Hey guys I'm posting for a friend.
He has a '97 Sportage 2wd with the 5-speed, and he would like to know what body lifts and/or suspension lifts there are out there. His goal is to turn it into a prerunner of sorts, nothing too extream, looking at 2" suspension lift or so, a nudge bar with some driving lights, and BFG A/Ts in the 225x70r15 size. So far him and I both are impressed with its capabilities. We did a bit of rock crawling with it and it went up everything we pointed it at.
Thanks in advanced <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I use my 4WD Sportage for mostly prerunning, as well. It's great at it due to its weight distribution. I am currently running 31" MT Radial Baja Claws, Eibach's 2.5" Spring Lift Kit up front with Dennis Thompson's "Up Your Kia Spacers", TJ rear springs (no spacers in the rear), a custom 1" body lift (most on here perform a 1 3/8" BL), RS9000s in the rear, and am having a prerunner bumper built in the near future after I have parts of thee vehicle Line-X'ed. I have also removed the front sway bar and it's still less tipsy than stock due to the stiffer Eibach springs in the front.

Eibach is no longer producing the lift kit for the Sportage, but there is Dennis Thompson's lift or Dave Scott's lift kit (both available on here). I guess I would try to find an Eibach lift kit, see what Dennis Thompson has available, or check out Dave's stuff. Both of them produce great products and fuction quite well. If he were to purchase Dave's kit, I would only get the front springs, etc. and use stock TJ springs in the rear which work excellent for prerunning. If you guys have any more questions, feel free to contact me. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

BTW, all lift kits for the Sportage ('95-'02) work for BOTH 2WD AND 4WD.

Hey thanks for all of the info, I'm sure just knowing that there are options out there will make my friend VERY happy <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'll talk to him about the springs. What shocks would you recomend? I recomended Bilstiens, but thats my personal bias. Are there any other good alternatives out there that are cheaper? Oh and how did you mount your lights on the front?Did you just drill holes in the bumper(or should I say what looks to be left of it <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />) and add reinforcement plates or what?

As far as prerunning goes I like the way it handles, very forgiving and it just soaks up the bumps. Great power too, for a little 4 banger that is, lots of fun especially with the 5-speed.

That's just what I'm running. I would recommend any really soft shocks in combination with stiff springs for prerunning.



My lights are temporarily mounted via an aluminum square tube mounted on a former bumper bracket. I did have the same thing mounted when I had the bumper, but it did not allow for the grille (which did not matter to me because a rabbit took out mine...).

Hope that helps.



Yeah, it begs to be driven hard. The 2.0L puts out a decent amount of power, much more than Toyota's 22RE, strangely enough...

I noticed that too, I have a friend that has a 86 4runner w/ 22re, thats fun to drive too, but nothing in comparison with the Sportage. I'll tell him about the lights, I think he may end up putting a rack on top and have some lights mounted on there too.

Sweet. Stick some pictures of it one here if that happens. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

he could do wat im doin with mine gettin custom a-arms with racerunner coilovers with a custom rear-end a turbocharger

Some how I don't think thats what he has in mind...yet <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

ive been thinkin bout it for along time i was gonna buy a truck but i was like nahhh SUV's r better in the long run and i like my kia its tough as hell ive had it one its side once before and just dented my rockerpanels