I'm building a Roady!
December 15, 2021
My offroad Jimny is awesome, but it's starting to get to the stage that it's difficult to drive around town. It's not 'zippy' like it once was. The added weight, large wheels and high suspension make is slow around town, and it doesn't handle great.
So I'm putting together a town Jimny.
So far, this is lowered on firmer suspension with 17" wheels, and already it's driving beautifully.
The suspension is a kit that I'm experimenting with, it's a custom set of springs and shocks. They are just a little bit too firm, so I'll change them for a softer combination in the new year, and these will be available for sale here on my website.
I'm going full Japanese streeter spec, including a turbo kit. This will not go offroad, but is something fairly different for a wee Jimny, and I'm a big fan of doing something a little different.
More details to come as this build continues!
ECU Remap - Now with 7% more power!
October 29, 2021
Suzuki Jimny’s are slow, there is no denying that. Often I’m asked how we can remedy the power issue of the Jimny, and I’m working on a few things.
I have some turbo kits coming from Japan, from two different tuning companies (Trust/Greddy and AVO). I’m keen to see what difference a turbo kit will do, and how the Jimny will drive with a bit more air in the cylinders.
In preparation for the turbo conversion...
In preparation for the turbo conversion, we’ve taken a look into the computer of the Jimny to make sure it’s capable of a turbo conversion, and it’s been interesting!
- Firstly, yes it is possibly for us to flash the factory ecu with a tune suitable for the turbo conversion. - Even more exciting is that there are substantial gains to be had in non turbo form, just from some basic ecu remap tweaks.
just from making some changes to the ignition and cam timing, the air fuel ratio and the torque management system.
But how does it drive?
7% doesn't sound like much, but it's feels like a big difference when driving around town, and on the open road.
Most significantly is the torque around the 2,000rpm range. This has me changing gears far earlier than I was, which will be doing great things for fuel consumption. It even seems to be better right off the line, I'm stalling off the lights less than I was with the factory settings.
Right through the rev range, though, there feels to be more power. Driving around town on my 31" tyres, it feels like I've moved down to 29" or 30" tyres.
Interested in similar improvements?
A copy of my ECU is available from the shop that did mine. We'll make a copy of it and will send it back to you, with the same specs as the above dyno sheet. This modification to your ECU is available for $1295.
