1988 Suzuki Samurai Expedition Machine.

This is one of my favorite rigs on here. Super cool, good job man!

Thanks Carbon.

I took the weekend off and went camping with it.

The temperatures were perfect, in the 80s during the day, and 60s at night. I could have done without the 1" plus of rain we got yesterday, but we still had fun.

The little beast almost doesn't have enough power to pull the trailer. Coming home I was bucking a headwind and almost couldn't get the rig up to the 55 mph speed limit. More work to be done.

I also need to start a build thread on the trailer. It worked really well this weekend. Having a dry place, other than the tent, to put stuff is nice when it's raining.

More as it happens.

I meant to post this in the last reply.

These two are about 100' behind the tent. There were 4 total, working their way down behind the campground. About two hours later they came back by, headed the other direction.

Some changes are going to be happening. Stay tuned.

ny updates with this little beasty ? what are you using for a manifold? I'm only asking as I am fixing to dig into the bottom end of an 8v for bearings in the next week or so.

Stop playing with the jet boat for a few minutes... can't neglect the sammy!

All seriousness though. love the work man!

Toyman01 wrote: Some changes are going to be happening. Stay tuned.

Tease.

I'm waiting on wheels. They were 6-8 weeks out about 6 weeks ago and should be in soon. As hot as it's been I wasn't in a hurry so I just let the order ride. I'm going from a 16" wheel to a 15".

The exhaust manifold is a tube manifold of unknown manufacture. It was on there when I bought it. The intake is factory 8 valve Trackick with TBI injection.

solfly wrote: just read that it's the 8 valve. i'd look real hard at the 16v MPFI version before i went with a v6, cooling one in that small package is a bear

The I4 1.6/1.3 give a great weight balance as we'll. A bigger, heavier V6 would upset that.

(Plus I'm a big Suzuki fan!)

You've got several projects going that are very relevant to me. Here's my silver tin top (much rustier and more stock).

Driving around the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a rental car this weekend made me want one of these even more.

ClemSparks wrote: You've got several projects going that are very relevant to me. Here's my silver tin top (much rustier and more stock).

What size are those tires?

I'm running a 285/75-16 at the moment and they are just too big for 98% of the driving I do and it drives like a suicidal tractor at anything over 50.

The tires pictured above are a 235/75-15s and should be close to the size you are running. If I'm going to drive it 4000 miles, to the west coast, it needs better high speed manners. Fixing the steering geometry and lowering it to a reasonable height should help with that immensely. The 8000# winch should drag it through any tough spots. It should also get my fuel economy back into the 25 mpg range.

They're a non-radial mud/floatation "LT" size and I forget the designation. I'll try to look next time I'm up there (I don't get there often enough, unfortunately). I don't think they rub. I got them off craigslist, they're undoubtedly ancient.

I haven't driven mine on the road yet (however, it's old enough now I could get historic tags and drive it around in the winter for fun, I suppose).

I seem to recall even 235/75/15s will rub on a stock one (that is, of course, not an issue for you) or I'd probably just have some of those on there since they're such a popular size.

It was a pretty day today. As much as I wanted to go play in the woods, it was time for the next update on the Samurai.

Big tires are a lot of fun. In the year or so I've owned the Samurai, I haven't even managed to get it stuck. It would literally go anywhere I asked it to. Until you asked it to go 65mph. Then it would try to kill you. Bump steer I had in abundance. Highspeed wander, yep had that too. It was no fun to drive on the road and time for some changes.

So, the 16" wheels and 285/75R16 mud grips are out, and the 15" wheels and 235/75R15 all terrains are in. It should still go 90% of the places I want to go and the winch can drag me the other 10%. The smaller tires also have the added advantage of fitting under the fenders and flares so maybe I can see out of the windows after a muddy road.

Apparently the lense on the phone was dirty so the pictures suck.

It's also been lowered about 4" by putting the axles back on top of the springs.

Wow, the difference this made in stability at speed. It also got me a usable 5th gear. So 65 mph is attainable at 3500 RPMs and the bump steer is 95% gone.

Tomorrow I'll be hitting the dirt for a extended run through the woods.

Here's a before picture for those that don't want to go find one.

What wheels/tires did you end up with? Mind sharing the cost on them? That's the tire size I want on my Tracker. New wheels won't hurt my feelings any.

Any progress on the turbo manifold? Possibility of a repop for someone else's project?

In reply to Spinout007:

The wheels are the same as the 16s I was running.

I was amazed they were actually made in the USA. They came from 4wheelparts.com. I've ordered from them a couple of times and been happy with the service. 5 wheels, delivered, was $279.

The tires are Kumho Road Venture AT. They are a lighter version of the tire I run on my work van. Same tread, just a lighter carcass and not rated for as much weight. They were about $95 each from Tire Rack. I still might switch back to a mud grip. These work pretty good on my van but I'll have to see how they do on the Samurai.

The turbo manifold is still a possibility but I haven't worked on it any. It's still a box full of parts. I got distracted by a boat for several months.

Very cool build love the hard top samurai's they look so cool!

OK, I put 130 miles on it today. It's like a totally new rig. Handling is outstanding, at least 100% better than it was. It will actually run 70 mph if you keep your foot in it but it's happiest at 60-65 and that's perfect.

There are a few minor problems. The shocks are too long and will need to be changed. I figured that would be the case and they bottomed out a couple of times today.

The YJ spring conversion moves the front axle forward about 1" Now that I've lowered it, I've got some binding in the steering linkages when the suspension is compressed. I'm not sure how I'm going to fix that. It's going to take some research.

Over all, I'm very happy with the performance, handling and ride. Love it.

Still haven't been able to get it stuck. Must be chicken.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

My eldest son and I fixed the binding problem in the steering today. The YJ spring conversion pushes the front axle forward about 2". With a SPOA lift, it's not a problem. So to fix the binding, we drilled the spring perches and shifted the axle back 1". Steering problem solved, now the axle hits the oil pan instead. Apparently it's a common problem when putting a 1.6 in a samurai without a bunch of lift.

The fix for that apparently, is to modify the 1.3 oil pan to fit the 1.6 engine. So that will be another project as soon a I track down a oil pan.

While we were at it, I did do some checking to see if the shocks are bottoming out at full compression. That's as high as my jack would go.

I don't think she will have a problem keeping all four feet on the ground.

It's amazing how much articulation you can get out of these little trucks.

Ya that's more flex than my jeep had (2" spring lift with sway bar disconnected). You just have to love how one issue leads you to another. Hope you are able to keep driving the truck while waiting for the oil pan.

Long ago I had tried that Calmini shackle reversal lift on my first Sammy. 5" of lift and roughy HALF the advertised articulation. Boy was that a waste of time and money.

I did the SPOA afterward and on my next two and the flex I had made me ditch the CJ spring conversion and the buggy spring conversion idea (and parts) I had.

The the RockLobster t-case gears and 33" Super Swampers aired down to ~3 lbs, it was amazing.

I just wish did the 5.13 R&P swap.

5.13s make the already weak gears pretty small and susceptible to breakage

here's my old Zuk, not to thread jack

solfly wrote: 5.13s make the already weak gears pretty small and susceptible to breakage

With ~60 hp? Maybe? If you don't use the 4-pin carrier but I never heard of a single breakage in all the years of forums and other owners but hey, I guess it could happen. Sometime. To someone.

Plus mine weighed about 1,850 lbs so I wasn't really worried.

i've always preferred to gear the tcase. if you need that much gear you'd probably want to consider an axle swap