Anyone who is involved in the southwestern BC fourwheeling scene knows of Ben Olson and his infamous Suzuki LJ80. The LJ80 was the first model of Suzuki 4x4s imported into Canada during 1979-80. Ben bought it as an insurance write-off (vandalism) in 1991 (or, as he puts it, 42 pounds ago). He immediately set about rebuilding it back to stock specifications. Shortly afterwards, while moving into a house on a snowy New Year's Eve, a malfunctioning parking brake let the 'Zuk roll backwards down the alley, drop a wheel into a sunken driveway and flop onto its side. That marked the end of the stock Suzuki. From then on, it became a physical manifestation of Ben's prolific engineering brainstorms.

Here's the little Suzuki as it's nearing its first re-birth as a restored vehicle.

The completed restoration.

The first modification was a front shackle reversal and 1.5" lift shackles. With the stock open diff axles and 235 tires, Ben and his twin brother, Chris, towed it down to the Rubicon behind Chris' Land Cruiser. They parked the 'Cruiser and proceeded to conquer the Rubicon in the little Suzuki.

One year later, on the way back from a trip to San Francisco, the engine blew. It wasn't too surprising since Ben had been abusing it all year with high rpms and lots of freeway driving around the western United States. Ben liberated a 22R motor from a free Toyota Celica GT. He added a Weber carb to it and then paid CAD$50 for a Toyota pickup's 4-speed transmission and transfer case. Those parts found their way into the LJ80, along with a 1982 Suzuki SJ410's front axle. The Birfields were replaced with larger 1985 units. Front brakes from the '85 were also added.

On the Rubicon, equipped with lift shackles and a front shackle reversal.

The Celica GT 22R gets installed.

This drivetrain combination stayed relatively consistent over the next few years but the suspension did not.

After the shackle reversal, Ben converted the suspension to a spring over axle setup. After that, he replaced the front leaf springs with Bronco II coils and a 5-link suspension. After a trip to Moab, Ben decided he wasn't happy with his design of the front suspension. Thinking that it wasn't strong enough, he switched to radius arms and Grand Cherokee lift springs which were softer than the Bronco springs. The softer springs and longer arms gave him much better articulation. About this time, he also tossed the rear spring-over and built a quarter-elliptical rear suspension which required major changes to the rear frame. The adjustable height 1/4e suspension he built was pretty trick but he didn't like its tendency to totally unload one side of the axle. On the street, it was very easy to hit the gas around a corner and lift the inside front tire, much like tall Jeep TJs will do. That led to the Suzuki's 1998 Rock Crawl 4x4 event debut with a rear air bag suspension. That required another round of frame modifications. Today, the Suzuki has air bags on all four corners.

	Coil spring front, leaf spring-over-axle rear. Notice the fiberglass hood.	The Suzuki underwent yet another re-birth, this time with Grand Cherokee lift coils in the front with radius arms, and a 1/4 elliptical suspension in the rear. The leaf packs are attached via hinged boxes at the rear of the frame. Adjusting bolts allowed for an adjustable ride height.
	A home-made coil-over-shock suspension.	Taking the back way up to Starvation Lake. Front coils, rear 1/4e. The fiberglass hood now incorporates the grill as well.

An off-camber trail becomes a nice, level drive.

The air bag suspension is what draws the most attention when people gather around the Suzuki (you can always spot Ben's Suzuki; it's that red thing surrounded by people). The air bags were pilfered from a commercial trailer's kicker axle (can be lowered and used for additional braking). The bags were originally used to raise and lower the trailer's axle. Ben attached them to hinged arms on the Suzuki's frame. These arms allow the bags to fall away from the axle during extreme droop. The bags are connected to each other through a series of manually controlled valves.

You can do some very cool tricks with air bags. If the driver's side front wheel needs to climb high onto a rock, Ben can release its air into the rear driver's side bag. This allows the front to compress more easily while causing the rear to extend. I've seen him boost one side of the truck to deal with an off-camber sidehill; another time I watched as he pressurized the bags to un-high-center the Suzuki. As expected, the truck performs well on the ramp: 1006 on a 30 degree ramp.

Notice the hinged mount that attaches the air bag to the frame.	Even with this much travel, the air bag's mount hasn't started to drop away from the frame.	Fun with air bags: Ben un-high centers his Suzuki by inflating the bags to add another couple of inches of lift. This saved him a point penalty at the '99 Morningside Tough Truck Challenge.
In this shot, you can see the rear air bag just starting to droop.	With this much articulation, it's pretty obvious why Ben won the '99 BC4x4/4Offroad Ramp Contest.

A Toyota diesel fed by a Nissan 300ZX Air Research turbo.

The 20R motor has since been replaced by a Toyota L model 4-cyl diesel from an '82 pickup. In its stock form, it put out a measely 66 hp. That probably explains why the T04 Air Research turbo (snagged from a junk yard Nissan 300ZX) has found its way onto the diesel. Ben built a custom exhaust from schedule 40 pipe to route exhaust to the turbo. Hmm...an exhaust/nerf bar? Underneath, the oil pan had to be modified to clear the Dana 44.

The diesel drives an SM420 transmission from a 1963 Chevy truck. This beefy transmission has a whopping 7.05:1 first gear ratio. Ben's home-made adapter allowed him to mate the tranny to a Toyota pickup's transfer case with a 2.28:1 reduction. As I write this, Ben is working on adapters to join the Toyota's reduction box to an '83 CJ5's Dana 300 transfer case (the short model). He's certain that it will fit in the diminutive Suzuki. That would result in a final gearing ratio of 192:1. Currently, it is approximately 72:1

The Suzuki axles were eventually swapped out for bigger units. Ben narrowed a '76 Chevy Blazer's Dana 44 for the front and filled it with Dutchman axle shafts, 4.56 gears and a Lockright. Ford rotors and hubs hang on the ends to accept a 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern. It is attached to the frame via a 3-link setup and a track bar. A shortened Wagoneer tie rod, Wagoneer pitman arm and Scout steering box are used for steering.

The rear axle is a Ford 9" from an E150 van. Ben shortened it and installed Dutchman axle shafts, 4.56 gears and a Lockright. The brakes consist of Samurai front rotors gripped by Nissan 280Z rear calipers and Subaru parking brake cables (Ben explains that Subarus use front parking brakes so they're an excellent source for long cables).

The front D44 came from a '76 Chevy Blazer.

The rear 9" came from an E150 Ford van.

Those are the answers to the majority of the questions people ask Ben about his creation. You could spend an entire day marvelling at his attention to detail and the ingenious use of non-stock parts. Those cool headlight housings, for example, are RAB Industries work site light housings. They're the explosion-proof PAR56 models. Ben added Bosch dual beam lights to turn them into vehicle lights. The frame has been modified extensively (several times) and features an integrated roll bar and nerf bars. Using the stock hood and fenders, Ben made his own fiberglass front clip. Additional home-made features include bumpers, tire rack, fuel tank, and a hot water shower. The list goes on and on.

If you like to read about this kind of home garage fabrication where even the toughest shade tree howler monkeys are maxing out their banana scales, stay tuned for the next Feature Vehicle article. We'll be focusing on Chris Olson's flat fender Jeep. Naturally, it only LOOKS like a flat fender. In fact, it is composed of Toyota mini-truck, Land Cruiser, Jeep YJ, Jeep CJ and John Deere parts, along with many bits of custom work courtesy of Chris and Ben. Oh yeah, it also has TWO transmissions.

...lars