I was just out looking at my twisted, rusty, bare moke shell and was wondering just what to do with it.
It needs a TOTAL rebuild with a lot of straightening and rust repairing as well as saucing every nut, bolt and washer for it.
There's an 1100S motor that needs a rebuild, disks to buy, wheels, seats etc etc $$$$$$ to spend.

I'm thinking rebuilding the 1275 into a fast road/track engine would be similar in cost to doing a 4EFTE or similar conversion so I'll probably look at doing some kind of engine upgrade for reliability and performance. (100hp+ in a moke sounds like a hell of a lot of fun)

Or, I've always liked the idea of a moke body on a Suzuki Sierra chassis.
I love my 4WDing and I think it's something like what the moke should have evolved into anyway.

So what do you think??
I'll be able to do most of the work myself but I'm interested to know what you fellas know about these conversions and what things to be mindful of before getting too far into it.

Cheers.

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'72 English Van...'72 Export Moke ...63' 850...KZ 750E1...'74 P76

The Suzuki Sierra Chassis conversion is not a good end result. The standard Moke will go a surprising amount of places.

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Agreed, it just looks odd when walking past it, standard big wheel moke has pretty good clearance, and with a nice torquey engine will go most places

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Here am I sitting in my tin can far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do...



“A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.” - Jeremy Clarkson

Why would you want a car like this to "go most places". As long as it goes on the road, where else would you want it to go????

offroad marchie for one... mokes are very fun on old fire trails, and telegraph trails (so long as the trails arent crazy weathered!) its a fun car to drive anywhere... not too sure what the point of that was.... he was asking about making a 4wd moke... just giving him options...

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Here am I sitting in my tin can far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do...



“A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.” - Jeremy Clarkson

as they say, life is a beach

and the sandhills can be fun - just keep the pedal to the metal!

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

hmmm I hate hitting bumps in my Moke let alone taking it off road..!!!

Anyway.. if you ask me, nothing says DO THIS TO YOUR MOKE like a Honda v-tec engine conversion, an elaborate roll cage and a splash of bright paint....





with super awesome wheels like this



*nods nods*

The concept of the Moke was done a long time before the Mini, by Issigonis during WWII. It was designed to be an off road military vehicle and in the prototype phase a few 4WD Mokes were made and tried, eventually culminating in the ANT which very saddly almost (damm clase!!) made it in to production but didn't.

Where would you want to go??? I have covered most of inland Australia in Moke, places that are generally thought of as 4WD only. This is what they were designed for and they do so like a duck to water. If you say you hate hitting bumps in your Moke, then your Donuts are Pancakes.

Oh dont want to thread hijack, but i think thats cool.... me personally, i hate hitting bumps in any of my cars!!! Not because there is anything wrong with them, but i just have this weird "if i treat them mean they will not stay clean" attitude... its just me.

I actually wanted to drive around Australia when i had my Traveller..!!!

Anyway, back to the thread at hand...


VTEC VTEC VTEC

How did he get the gearstick on the wrong side of the steering wheel ?????

Thanks for the replies fellas.

I suppose to do a body swap to a Sierra chassis would make the moke be registered as a Suzuki and would have to meet the ADRs of that year chassis. That in itself might find the job a lost cause.

I think a Jap donk will be the best all round engine to go for, but the thought of burning up the local sand dunes, mud bashing or a bit of rock hopping got me thinking.

Soo, who can I contact to get a sub frame built?
Tricky maybe when he's finished the Cat or are there others in the game?

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'72 English Van...'72 Export Moke ...63' 850...KZ 750E1...'74 P76

Im against most others... 4WD it, would be something nice and different. But in saying that 4wding without a roof is real un nerving (im currently driving a willys jeep) some of the places you can make a 4wd go really gets the heart pumping

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If you want more inches, stroke it
Life's a garden.... Dig It!
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20746

Damian you already have the van for the road, I understand that the moke requires a fair bit of work body wise but if you are going to go off roading and use a suzuki for the base why not just modify a suzuki because then you wont have to muck around with engineers etc . . . and there are plenty of bits floating around for them at wreckers etc. . . . and you wont be upset if you damage it while bush bashing!!
Im all for the 2 litre vtec idea but i would search for something with a turbo hanging of it like an 2 litre astra turbo drive train or the like . . . anyways good luck and have fun!

Cheers Scott

I reckon either put a starlet conversion in it and jack it up higher than standard and run decent tyres on it for off roading. Or do the Sierra conversion. My idea with the Sierra is get the earliest chassis as possible so ADR's are easier to deal with, put in a 1.6L Vitara engine in with a Swift GTI twin cam head and a very sturdy bull bars, roll cage and side steps.
This is the link to my photo bucket file on 4x4 mokes.
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x314 ... x4%20moke/
This is my thread in members gallery http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic ... sc&start=0
I think this shell on a Sierra chaise with nice side steps to help hide the chaise rail would look alright.

This green one was on another thread on here a while ago

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

in that last pic im playing with the independent rear steering switch.... large servos that move the rear wheels... pretty cool i thought

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Here am I sitting in my tin can far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do...



“A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.” - Jeremy Clarkson