She is a 1 litre narrow track zook thats had a spring over conversion carried out by a previous owner. It was sprung over on the original narrow track axles, an cememt reinforcing Z bar for the steering was booty fabbed and 31x10.5-15's fitted on Sunraysia rims. A little guard snip also. The tyres rubbed like mad and it didn't turn very well due to tyre rub on the springs during lock. Running the rims backwards helped a lot there. It was severely underpowered with the 1 litre motor that had travelled about 200,000km, which I subsequently replaced with another, though ultimately the gearing was very wrong for those tyres.
Zook now has a new life on a property down at Wagga Wagga where shes become the trusty tractor for the property owner.
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Just found a write up in my deepest archives on the old girl from a while ago:
I bought the Jalopy a few months back now from a girl in town who was using it as a daily driver. She ended up getting a co. car and then no longer used the Zook and let it run out of rego. I bought it off her to mod into a off road vehicle to save trashing the Disco too much, especially with the driving one tends to do. When she sold it to me it was already out of rego though, and so now will require a blue slip to have it passed.
There were a few things that I wasn't happy with when getting it home though. Took it for a drive up to the back of where I live and overheated the thing, and it didn't seem to run right. I picked up a 1l engine/clutch/4sp gearbox from Jamie (fourwheelin) and put that in (which was reconditioned about 20,000km ago with a new clutch) and then gave it a newer radiator. The engine now is in great condition. That engine I believe came out of his comp buggy before he went big with it. How does it go? The 1l zook engine isn't a power house and it really does need a rock hopper set with the 31's (they are 31x10.5-15). The gearing in it is standard. In terms of how it performs on the road, to be honest I have only driven it around where I live which has mainly been in the bush. This said, I have hardly driven it at all. The plans were to build it up as a fun buggy to stop the Disco getting trashed, though time meant the sierra was left sitting. I started it today to move it for a wash and it started easily and ran really well. It hadn't been started since about November.
The tyres are 31x10.5's which are cheap and these are worn down though still legal just. There is a little rust in it, though nothing major that I've seen. Recently one of the school boys here has had a go at removing the rust (2 patches), though left before hitting it with some filler.
I also wasn't happy with the spring over conversion (Z-bar setup) as they had tried to weld the springs for some reason which cracked them. The springs got tossed and replaced with stockers on the front and stock pack rear sans the load leaf for a bit more compliance and compression travel. Spring bushes are new also. It ramps about the same now as my Disco which has a 4" lift and unlocked sway bars. The steer is a Z bar which in my opinion is not very good at all, and I'm not happy with the steering.
The brakes were done before I bought it, and the linings are pretty new. There is a slow leak in the system somewhere, though I have not gone looking for it to be honest. A mate thinks it will be in the slave cylinders of the brakes and is an easy fix though I have not investigated this yet. The brakes do work, though are not terribly effective.
Front wheel bearings are new also.
It would need a few things fixed up if you wanted to rego it. It will need a spot in the pass door woopied, it will need something done to straighten out the steering somehow, the brake system leaks fluid, though I have been told by a mate that used to have these things that its probably the brake cylinders losing the fluid and they are cheap to replace, poss tyres (31x10.5-15 are cheap also), may just have to check the floor. There is surface rust in there. New wiper blades. Ive just taken some pics of it how it sits today which I have included below. One of the front pass seat mounts has popped, though I can weld this up again.
To be totally honest with you the thing about it that concerns me is the way it steers. I really don't know if it's a trait of sprung over, z-bars, if its the steering box - there are probably some really good minds in the zook forum here that are up to speed with this type of stuff. If its the steering box then I'm sure there are parts everywhere for it.
The zook does have an engineering certificate marked on the rego papers, though I don't have the certificate, and the RTA couldn't tell me what it was for. My assumption is the spring over, though I can't confirm that.
I'm not sure re the steering, I've got time tommorrow so I will take it for a drive and check it out. The wheel is at an angle but I will sus it out some more and get back to you.
The Zook is an 81 model.
I’ve just taken the zook for a drive. Something I have not done for a while! The steering seems ok, despite the offset steering wheel. The problem I was talking about before seems to be related to the geometry of using z bars instead of the hi-steer setup with the steering. In 4L no probs, 4H no probs though there is a vibration in 2H. I will check this out also, though I suspect that it will relate to the rear tailshaft uni’s being out of phase from when I resprung the rear. 4 bolts a tailshaft rotation and it should be ok.
