Now I'm REALLY berkeleyed (RIP Samurai)

still, somebody should be able to tell by that chassis Serial number when it was built.

unless: If A car sits unsold by a dealer, does it get titled as the year it was built or the year it was sold?

Only the Suzuki factory in Japan could tell when it was built by the serial number.

The dealership says it was sold in '91.

pretty sure that differs state to state.

Until work on the body can start, time can still be saved by working on the frame. On the weekend they cut off the unrepairable body parts and did a "rough straightening" that will have to be followed with a "fine straightening" and then reinforcement. Also the rear needs some repairs, I bent the bumper and smashed out a taillight in an arena event a couple of weeks before the accident. Got 2nd in it at least so it wasn't for nothing

The shock was confirmed damaged so I got a used one of the same model for $10. You can see even the oil filter was dented in the wreck. This engine mount looks questionable now too:

Update on the year dispute, I'm going to go ahead and try to register it as a '91. From the MOT's point of view, this means that technically someone lied about the year of the car in the past, hopefully this won't cause me any trouble.

OK so at the end of the day, the net insurance payout I get for damage to my Samurai is $500. Again for reference, the cheapest running Samurais around here rarely go for less than $1500 and not long before this accident (and before I had the roll hoop put in), I had someone offer me $3500 on the spot for it. So by my calculations I'd conservatively estimate that the other driver's insurance company has withheld at least $2000 from me that I should've been paid. Most people don't make that much in a month around here, before taxes. I imagine this is going straight into some insurance executive's bonus. And this is all legal. Quite commonly done when cheaper cars get wrecked too, from what I've heard.

Anyway, fixing it is pretty straightforward, I just need to find, order, or fabricate the metal grille panel now, the only trouble is that it won't be fixed before I go on vacation which means that it won't be street-legal again before the next offroad rally, since it has to be taken in for re-registering as a '91. There's talk of the date of that event being postponed but I can't bet on it. I'll have to see if I can get someone else to take it for re-registering while I'm away, I'm sure my navigator would do it if possible.

mad_machine wrote: still, somebody should be able to tell by that chassis Serial number when it was built. unless: If A car sits unsold by a dealer, does it get titled as the year it was built or the year it was sold?

Cars are dated by the manufacturer as part of a run of cars for a designated year. The date it is first sold is not relevant.

In reply to GameboyRMH: I was thinking that if you run a car fax on the VIN I bet it will tell you what year it is.

Remember there's no VIN, it's a JDM vehicle.

So yesterday I found out that all local sources for grille panels were dried up and a new one had to be brought in from the stealership for a bit under $250, that should be here in about 2 weeks. I also ordered the WHDZ LED headlights which I'll paint with UV-blocking clear coat and then smuggle back in.

The body shop might've found an affordable source for a windshield frame in good condition, mine wasn't damaged in the accident but it's so rusty that I wouldn't have been surprised if the impact had caused it to disintegrate.

Apart from all the frame and body repair work that has to be done while I'm gone, it'll also need a few electrical fixes to pass a roadworthiness inspection (horn failed during the last offroad rally, one of the front indicators isn't working), then a roadworthiness inspection, and then finally re-registering. I'm going to try to get the first two done on-location to minimize the amount of work my navigator has to do.

Haven't updated this thread in a while. The offroad rally was on the weekend and I didn't make it because the new front panel was stuck in the US due to all the bad weather. I got the LED headlights with Meguiar's UV-resistant headlight clear coat and a replacement taillight housing:

Just got word today that the shop now has the new front panel and work will soon continue.

Took this pic a couple days ago when I dropped off the headlights and harness, the fine straightening is almost complete and the damaged spring, shock and brake line have been replaced:

Some patching of rust holes had also been done. I would've liked to get more pics, including of the new front panels which came disassembled, but the shop was pretty crowded and busy, so I didn't want to get in the way.

Glad to hear things are moving forward!

Glad to see this come to the top again. Been watching this thread. 

Frame straightening's finished and the new fender's on:

However the body still needs some massaging to straighten it up, and hammers were just punching holes in the passenger floor, so fresh metal will be needed there.

dean1484 said:

mad_machine wrote: still, somebody should be able to tell by that chassis Serial number when it was built. unless: If A car sits unsold by a dealer, does it get titled as the year it was built or the year it was sold?

Cars are dated by the manufacturer as part of a run of cars for a designated year. The date it is first sold is not relevant.

That's a Noth American thing.  In Europe a 91 is avehicle made between 1/1/91 and 12/31/91.  We used to laugh at America having say an 88 on sale in the midle of 87.

HAving worked in the Auto industry my whole life the North American based model year thing makes changes far far easier to track for Design and Manufacturing.  You have a clear cut off date for brining in changes, not so in Europe where there can be a lot of incrememntal changes thoughout a year.

Glad you're putting in the time, effort and money to bring it back.  Sorry you have such a crappy insurance system down there.

Any reason you are importing a new front panel rather than just fabbing something from scratch?

Can you tell us more about the off road rallies you do?

I actually proposed getting front panels fabricated but the shop was far from enthusiastic about that idea. It would've taken about the same time as ordering the panels (without storms trapping them anywhere, that is) and cost a bit less, although it would take a heavy dose of optimism to expect the final product to fit just as well.

The offroad rallies are TSDs which actually have a combination of on and off road driving, with "challenges" in them which don't follow the same timing as the course they're in - often a time trial through an offroad course, or sometimes with a different average speed. It's most of the fun of a NORRA rally for a tiny fraction of the cost! And we have many of them every year. This series is actually the oldest motorsport in the island, the first event was back in the '50s, until the late '80s they used to do it with rally cars, and then it slowly morphed into a 4x4 event. The offroading was much milder in the old days compared to now, but it was serious terrain for the kinds of cars they used.

The June event runs much longer than most each year, nearly 24 hours long vs the usual 6~8...I've done 3 or 4 of those but after this year's I decided I'm not doing any more unless they have a 2-hour break at a time suitable for sleeping.

So while I was away at the Challenge the guy doing most of the work on my Samurai was in the hospital from an asthma attack that sort of killed him...he wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse, but he's alive again now. He tried to hire a guy to fill in for him, but that guy didn't show up so he went back to work himself a few days ago to get the Samurai driveable for the rally this weekend. I'll get it tomorrow night, it'll have to go back in afterward for some body straightening and paint. Turns out the torn brake line was the only brake problem. I took the battery for a charge, hopefully it won't need replacing.

OK so time to recap the weekend. First of all, charging the battery, rather than fixing it, just put it out of its misery. The guys at the bodywork shop did a running battery swap (very much not recommended on any car with sensitive electronics) to get it running so I could get it home and swap the battery there. But they also wired up my radiator fan wrong (some of the wiring was actually pulled out in the crash) so I now wouldn't have cooling either. Forced to choose between overheating and shutting down the car for the night, I shut it down. Went to get a battery that night and came back the next morning.

Next morning, I came back with the battery and electrical stuff. Fixed the radiator fan wiring, dropped in the new battery, found that the guys at the shop had stretched the old lead battery terminals to hell and jammed a screw into one of them so it wouldn't be knocking around loose. Went back to the local RiceMart for new terminals, bronze ones this time. Came back and put those on, tried to drive off, and the brake pedal went to the floor the 2nd time I tried to hit the brakes. So the master cylinder was indeed damaged, not what I'd expect from a vehicle that's "driving fine."

So I went straight to the stealership and picked up a MC rebuild kit, which cost over $100, and then back home to search for an old Samurai MC I had stored somewhere. I found it and had it dropped to a shop nearby for a rebuild, and next I had to go run the timing for a British-style rallycross practice event, because many weeks ago when I couldn't have imagined that the Samurai would need work so close to the event, I said I would, so I lost about 4 hours there.

Later in the evening I got the new MC put in and soon found problems with brake drag. By late that night they seemed to be sorted out, but I found that I was also having severe trouble moving the transfer case shifter right to get into low range, presumably due to the damage to the transmission tunnel which hadn't been fixed yet. My plan was to wake up around 3am on Sunday, clear out the junk, clean up the car and take care of the usual prep work. I just barely got it done and arrived late at the start, incurring a penalty.

Early on the brake drag problems were back. The brakes were dragging just slightly which caused heat to build up, which made the brakes drag more. As a quick fix we stopped occasionally to release some fluid from one of the front calipers. This was costing time though. I called up the mechanic who installed the MC and he explained to me how to retract the actuating rod between the brake pedal and MC. A few adjustments later and the problem was slowly going away. I'd also found that the wiper blades tended to stick far more often since the crash.

There had been a lot of rain in the last few weeks and it seemed that every bit of mud was of the super greasy, easy to get stuck in kind. I even had to use 4WD to move in the start area. I had to back out of two hillclimbs (even though I managed to pop into low range for both of them), nobody made it up the first one, and I was told that I got closest to the top of the hill, on the second one I think the main problem was a poor choice of line - I decided to try climbing straight up the muddiest part instead of climbing diagonally across a grassier part, it turned out the riskier diagonal line was the best one.

With about an hour to go until the finish, I shifted from 4L to 2H to make some tight turns and got nothing. The TC shifter wouldn't budge from where it was in any direction. It was stuck in neutral, and that was the end of the rally for me. I got a tow back onto the street from a marshal.

So I had it towed to a shop where it should be fixed around the weekend (mechanic's out until Wednesday). After that it will go back to the body shop. On top of the remaining problems to fix, one of the headlights came loose, I lost a mirror (already damaged anyway), and the headlights started turning on when I hit the brakes, strangely enough. Also the usual Samurai lean is more severe now, because the springs had sagged more than I realized, so I'll have to change the driver's front spring as well.

Here's how it looked when I was waiting for a tow:

you are basically back in the game with a whole new vehicle. It's going to take a bit to sort out the bugs and issues. Do not fret though, you ARE back in the game

Just a little update, turns out the transfer case problem was related to the damage to the transmission tunnel. The TC is fixed now but the mechanic's told me to stay in high range until the tunnel's straightened. There's a mud arena event on Thursday, should be able to get it fixed before then.

Time for an update, I've been so busy at work I haven't had time to put an update together on the last Safari in March. Last year's mud arena event was canceled. It had been a long time since the last offroad TSD, but not a lot had happened for that time. The brake dragging's been fixed, caused by a mismatch between the MC and a spacer ball inside the brake booster. New slave cylinders for the rear were needed. The headlights coming on when the brake lights should was simply caused by the brake light circuit's fuse blowing.

So I got the Samurai into the body shop in late February. The remaining important work to be done included replacing the mirror that was broken off in the last rally (the bolts mounting it to the body were stuck so it wouldn't be a straightforward job), straightening the transmission tunnel to eliminate interference with the TC shifter, and fixing the headlight mounting hardware - one side had a misaligned adjuster causing the headlight to drop out, and one of the headlight mounting rings was damaged and both were rusty. Other work included some remaining body straightening and repainting the front end. On the Friday before the rally (which was on Sunday), only the front end painting and some straightening had been done, so I planned to go over there on Saturday and do all the important stuff myself if necessary.

On the Saturday morning, here's where I was starting:

First I replaced a stretched-out lead battery terminal (all brass in both cars now!) and next I got to work on the headlight hardware. One mistake I made was breaking off an adjuster that I forgot had been welded in place, so I had to drill out and replace that. Massaging another into position with a hammer allowed the headlights to fit back in with a pair of good mounting rings I'd repainted. They were actually mounted upside-down before.

Next, the mirror. The shop owner's brother had arrived and was helping me out now, so he tried everything short of notching the screws (including hammering a hardened screwdriver into them), but they wouldn't budge. Before notching them we tried swapping the new mirror onto the old mount that was stuck to the door, and that worked.

Next, since a couple days before it had been discovered that it was impractical to try straightening the transmission tunnel any further, the TC shifter opening would have to be notched to give room for the shifter to get to 4L and wiggle around a bit with drivetrain movement. That was pretty straightforward.

By now I thought it would be a good idea to try starting the engine. The new battery had been drained dangerously low when someone at the shop left the key in the ON position, although it had seemingly been recharged back to health. I started the engine but heard an odd flopping noise. I played with the revs a bit to see how it changed. Then I heard shrapnel flying and thought that there must have been a lubrication problem. When I opened the hood, the engine belt was inside out and shredded. Luckily I had a spare one among the tools and spares I'd brought along. I cut the old one off with a knife and fitted the new one - which with my custom alternator setup, involves stretching the belt onto the pulley as much as you can and then jumping it into place with a touch of the starter, apparently. The grille panel had only been painted that same day, so it was just a matter of squeezing it on, airing up the soft tires and driving away.

That's when I'd realized that the wiper motor had gone from "weak" to "100% dead." Luckily I'd just had a replacement smuggled in, so next I drove over to my usual Samurai mechanic for some help changing it out. When I arrived there, a coolant cap blew out - by now I keep spares for these. We confirmed that the old wiper motor was completely dead but there seems to be some intermittent electrical problems with the wiper system, even with my added auxiliary ground wire. It worked when it was needed at least.

The rally mostly went well - we got 5th in class (new class structure) and 2nd fastest in the first challenge, which was sort of an offroad autocross through thick bush. Only problems were that my 12v air compressor failed at the start for some reason (can't find a fuse in it to blow), the brake light fuse was blowing constantly, and in the last challenge where we got stuck, some people watching said it looked like I had no drive to the front-right wheel. There seemed to be a lot less mud splashing from that side, and it's not the first time I've seemed to have a lack of power to that wheel, so I'll have to see if one of the manual locking hubs has failed - if so, I have permanent drive flanges I can switch back to. I only put those manual hubs in there for survivability reasons, so if they're causing more problems than they're solving, out they go.

So right now I'm looking at some electrical fixes and testing drive to both front wheels most urgently. I've already left it at a shop for the electrical work. Next, I want to do the G13BB swap this year, and get a new windshield panel on before this one disintegrates. I also want to put on a re-arched rear-right spring - I'd already put on a re-arched front-right to help level it, since the used spring I'd put on the front-left was less sagged than the spring it replaced.

Just realized I didn't update about the April Safari, which ran half in the day and half at night. The good news is that is was mostly uneventful, apart from some last-minute problems with the taillight circuit just before the start that cost me a late arrival penalty. I'd also swapped the selectable front hubs for permanent drive flanges. Three bad things happened during the rally, the taillight circuit started to blow its fuse again about 5 hours in, the front axle started leaking badly from the left side leading to the front diff making some really unhealthy noises, and the carb continued to be a total bastard throughout most of the event.

There were two challenges on the route, the first one was a timed run through a gully and the second was a rocky course through a quarry. I initiated a wrong turn in the quarry challenge and had to correct myself which I knew cost too much time for a top finish there, but the first one mostly went well with only a couple of second attempts at obstacles slowing me down so I was hoping for a top 3 time. I was surprised that I was only 6th fastest in the first challenge, but I was more surprised that I got 1st in class for the rally, and by a very healthy points margin too!

So the fixes for the next event, which is the 24hr rally, are to get the taillight circuit fixed properly this time, fix the front axle which may involve putting in a spare diff, try to make the carb behave better since there probably won't be time or budget to do the EFI swap before then, fix the dome light that stopped working on impact in the crash, get the fogs working again (although they're much less important with the new LED headlights, we had no shortage of lighting in the night half), and maybe swap out the right-rear spring if there's time.

My failed air compressor was caused by a broken solder joint BTW.

Edit: Oh also I got a used windshield frame in good shape that I'm having fixed up, including having LRO wiper braces installed, and I'm getting in on a group buy for components for a DIY high-steer kit using generic speed shop parts to get away from the hard-to-find stock Samurai steering components.

very nice, I am considering picking up a sidekick/tracker or a jimny since samurai prices are stupid around me.