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Fred
Sat Dec 18 2010, 08:14p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Hello out of Holland,


Nice to find a Suzuki forum in Iceland !!!
Thought that the Suzuki 4wd is often not taken as an serious offroader in Iceland. But the owners do know better ;O)

Visiting your country often as a tourist (mostly on foot, but also by rented car) I soon wanted a car wich could bring me to more remote places and/or travel during off season.

Buying myself a new Suzuki Jimny in 2002 I soon started to upgrade it with some smaller modifications; 2inch liftkit @ 29" mud tires, wich ended up 2 years ago in a 6inch lift @ 37"tires with 5.14 transfer case, front and rear air diff.lockers, winch - front and rear, etc.
Hoping to use this mod. for winter (snow-)traveling in Iceland ! But........WHERE IS THE SNOW (



-it's in Holland ))) -
Looking at my daily driver (this morning)
small.......but fun !

"Test driving" the Jimny in november-december 2008 I found out that it still need some changes, f.e.:

> wider wheels (now using a 8" rim),
> more power to create my own track in the snow (the car drove mostly very nice, both on- as offroad, until I needed to make my first tracks trough the fresh fallen snow ! Re-geared the t-case and differential, but never thought it takes so much power in the snow...)
I will ask your opinion about it in the forum later !


Some pictures from the Jimny:










Ooops...


Best greetings out of snowy Holland !

Fred
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Sævar
Sat Dec 18 2010, 08:22p.m.
Umsjónarmaður vefsíðunnar

Registered Member #2

Posts: 3405
Hi Fred, you have brought your Jimny to iceland? I think I saw you at Mývatn lake in north iceland cirka 2007-8??

or another car just like yours.....

and welcome
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Fred
Sat Dec 18 2010, 08:37p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Hello Sævar,

Shipped the Jimny now 3 times into your country;

It could have been me you saw at Mývatn !
Since I ended up there for a few days late november 2008, having trouble with the coolant and a t-case wich snapped off

Positive thing about it: there are worse places in Iceland to get stranded



Cooling trouble under Bláfjall just before the t-case broke

but...the area is beautiful !


Fred
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hobo
Sat Dec 18 2010, 09:19p.m.
hobo
Registered Member #120

Posts: 857
Were you traveling alone in the Icelandic highlands Fred?
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Roði
Sat Dec 18 2010, 10:23p.m.
Roði
Registered Member #301

Posts: 225
That's a really nice jimny!
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Fred
Sun Dec 19 2010, 12:04a.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Hi Hobo,

Yes, I did travelled alone. Also I know that it's better/safer to travel with more than just one car.
That's also one of the main reasons why I have a winch on both sides of the car.

Still keeping in mind that "small problems can end up in big trouble" I always tell someone about my travel plans, before leaving town !!! (Wich I did also at Mývatn).


When I started that vacationtrip I wanted to join a jeeptour organised by Útivist, but unfortanetly it was cancelled.
I was hoping to learn some techniques about snow driving. But still haven't.

Maybe next time (with some of the forum members??)


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Sævar
Sun Dec 19 2010, 12:31a.m.
Umsjónarmaður vefsíðunnar

Registered Member #2

Posts: 3405
its very possible, we have frequent trips of our own, you might find it interesting to see that we joined together about a year ago to see the live blasting volcano, more of that here...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=219419&id=642127906
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olikol
Sun Dec 19 2010, 01:41a.m.
olikol

Registered Member #3

Posts: 633
Wow, thats a nice jimny, u should defenatly contact us when u visit Iceland next time so we could meet you, see your rig and go some offroad together.

We Icelanders modify our zukis diffrent then others, we dont use those low-low t-cases but use wider rims, 10" or more.

Its best to use wide rims&tires and torque-y engine to drive in snow. I find it best to use old torn tires for the use, so the tires have small and plenty grip areas
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birgir björn
Sun Dec 19 2010, 02:32a.m.
Biggi
Registered Member #18

Posts: 1803
we definetly need to suply you with 10" or 12" whide rims for the 37" tires

[ Edited Sun Dec 19 2010, 02:32a.m. ]
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Morte
Sun Dec 19 2010, 03:41a.m.
Registered Member #549

Posts: 36
That is a good looking Jimny
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jeepson
Sun Dec 19 2010, 02:59p.m.
jeepson
Registered Member #88

Posts: 1739
Hi there and wlcome to this forum. that´s one badass jimny you have there
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Tryggvi
Sun Dec 19 2010, 05:25p.m.
Registered Member #356

Posts: 198
Hi Fred

It's nice to see such a well thought out and modified vehicle from another place than just Iceland. Wow, 3 times to Iceland with your vehicle, I am impressed. Sometimes I wish I could travel to other countries with my Suzuki to get in better contact with nature and really get to know the other countries better. By the way, welcome to the Icelandic Suzuki club

It would be interesting to see a full write-up of your modifications to date and your future plans. What kind of problems have you run into with the modifications and what is working the best?

Best regards,
Tryggvi
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Fred
Sun Dec 19 2010, 10:16p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
@all : thanks for the nice welcome !
I'll keep the contact alive. Not sure yet, when I can ship my car into Iceland once more, hopefully soon! Looking forward to join in on some offroad tour !



@ Olikol & Birgir Björn: what's the advice for a wider rim. Do you keep to the advice from the tire company (wich would be a 10inch wide wheel for my 37x12,5 tire), or would you even go wider ???
And what about keeping the tire on the rim with very low airpressures ?



@ Tryggvi: "What problems have I run into with these modifications until now ?" Let me think........................................ ................. ..... .. that's easy: an empty bankaccount

The biggest problem seems to be the mounting from the transfer case wich snaps to easy. I'm not the only one having this trouble; another member of this forum (Gunnar Lár -Suz. Jimny 35"- ) happened the same...

To fit those 37"tires:
> It used a 4" springlift (currently running a softer 3" spring, but tires are now sometimes slightly rubbing the inner fenders - no big deal ! ).
> 3inch bodylift, but is was neccesary to make some new attachment points in the front, since the origenal ones are cut away to make more space.
> front axle has been moved a 1/2inch forwards.

> cutting lots away from the fenders: guess thats the Icelandic way....
Over here in Holland that's not the common way how to fit a bigger tire, we "just" lift the car, resulting that for my second set tires wich were on 32" inches I raised it already 6 inches (the same as I'm now driving a 37 tire !!!)

> Stronger driveshaft and axles with a 4.63 R&P and ARB airlockers

> modified Samurasi transfer-case with a 5.14 gearset. But I did not liked the low gearing to much (indeed a little too low).
Changed it last winter back for the 4.16 ratio wich I already had prevously. In combination with a stock 1.3L engine makes the 5th gear now onroad useless.


So I can now answer your question about my future plans or wishes:
I need more power back on the wheels, but I'm still not very sure how to solve this ?

1) swap the engine,
2) ad a supercharger to the stock engine,
3) downsize the tires to 35 inches

Swap in a larger diesel engine (hi torque @ low revs ! ) would be HI on the wish list, but that's just a dream. It would result in a higher road tax, because it's a Diesel.
But second: if power exceeds more then 20% from the stock engine the car need to be brought to the Dutch Road Regulation service (RDW) to be tested - I don't wont to go there for "some" reasons....

Regards, Fred
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birgir björn
Sun Dec 19 2010, 10:51p.m.
Biggi
Registered Member #18

Posts: 1803
I would probably use 14" whide rims for 37" tires, but then again i only drive in snow and usually with around 2 psi of air in them im currently running my jimny on 10" wide rims with 32" tires on

[ Edited Sun Dec 19 2010, 10:53p.m. ]
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olikol
Sun Dec 19 2010, 11:55p.m.
olikol

Registered Member #3

Posts: 633
i would recommend a 35" or 36"x12.5 soft tires with a 10" wide rims.

you should look into swapping a 16v vitara into your jimny or super- or turbocharging.

You sholud check out Rotrex superchargers, they´re specialists in suzuki engines.

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Juddi
Mon Dec 20 2010, 11:31p.m.
juddi
Registered Member #173

Posts: 471
what about keeping the tire on the rim with very low airpressures ?
sikaflex to glue them on the rims
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Sævar
Mon Dec 20 2010, 11:44p.m.
Umsjónarmaður vefsíðunnar

Registered Member #2

Posts: 3405
Most of us prefer to use bead-lock tires with very wide rims, but with occasional width of rims, better bead seats(welded edge) is enough in 99% of cases, varies a lot on the quality of the tire bead.

There are lathe workshops in Iceland that specialize in widening rims and welding a better welded bead edge on them. and it´s a very common modification, I have one on my rims...

Tires are 33x12,5 and rims are 15x10

sikaflex is a permanent solution, but in many cases it means the tire wont come off without damage to the bead and the seal will be lost.

sometimes the bead breaks off even with it being glued with sikaflex, and in the highlands, this is bad news, because with the glues' rough edge, getting an airtight seal is almost impossible.



but all this is just my opinion, but I agree your rims look a little too narrow for your tires.
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gisli
Tue Dec 21 2010, 12:24a.m.
Gísli Sveri

Registered Member #6

Posts: 882
Hi, and welcome!
I think 37" tires are fine with 10" rims as the 37" tread is the same width as common 33-35" tires, and they work just fine.
With a light rig like this I wouldn´t expect tires to come off the rim too easily, only happened once to me and it took less than 5 min to get going again with the help of a air compressor. But sikaflex or similar pretty much prevents it.

I would personally go with 1.6 16V out of a Vitara if you don´t want to exceed the 20% power limit. You gain few hp, but lots of precious torque.
The disadvantage of a diesel would probably be the added weight, lightness is what makes the suzukis so capable to begin with.

A very nice Jimny I must say, good job.
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Juddi
Tue Dec 21 2010, 10:33p.m.
juddi
Registered Member #173

Posts: 471
http://gjjarn.byethost15.com/Vals.html

This is the easiest solution right outer edge of the rim is 1 mm high and is 3.5 mm after rolling
The inner edge is 0.5and is 1.5 mm after rolling
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jeepson
Wed Dec 22 2010, 12:49p.m.
jeepson
Registered Member #88

Posts: 1739
Hi there Fred. 37" will work best on 10 rims.
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Fred
Fri Dec 24 2010, 02:40p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Thanks again for your opinions,

Most of you refer to a 10" wide wheel, so I will keep up to this advice !!!
I see several ways to choose from how to keep the tire on the rim. Some are new to me and good to hear about...


For powering up the engine indeed the m16a engine would be a nice option (seen this at DGTuning, from the looks it is even identical to the m13a).

But I must admit, the Rotrex supercharger looks appealing (but not the price, also I would say it's just like that for a supercharger). It would raise the torque about 50% !


-dyno test not from the Jimny but same engine ! -


When I ask SD-Performance for more information about it they wrote that their kit is only for the Jimny from 2008 and up.
I can't figure out what makes the +2008 Jimny so much different from the pre 2008 ones (until 2002), except the VVT ???



With Christmas knocking at the door I wish to all of you a jolly good time !!!

greetings, Fred


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Tryggvi
Wed Dec 29 2010, 10:49p.m.
Registered Member #356

Posts: 198
Hi Fred

I fully understand you regarding the empty bank account in regards to vehicle modification. My modifications cost a bunch as well and I am still planing many more.

I tend to agree with others here to go with a 10" wheel on a 12.5" wide tire, some would venture to a 12" but this would make bashing the sides against rocks a serius problem in some cases for certain terrain or river crossing.

I notice you are running 4.63 Ring and Pinion, I am not fully aware of all your options regaring gearing in the axles but have you thought of going to a 5.XX R&P to get back some of your power? I am currently running 5.12 with my 33" tires but have a set og 5.83 og the way home to Iceland as we speek. This will give me back at least 10-12% of my power I estimate. I know the higher number gears are a bit weeker, but there is always some plus and minus to most modifications. Personally I think I might opt to go with 35" tires if I had your setup on your vehicle, but this is a personal prefferance of course. My thinking is that you would still have the same width of tire on the 35" as the 37", better clearance for extreem articulation and the only real sacrifice would be ground clearance while fully inflated and slightly less flotation in terms of front and rear on the tire footprint while deflated. You are using a snorkel so hight for the airintake is almost a non issue in your case. Not to forget you would gain back some much needed power as well... Just my thoughts

Have you looked at this kind of supercharger?
http://www.superpowercharger.com/

You would be on your own regarding custom fabrication for your engine but this supercharger sounds really interesting. I have contemplated this myself seriusly. I have owned a 1990 Mustang some years back (had it for 8 years) running a Vortech Supercharger at about 12 PSI. It was a blast to drive and the power was amazing. It ran the quartermile at high 12 sec and was my daily driven car. So I know what kind of power a supercharger is capable of. Plus most are very reliable, it is another question if the engine will hold up to tha added power But this electric supercharger seems to be one of the only ones that has serius thought behind it and is not just like a hair dryer blower sold on eBay.

Well, I will let this do for now.
Best regards,
Tryggvi
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Fred
Thu Dec 30 2010, 03:54p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Tryggvi, thanks for your thoughts.

I'm not sure what to think about the electric supercharger? It indeed looks like it could work, but still has to prove itself....not going to be the first one to try that

And thanks for the advice about the ring&pinion. I already shortened the diff.ratio from stock 3.909 to 4.63 Plus the 5.14 t-case wich shortens the ratio 26% in high gear.
Now with a 4.16 t-case, 20%lower in high gear. The next step could be a 4.88 R&P. It would bring back the 5th gear, but not the desired power for driving in fresh snow.

Must admit that downsizing the tires would be the easiest (and cheapest) option for getting some power back.
You surely have a point when you mention that it is only a minimal disadvantage comparing a 37 vs. 35 inch, when both tires are 12,5inch wide.
I also have to tell you that I'm now on a 16" wheel, so a 15" wheel with 35 tires makes the difference for deflating the tire even smaller.
(the reason why I run this 16"wheel is because a lot tire brands offer the 235/85/16 & 255/85/16 tires -narrow but a higher bead- wich is popular to have in my country)

I wanted a 37" tire indeed for the extra clearance underneath the diff., so it would match larger cars on 38inches. Since my axles are only slightly bigger as the stock suzuki ones, plus the diff. is flattened.

But...last time I came with this car, I wanted to visit Hveravellir from the south. Most of the landscape was,after snowsmelt, free; except the road itself !
One thing wich never came up to my mind when building the car -until then- was that it does not fit the track width from larger vehicles.
I know, I could have known this before....
As mentioned earlier: lot's of lessons to learn.


- close to Árbúðir -


The picture above brings me to an other question:
When I was approaching Hveravellir the tracks disappeared. The road was now full off snow with lot's of water underneath it, making very slow progress.
The benches were mostly free of snow AND hard frozen. I noticed more then one used this to drive on ! Is this legal to do or not ???
As I was unsure about this situation I decided to backtrack !


Last:
I now got answers about engine power upgrade ( 1.6L 16v engine / superchargers ).
If I would decide option 3; smaller tires 35inches, wich one would you choose ?
When I was at Arctictrucks for nailing and siping my tires, one of the guys mentioned that BFGoodrich would be his first choise for a light car. Interco tires the last option because of stiff side walls.
I now run Interco's TrXus mudterrain (outch...) and indeed, onroad on slippery surfaces (rain / ice) I'm very, very happy with the tires. Offroad I'm not
They did not create the traction I am looking for. One of my thoughts is that the treadblocks might be too large for such a light car?
BFgoodrich's MT tire wich I drove before has smaller/narrower tread blocks. And they also seem to have sharper edges to hook up in the terrain. TrXus ones are more rounder.

Ifffffffff a new tire would be my choise, then I was thinking about :
1) Mickey Thompson MTZ, or
2) BFGoodrich MT km2.

But what are your thoughts about it ?????

Greetings Fred
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Sævar
Thu Dec 30 2010, 07:22p.m.
Umsjónarmaður vefsíðunnar

Registered Member #2

Posts: 3405
About driving out of tracks, it is illegal ofcourse, but as long as you dont leave any marks I don´t think anyone can complain...
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gisli
Fri Dec 31 2010, 12:02a.m.
Gísli Sveri

Registered Member #6

Posts: 882
Its legal on snow and frozen ground.
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Tryggvi
Sat Jan 08 2011, 11:22p.m.
Registered Member #356

Posts: 198
Hi Fred

I understand your comment on not wanting to be the first to try the electric supercharger. Most of the electric superchargers out there look like they are crap and are not any better than my girlfriends hairdryer, ha ha. But this one really looks like it has a sound idea and execution of design behind it. Perhaps in the future I will try it

Just wondering a little about the 235/85/16 & 255/85/16 tires you mention, 31.7" and 33.1" actual hight according to:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
Don't people find them unstable on road? My thinking being the small width to hight ratio and perhaps not having the vehicle respond quickly on paved roads or at high speed. Just wondering...

Regarding tire choices in 35", lots of different tires come to mind but at the very botom of the list (next to PRO COMP) I think I would put the BFG's. I have used BFG A/T and M/T tires quite a bit for on and offroad driving and am not impressed with anything other than a smooth on road ride. I don't like the wear, terrible in rain and ice, the M/T is noizy (the old one) but I guess some people like them. The problem with tire choice is that people choose tires for different uses and sometimes for looks. Some people would like to think they use their vehicle a lot off road but in reality the vehicle is used 90% or more on paved roads, so people must think hard and take into account what use the tire will get in the real world. I of course am no tire expert and have not tried all tires on the market, but I do try to research things of interest as well as I can.

Regarding the BFG or Micky Thompson tires I would definitely go with the MTZ tires. I had looked into using them on my vehicle but could not find them in a load range for a Suzuki. All the tires I found had a "D" or "E" load range but my Suzuki would need a "B" or "C" load range. This is of course extremly important in regards to the vehicle handeling correctly under all circumstanses. But I must admit I was looking at 16" and 17" tires since my vehicle can not accomodate 15" wheels because of the brake caliper/disk size.

I would look at in this order:
Toyo
Yokohama
Dick Cepek
Mickey Thompson
Good Year
Nitto
Kumho

If Bridgestone made a 35" tire I would look at that too, but I don't think they make one. I am not sure if Yokohama make a 35" either. This is of course just my opinion based on my experience. My driving style is fairly "spirited" or some might say agresive. I do not use my vehicle alot for glacial excursions or extreem deflation of tires. Most of my driving is on paved roads and lots of summer offroad driving on gravel/dirt and river crossings, so my proirities are not exactly the same as your perhaps. I hope this helps you with your choice of tires, I will leave links below for assistance as well.

http://www.yokohamatire.com/Default.aspx

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/home.do?

http://www.performance4trucks.com/

http://www.nittotire.com/index.html

Best regards,
Tryggvi

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Fred
Thu Apr 25 2013, 08:02p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Hello !

It's been quit a while !!
I rarely have used the Jimny within the last four years. The only one who was having most fun with it was.... rust

After a loooong hike (3 month) across Iceland last year in which i saw the first winterstorms approaching your country and shutting the interior of for regular/stock four-wheel-drives, I decided that it's time to start the engine again and bring my Jimny back on the island.

I've booked the "Springtour on Vatnajökull" with Útivist from 9 til 12 Mai, and I'll be already arriving during the end of next week !
It would be good to testdrive the Jimny in the snow before. And.... meet some other Suzuki's !!
So now my question: Anyone in for a weekendtrip at 4 - 5 Mai or daytour (hoping that the weather and snowconditions will be okay? If I look at some webcam's then there's still lot's of snow in the interior !?!)

Hoping for a meet and greet

best regards out of Holland,

Fred
northjimny ad yahoo dot com
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Loki
Fri Apr 26 2013, 09:28a.m.
Registered Member #77

Posts: 37
Hi Fred, -you have obviously put a lot of effort into this Jimny.

Snow performance is all about treading as lightly as possible. That means ground pressure must be sufficiently low.
At normal inflation pressure; -groundpressure is equal to airpressure in tires.
The sidewall stiffness of tires is the ruling factor for groundpressure at wery low tire pressure. From that perspective I would guess that these extremely stiff 37" Interco tires are far to stiff to perform propperly at low tire pressure under this lightweight 4x4.
To make bad things worse, -it is mounted on 8" rim that further prevents decent deformation and flex of sidewalls and calls for great engine power to overcome the friction of deforming the tires.

Im sure that your Jimny would perform way better in soft snow if it ran on SOFT 35" tires on 10" wide rims.
The key issue is using the softest sidewall tire you can get and wide rims to make deforming of sidewall more efficient and less restrictive.
The trick to choose tires for lightweight Zukis is to choose the tire that deforms most easily when you push down on it in the tire shop, before it is mounted on the rim.

Softer and lighter 35"tires on 10" wide rims will need way LESS engine power in soft snow and most likely provide far better floating by allowing lower real groundpressure.

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Fred
Fri Apr 26 2013, 08:42p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Hi Loki,


Thanks for making things clear, it makes sense !

The good thing is: I now own a set of 35" tires on 15" wheels, but 9inch wide. As you can see in the picture the tire is slightly sticking out from the fenders. This is already on the limit (max. 3cm.) , according to the Dutch law, to keep it street legal. A 10inch wide wheel would push the tire probable beyond this limit ?



Now the bad thing: the Jimny is on it's way into Iceland on the old 37"tires. I've kept an eye on the weather report, it looks like Winter doesn't want to leave your country and the Trxus outperforms the BFGoodrich KM2 by far when it's driven on pact snow & ice (Tryggvi already warned me for this ).
New EU-laws realy limits the choise of decent offroad tires nowadays in my country and it's neighbours...

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Tryggvi
Tue May 14 2013, 09:30p.m.
Registered Member #356

Posts: 198
Hi Fred

Nice picture of your Jimny on the 35" tires!

Sorry to miss the possible weekend trip May 4-5, I was home sick in bed and the weekend after that (the 9-12 May) I was on a short holiday in Germany. If you are still in Iceland it would be fun to meet and see your Suzuki.

I hope your trip here to Iceland has been fun.

Best regards,
Tryggvi
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Brynjar
Wed May 15 2013, 11:23p.m.
Registered Member #26

Posts: 445
If you are still in Iceland we should plan a suzuki meeting it´s been way to long since the infamous kjötsúpukvöld..
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Fred
Tue May 28 2013, 08:37p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Hello Tryggvi, hello Brynjar,

Back in Reykjavík right now !!! (And will leave this Friday )
I can tell more about the tour I did when I´m back home.
But I can already tell that I liked it A LOT !!!
The Jimny did okay; the biggest restriction was the guy behind the wheel

Sorry for the short words, but I´ve limited internet access.

If there is still interest for a meeting, just call or send an SMS to my mob. phone !!!
+31 6 29 24 07 89

Greetings Fred
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Sævar
Thu May 30 2013, 11:34a.m.
Umsjónarmaður vefsíðunnar

Registered Member #2

Posts: 3405
http://visir.is/islandsvinur-fordast-hina-ferdamennina/article/2013705309887
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Fred
Thu May 30 2013, 05:06p.m.
Registered Member #550

Posts: 11
Thank you for this link; en ég skil ekki neitt

Greetings Fred


ps. most of the article is just true !!!
pps. why isn´t this lambsteak fitting my campingstove ???
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