of spending a motza on your truck, if you are just going to hack your guards? Some of the major comps are starting to include engineering and show and shine events, so having your metal trimmed up nice and neat can only improve your points tally!

Ahhh no... I don’t take the X-90 to hardcore comps... I’m sick of it being used as a wheel chock...

Once the guards are sprayed, you’ll be hard-pressed to pick that it wasn’t the original arch line. I’ve already watched an old bloke stand there and scratch his head for a while, he even measured hand-spans across the arch-width, not once but twice, to try and work out what was going on. He shook his head, walked off, stopped and looked back, shook his head again then wandered off...
But at least he didn’t act like a couple of RAV4 owners who kept asking me “Which RAV variant is that?” or the lady who wanted to know “Is that a Mazda 121?”

Sigh.... never mind Oscar, we’ll show them.