Off-Road/Safari FX35

RamboGT5 said:
Lol, for the "original FX engineers" in this forum, I do what I want to my cars. I don't care what anyone says is correct or wrong unless it's advice on getting me closer to what I want. That's life isn't it? ;) There are plenty of crossovers with off road tires. Yes, I want my car to look cool, but adding a bit more functionality to it wouldn't hurt my car more than anyone's feelings, clearly lol. Have you guy's seen the BMW X6M with off road tires? Nasty.

Anyway, @jbrentd, would I have enough clearance with 33x12.5r20 tires? Assuming you have the 2nd gen model, which did your comment apply?

@J3FF3R$0N, do you think something like those lit kits could be fabricated for the FX? I think so, but what about the positive camber issues? I guess leveling kits serve a more specific purpose.

@myron02, Do you know if his lift kit was fabricated or not? How many inches did he lift?

Thanks for your replies guys. :)
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You can feel free to do what you like, but just like the other dozen people I have seen before you, chances are once you have the hard costs in front of you, you will decide to abandon all ideas of pursuing this. We're not saying what you want is impossible, anything is possible, but are you willing to spend 10, 20 or 30 thousand dollars buying shocks, struts, and fabricating an entirely new suspension design for this car?

And no; You will not fit 33's underneath the FX without some serious work.

This is the equivalent of buying a dress shoe, and then trying to modify it into a running shoe. You should have just bought a running shoe from the beginning.
 
RamboGT5 said:
@myron02, Do you know if his lift kit was fabricated or not? How many inches did he lift?
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He bought his kit actually. He was lifting a Subaru outback, they have a following so kits were available for his vehicle. People off road those all the time. I am not sure how the suspension works on those, if he can just get the camber bolts to correct the camber or not but he did it. I am trying to find a photo online of the vehicle but I am locked out of his site at work.
 
myron02 said:
He bought his kit actually. He was lifting a Subaru outback, they have a following so kits were available for his vehicle. People off road those all the time. I am not sure how the suspension works on those, if he can just get the camber bolts to correct the camber or not but he did it. I am trying to find a photo online of the vehicle but I am locked out of his site at work.
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Again, you asked about the difference between the people using The FX for a track car vs why I think trying to make an FX off-road worthy is much harder. The reason is because the base of the vehicle.

The FX is based off of a g35/350z. Just because it is 5 inches higher off the ground, doesn't change it very much beyond that. So yes it is significantly easier to modify the FX into a track/canyon car than to try and revamp it from the chassis up to become a good 4x4.

Think about the things that are most important to 4x4'ing:

-Real 4 wheel drive
-Low range gears
-Lockers
-Ability to flex and articulate over obstacles
-ground and body clearance
-heavy duty driveline (Both in the power respect, and in the protection respect (don't want to smash a u-joint on a rock)

The list goes on and on, and the FX basically meets none of the criteria.

Again: You will not fit big tires under this car without significantly chopping up the body. This isn't like a body on frame truck that you can gain extra clearance for big tires by throwing a body lift under it. So one more time unless you want to spend literally the price of a Full Size pickup modifying your FX to do this. I highly recommend you just sell the thing and buy a Tahoe, or Xterra, or just a full size truck.
 
RamboGT5 said:
do you think something like those lit kits could be fabricated for the FX? I think so, but what about the positive camber issues? I guess leveling kits serve a more specific purpose.
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I'm sure something like that could be adapted to the FX, there maybe enough adjustment in the front to get the camber OK. You can get the spec perfect after using lowering springs (not quite 2") so there should be enough the other way.

I think most if not all of these donk style cars use universal car lift systems Donk Suspension Lift Kits for Caprice, Impala, Delta 88, Monte Carlo, Cutlass, Regal, Crown Victoria, Marquis, Towncar, Vic, Donks, and more
IMG_20130211_180831_zps8a3de3c4.jpg


There was a member on here who had Megan racing coilovers set to max height. I remember it looked pretty high. the coilovers would have a camber adjustment plate on the front and you could get the SPC camber kit for the rear. The pictures are gone from the thread now though
 
meme405 said:
Again, you asked about the difference between the people using The FX for a track car vs why I think trying to make an FX off-road worthy is much harder. The reason is because the base of the vehicle.

The FX is based off of a g35/350z. Just because it is 5 inches higher off the ground, doesn't change it very much beyond that. So yes it is significantly easier to modify the FX into a track/canyon car than to try and revamp it from the chassis up to become a good 4x4.

Think about the things that are most important to 4x4'ing:

-Real 4 wheel drive
-Low range gears
-Lockers
-Ability to flex and articulate over obstacles
-ground and body clearance
-heavy duty driveline (Both in the power respect, and in the protection respect (don't want to smash a u-joint on a rock)

The list goes on and on, and the FX basically meets none of the criteria.

Again: You will not fit big tires under this car without significantly chopping up the body. This isn't like a body on frame truck that you can gain extra clearance for big tires by throwing a body lift under it. So one more time unless you want to spend literally the price of a Full Size pickup modifying your FX to do this. I highly recommend you just sell the thing and buy a Tahoe, or Xterra, or just a full size truck.
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I never said it wasn't easier to modify the FX to be a track/canyon car, I was saying it was equally as dumb as raising it and trying to make it into off road capable vehicle. It's not a vehicle meant for those things and there are better options out there, same thing you're saying. Being easier or not isn't the issue here.
 
Lol at the arguing. If you want to do anything to a car, it is possible, but you need to have the $$ to do it. These guys are right that creating an off-road vehicle out of the FX would be stupid expensive, but if you have the money, go for it. Yes, by the time you're done you could have bought a true off road car, but the same can be said about people that try to get more horsepower out of the FX and spend the cost to buy another, faster car.

My honest opinion is that making it into an off-road vehicle is going to be a large black hole of time and money and that ultimately it will not be a very capable off-road truck. However, if you just want to do it for the hell of it, go for it.
 
Omg. YES!! I've been thinking of doing the same thing to my fx. I gave up on this forum after everyone gave me lip for even mentioning a lift for the fx. I found a shop that do custom lift jobs on ALL vehicles. They were going to charge about 800 with lift and spacers. Then I was also going to upgrade to thicker and larger tires. I'm not sure what they were going to use, but they it would compromise safety or comfortably. please post some pictures for some insaprtation.
 
gicastro said:
Omg. YES!! I've been thinking of doing the same thing to my fx. I gave up on this forum after everyone gave me lip for even mentioning a lift for the fx. I found a shop that do custom lift jobs on ALL vehicles. They were going to charge about 800 with lift and spacers. Then I was also going to upgrade to thicker and larger tires. I'm not sure what they were going to use, but they it would compromise safety or comfortably. please post some pictures for some insaprtation. Ps. I don't plan on going off road with my fx. I just like te way it looks.
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I think we need to be more clear with each other about what potential lifters' expectations are.

Do I think you can turn an FX into a 'crawler without $10K-30K of work without cutting any body panels? Probably not.

What I do think is within the realm of possibility is fitting up to a 32" wheel with a 10 inch or so section width (I am hoping I can get these to fit, actually: BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires - Reviews, ratings and specs in the S.F. East Bay Area - America's Tire

Bullbars don't make sense to me because if they hit a deer or something and are attached to your subframe, the car is probably going to be totaled immediately.
 
31053AFC-717F-4180-B1C8-212D79D5D469.jpeg 0B03C3E0-FD1E-4A8E-8B82-DC1232B4DC4C.jpeg 30E6E506-8257-4D6D-B33E-3A47DAB4007A.jpeg E4914C5B-0FC9-455F-91B6-2064CF208233.jpeg B5CE54BF-6FAE-4F34-B966-1A6B0627A2F9.jpeg Pretty old thread. Anyways, I lifted my fx finally. 3.5 inch lift. Cost under 3000 with tires. Rides a bit smoother now while still feeling tight enough to make it feel sporty. Put on some 285 65 r18 all terrain t2 tires. It’s more like 285 70 r18 because the higher you go the wider it gets. No rubbing in wheel well when doing u-turns. Wheels are now flush with fender instead of hiding and tucking in. I hated seeing the tires tucked in. Don’t plan on taking it off roading, but it does look pretty cool to make it look like it does. Didn’t want to make it look too modded out. I still kinda wanted that factory look, and that’s what I got.:tup: So no, it won’t cost 10,000 dollars like someone else said. And no, it won’t look ridiculous. DO IT. Next ima do some custom rails in the roof since mine is naked, A free curved light bar on the roof over the window, and two yellow Cree light bars for the fog in the bottom part of the front bumper where those empty slots are. I also LED curtesy lights, dtrl, back up lights, trunk lights, and visor lights. Interior I left stock. I like the look of the stock ambient lighting inside. HID fog and headlights. And inline wheather guards for the windows. Hopefully these photos upload properly.
 
Man, this thread takes me back to my college days... down memory lane. When I was a freshman at WPI back in 1993, some guy on campus had a lifted Camero. It must have had at least 33"s on it.... it did look kinda crazy/funky. No idea how it drove as I didn't know the owner at all, but I sure got a kick out of looking at it.

Certainly not for me, but for each their own!
 
I think it looks bad ass!!! It isn't TOO lifted and tires aren't TOO offroady, but it looks mean and proportionate. Now share with us how this was done so we can see the design.
 
Has anyone done a blacked out Safari Build yet?

Starting mine now ill keep the group updated. Has anyone found a good set of fender flares?
Has anyone built a splash guard on the bottom yet?

cheers/
 
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