Last couple days Ive been cutting and a little welding getting the 'frame' that will hold the body and bolt onto the Zook chassis.

I've cut the floorpan out leaving the tunnel that I will weld onto the new frame and mount the Jago body on top. The gaps will be filled with fibreglass sheet and bonded into place. My intention is to remodel the front footwell area having the floor drop down as they did on the zook.
Rear part of the mounting frame with the middle section which will bolt onto the original Suzuki rubber floor mounts. This section will be extended to the front bulkhead, that, using rock sliders welded in will form a rigid structure for the body and be bolted on at all the original rubber mounted points of the chassis.

Slow and not even steady progress atm.....

Nothing much happening atm with the Jago. I've been busy working on the MNR and waiting for my new welder to arrive.

Plans now are to weld up a subframe to mount the body on. This will follow the dims of the Jago chassis and have mountings welded on to bolt onto the original Suzuki body mounts. This will provide mounting points for the roll bar and pick up points for rock sliders that I'll be making out of scaffolding bar and 2x2 box section. I will be laying up fibreglass sections to tub the front out using the tunnel trimmed down and bolted to the subframe.

Cut the front out of the floor today, it was rotten at the front from standing water I suspect but very good at the middle where it turns up. This part is glassed i both sides so I intend to keep it as is and add on as I find it...

Body is now outside and on the zook (loosely!)The top of the tunnel where the handbrake is the Jago floor level..

Body still needs to go forward 3". Lots of trimming to the zook bulkhead to get it right back before I cut anymore 'glass away. I may bin the zook floor and stick with a new fabricated jobbie.. we'll see.

The floor may be a little too low, I'll be taking the zook panels off and trying the Jago body on with the wings to get me some levels tomorrow, depending on the weather! Its outside now so needs to be dry until I get a shelter built...

Finally got the wings and the screen off. What a job, 3 knives, 15 blades, 7 days. The nearside wing hasn't survived, the fibreglass is cracked and split from pealing it off. Nearside wing pulled the gelcoat off the body.

Huge amount of silicone on there!

Lifted the bodytub off to find the plywood under the glass floor to be a bit grotty. Ive decided its all coming out to be replaced by steel, probably a floor cut out of a large panel van... bear with me..

Next step is to cut the front section of floor out and offer it up to the zook, then the fun will begin!

Today I've separated the body from the chassis, relatively easy after taking 24 bolts out holding the floor down. Bit overkill I reckon as the Zook only used 8!

Problem I have now is the fact all the other panels, wings front grill and windscreen have all been attached using PU adhesive.. not just spots but all mating surfaces covered in it. That is all thats holding the wings to the tub and the grill to the wings. No bolts!

I fear I may have to destroy the wings to get them off the body as they are not giving, just the sound of breaking resin.

Been quiet lately, been messing about with the MNR enjoying the summer and taking every (dry) chance to get out.

Moved the Zook outside last week to make room for the arrival of the Jago tub. Had to take the garden shed down and two trips to the tip but I still have far too much junk!

Today I have been to a fellow Jago'ers place to pick up the tub... 410 mile drive to find more than the tub, in fact more or less a whole 'kit' including the chassis and seats!

I dragged it back up the M1 at a steady 55mph.. fair bit of resistance from the upright screen, travelling backwards...

Arriving home in the late evening sunshine, nice...

So, next steps are to try and relieve the pressure in the garage, get everything organised and start considering how to marry the Jago body to the Zook chassis, should be fun!

I've got all the rusty bodywork off the floor plan now and although the front bulkhead and tunnel are pretty sound the same cannot be said further back. Underneath the chassis is solid, much the same as the front.There is some serious rot along the back of the front where it kicks up. This part is double skinned here and has the same kind of disappearing metal as the sills.
Hopefully I will be able to repair the front enough to stitch it into the Jago body. I'll make the final decision when the tub arrives. I have got one off a fellow Jago member thats slowing making its way up the country and should be with me some time in August.

All the fasteners holding the pan down onto the chassis are undone now so just the handbrake to disconnect along with gear stick gaitors and it should lift off.. and be very floppy!!

Bit more stripping down of the Zook. Took the bumpers off and disconnected all the wiring round the front. Removed the pedal box, steering column and the dash. Dash came out in one lump with all the wiring intact. It separates from the body loom so there's no unplugging everything behind the dash. Just the heater to pull out now.Had a bit of a milk run last Saturday, went over to Blackpool to pick some parts up. Jago grill and wings for me, tyres for someone else then up to another Jago members house to deliver tyres and pick up a set of Vitara wheels.. result.That's two Jago's I've been at with the tape measure and it all looks very favourable. From what I can tell I may end up with a hole chopped out the grill to allow the steering box to stick out the front slightly.Plan is still use the Suzuki floor pan and maybe enough of the bulkhead for the pedal box and steering column to go back in the original position. Fingers crossed!

I've stripped all the front off, both bumpers and took all the seats inside to keep them clean as they were in very good condition. With the front panel and wings off, they are held on by 12 bolts so come off very easy, I can see the chassis is in very good condition indeed. Its clean with no rust, it's a lot brighter than the pictures show!
I really need to decide about getting a body as I'm not sure how much of the floorpan I can keep. I would like to keep as much of the bulkhead as possible as i intend to use the dash and heater intact.Now I need to get some dimensions of the body, inside and out and lengths, axle centres etc to see how much to chop out. Before that I intend to get the body off and paint up all the chassis and axles then coat everything in that olive drab military colour.

May 2009 and I'm starting a new project. I intend to rebuild a Jago Geep with 4x4 under pins.

To start this I've bought a very rusty Suzuki SJ413 as a donor. The body is way past MOT rusty but the chassis is in very good condition with no rust apparent at the moment. Picked it up off ebay and went over to pick it up last weekend.

So far I've stripped the top off, doors, windscreen and roll over bar, removed the bull bar off the front and I intend to flog these on as they are in not bad condition. Its very tight in the garage now with my other project the MNR.Plan is to put a Jago Geep body on top of the Suzuki chassis and create a nice off road jeep. Its not a main stream kit or anything I've attempted before so it may all go a bit wrong....

Just atm I'm being made redundant so this project will progress at a slow but steady pace as funds allow. I intend this to be a very cheap build as I have a lot of parts from this SJ and a garage full of bits from previous projects.

This is my first dabble with 4x4 and I'm quite looking forward to it. Stay tuned!

You can find my other blog HERE