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PART 14

Lock n Loaded

Ok, so we’ve turned one of cutest (read: Ugly but Interesting) Suzukis around into an off road weapon.

We’ve lifted, cut and fattened... we’ve toughened and geared... and now Oscar not only looks the goods, but is slow enough and high enough to get over most obstacles. But in true 4WD Action form... we wanted more!

Oscar is a little like that Fox Terrier that thinks he is a big dog, and if he going to mix it with the big boys he is going to need all the help he can get... and not just in the looks department. The X-90 is somewhat lacking in traction (due to being a SWB with an IFS front end) and has left me nose-up and spinning a couple of times. Add to that a couple of incidences of being nose-down-bum-up on a crazy angle praying for touchdown... and we knew we had to improve things a bit before I wore out my snatch strap!

Matt Frost down at ARB head office came to the rescue with a set of ARB Airlockers for the front and rear. We were also very happy to be handed another mysterious box housing ARB’s latest weapon... their new High Output Onboard Air Supply Compressor. It was exactly what we needed as space under Oscar’s bonnet is badly lacking (couldn’t even get a dual battery under there!) and we needed lots of punch in a small package.

Luffy (unless Stuart has found some other name for Lufner using his Google skills again) set about pulling out Oscar’s diffs and setting up the lockers and centres. Whilst it may look like a simple procedure, you really are better off leaving it up to the experts when it comes to fitting Air Lockers as there a few things that really need to be spot on to prevent problems later on down the line.

With the centres refitted and the line plugs in, the ARB Compressor was mounted on the driver’s side on a custom-made metal plate. Perfect fit... if it had been any bigger we would’ve had issues! The air lines were run and covered with flexible conduit to protect them, then Luffy fitted the magic Black and Blue Buttons and we were done.

I grabbed an airhose from Mannell’s, seeing as I will now no longer need to drag my air compressor everywhere with me to air-up my tyres, and on testing, the new compressor is indeed as fast as I was promised it would be!

Now, I’ve never used lockers before and didn’t have a clue on how or when to use them. It was at this at point that I was handed one of our DVDs by Mark Allen (with a look of disgust and rolling of the eyes I might add) and told to ‘watch and learn, Squik... watch and learn’. So, I did... and on the following Friday night I was put through the practical part of the lesson by our own Captain Chaos himself.

So, how does a lifted, locked and low-geared X-90 actually perform off road?
We did some initial testing on that Friday night drive and many jaws dropped... Let’s just say that some previously cutting opinions on Suzuki’s biggest ‘faux par’ did a massive one-eighty... but more on that later, eh?

The next thing we need to do is sort out how on earth we are going to carry a spare!

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