87 Suzuki Samurai

[xaza]

They just did the 6.5:1 gear change for T case on power block this last weekend.
http://powernationtv.com/episode/XO2...iscount-datsun

[DETN8R]

Thanks Xaza! Sorry for the really late response. I was sure I had responded sooner but I don't see that post.

[DETN8R]

Just wanted to post an update because it's been a while since my last update.

I've got a couple projects going on right now so I've had trouble focusing on my Samurai.
I went to look at a rebuilt engine a couple of weeks ago. This was a really cool find and would have been perfect had it not been an Australian engine. It was the second engine put into a '91 Suzuki Sierra. The guy that owned it was in the military and stationed over there. I walked away because I thought it would have been a bigger project to swap all of my US emissions equipment off my engine on to his. But he had a cool Samurai, right hand drive model. Kind of regretting walking away from that engine but I would have had to get this engine swapped in a weekend and I thought swapping that stuff would take longer and then I'd have no idea if it would run well. I want it done in an afternoon if I'm just swapping 1.3 engines. I'd commit more time for the 1.6L.

Been having a hard time finding time to work on the tire carrier or maybe I'm just lazy.... I still need to figure out the trailer adapter for the tail lights or run individual lights for all the functions. I need to cut strips of flat stock to weld nuts to for mounting the bumper. Need to make the actual tire carrier portion. Basically I started this project with only the most basic plan. Haha.


Also been gearing up for what I hope will be an epic camping trip this summer. I purchased maps for the Colorado portion of the Shadow Of The Rockies Trail from http://www.transamtrail.com/shadow-o...rockies-trail/

I may also purchase maps for the Trans America Trail too. In the process of getting stuff for a camp kitchen. Probably going to integrate fold down table into the tailgate for food prep/tools. Also realized my tent is too small for me, my girlfriend and my daughter so I'm looking for a good 3-person plus tent. Preferably a 4-season tent.

Going to pick up an older dual fuel coleman camp stove this weekend as well as I've been reading some stuff on expedition portal about them and I've been finding them really cheaply on craigslist.
I got a roll table from REI today as well. It only weighs 9lbs and it was on sale.

Also, been getting some Samurai parts too. I got new o-rings for the distributor as I think I may be losing oil from it as well.

Picked up a new oil-pressure sensor as I'm tired of the tubing to the gauge leaking too, I might tee it off and run the gauge and the sensor too but I think I'm just going swap in the sensor by itself.

Ordered the Panty liner from ZOR too. For some reason I was initially under the impression that his Snatch cradle eliminated all of the factory t-case mounts.

Have spare throttle and clutch cables coming in too. I've heard of these breaking and the worst possible times so I'd like to keep some spares on hand.

Going to change the fluid in the diffs soon too. Probably way over due.


I guess I'll end this post by saying that my initial plans to swap the engine have fizzled (might have one last ray of hope but we'll see) and that I'm going to put more attention into prolonging the life of this current engine.

[BLOODBANE]

The distributor do leak on these engines a lot of the time (age). replacing the O ring is the correct step. Do a good tune up and PCV valve (a fuel pressure test might be beneficial as well). The 1.3 isnt a bad engine (just a little underpowered). If your planning a geared T-case, it will wake your Sami up real nice. Sometimes all you can do is one small step at a time. You seem to be on the right path though...

[DETN8R]

I replaced the PCV valve a while ago. Not sure about the fuel pressure, I'd be interested in testing it.

Thanks Bloodbane.

Came across this today:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...-desert-drive/

#9 - Suzuki Samurai!

[DETN8R]

I got a few things done to the Samurai. My handy dandy cell phone holder broke so I had to make another one. The ball mount was ok but the clip broke so I purchased another cellphone belt clip holster and modified it. This time I only used two holes because I think using all four made the holster too stiff and it caused the clip to break.





I've been gearing up for an epic camping trip this summer so I've been upgrading my gear. Now that I feel like I can take my daughter camping with me and my
girlfriend I've decided to upgrade my camp kitchen. I picked up a couple of coleman stoves off of craigslist.


An old used and abused 413G and a nice 3 burner (but HUGE) 426b. The 413G doesn't work and needs a few seals replaced. I was hoping to pick up a duel fuel model but these are the only ones that panned out.







I also picked up a couple of things on sale and my favorite store, R.E.I.!




Roll Camp Table







My daughter helped me set up the new Alps Mountaineering Edge 4 tent.











Saturday evening I managed to talk my nephew Jason into doing the work on changing the fluid in the diffs.





At 103k, I'm not sure if this was ever done before.




This Sunday we got some good work done on the Samurai's rear bumper/tire carrier project.
The new dewalt chop saw finally got some use.





We got the nut plates cut and welded the nuts to them and they worked out nicely.










I tried and failed at getting the harbor freight led tail lights to work. I was using a trailer adapter and the EP34 relay but could not get the lights to function properly. I poured over samurai wiring diagrams and had no luck. I have quite a background in electronics if I don't say so myself. I think I need a different trailer adapter or I need to get different lights or some more lights for individual functions (Tail/Brake/Signal).


That's it for now. I'm considering heading down to Moab this coming weekend to catch the last few days of the Easter Jeep Safari but we'll see....

[DETN8R]

Made a few changes to the Samurai this past week. Still no work on the rear bumper/tire carrier. Maybe this weekend.


I picked up a rampage top from Amazon only to discover that it was made incorrectly. They had sewn a zipper on upside down and it would not work. Joe (zukrider) sold me his old rampage top but it needed some work. The rear passenger tension strap had broken off. I used some climbing webbing and had my awesome girlfriend sew it on to replace the old strap. As soon as I went to install it, the drivers side strap tore off too.!!


I picked up some stainless steel webbing slides off mcmaster carr to attach some cam straps. I'm over complicating this setup I know but....








I think it gives the Samurai a nice look and I'm sure my daughter will appreciate the tinted windows. In fact the windows provide a lot more visibility than the stock top.







I also got the o-rings on the distributor replaced as well.















The o-ring on the housing had been coated in RTV or some other kind of sealant and the o-ring on the rotor seal was dry and cracking too.


I also adjusted the valves today and it seemed to make the engine quieter. I haven't noticed any other differences or improvements in performance either.

[DETN8R]

Well. This was a pretty productive Weekend!

I committed to tackling the rust underneath the battery that has been bugging me lately.

My biggest fear was that I would have serious rust on the firewall behind the front passenger fender. It turned out not being so bad on the firewall but I decided that the battery tray had to go.

I had some corrosion to deal with on the battery terminals. Not sure whats causing this but I have read that it could be overcharging or poor ground.



I had only been seeing this much of the rusting out hole for a few months now.





I had asked some people on Samurai group on Facebook if it was possible to remove the fender and I felt like I could get it done. Everyone suggested that I just remove the entire front clip. After working on this for two days I have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to remove the fender without some modifications. Next time I'll just remove the entire front clip.







I didn't plan on removing the stock battery tray, just cleaning up the rust and coating it with some POR-15 but the Battery tray was in worse condition that I thought.




I used an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to remove the old bracket and I used a wire wheel on the grinder to clean away as much of the rust as I could.

I cut out around the rusted out hole so that I could patch it.



I used some steel plate to make a patch.



This is where my lack of skill as a welder really showed. Welding the thin steel of the samurai fender to the slightly thicker steel of the patch was challenging but I think I made a good effort.




I purchased the POR-15 super starter kit a couple of weeks ago and set out using it. I cleaned and degreased the area as best as I could.

I sprayed the area with the prep chemical and got to work fabricating a new battery tray.

I took my inspiration for the tray from Low Range Off Road's Dual Battery kit. It utilizes two mounts for the front clip for support.



I didn't get too many pictures of it but I'll post some soon. I still need to paint the bracket.

At this point I coated the area on the fender with the POR-15 and finished the battery tray with the help of my Nephew.





The POR-15 went on well enough. I hope it stands up. I'll top coat it with something else shortly.


The new battery tray only requires me to drill 1 extra hole in the fender and uses one 1/4-20 nut as a spacer.

I messed up when measuring the width of the battery and I ended up being a little too narrow for the battery tie down straps. I'll probably weld some more flat stock and a make a fancier clasp like in some of the higher end battery boxes.

[DETN8R]

That's it for now! I turned 30 today and my awesome girlfriend made me a Samurai Birthday Cake!

[Patrolman]

Nice work so far. At least you are getting all the things addressed that could cause issues down the road. So many people go right to making "mods" and never bother to to the routine stuff.

[dieseldoc]

nice work getting done on your sami.
so you really would like the 6.5 gears, they afford a 10% reduction in high range.
For your lights is it an issue with them not lighting up at all?? if you want to LED the turns wont flash with out use of a resistor as the flasher relay wont load up right.

any how keep plugging along.
check out lowrange off road they have great prices on a ton of sami parts.

[DETN8R]

Thanks Patrolman. I would love to do some more performance mods and throw bigger tires on this Samurai but those sort of mods are just out of my budget.

Dieseldoc, I'm really considering regearing the t-case though I think 6.5:1 would be a bit much for me right now on slightly larger than stock tires.

I've got the LED relay for the lights to work I just suspect that I have a poor connection or corroded wire. I may try some resistors as a last resort but for whatever reason I can't seem to find time to work on the bumper project.

[BLOODBANE]

I have the 6.5:1 T-Case gears and I run a 32" tire. They are deep gears, you might check out the 4:1 gears. It gives you a little better than stock, but not so much that you cant keep up with traffic.

As far as lifts go, I went with the rocky Road Outfitters bolt on 6" SPOA lift. Some folks have had problems with RRO in the past, but everything I did went easy. Not the most expensive kit out there, but it works for what I wanted. If I was to do it again I would do the YJ spring conversion (longer springs and gives you a way better ride) with the rears up front and revolver shackles. On my buggy I will go with 4 link front and 3 link rear (super flexy).
The little things you are doing now will pay off in the long run. Keep up the good work

[DETN8R]

Thanks for the input Bloodbane. Still on the fence about the tcase gears. I've really been leaning towards the 4.9:1 kit. I feel like I could get those installed in a weekend.

I've been hearing good things about the old man emu leaf spring lift for the samurai and I may go that route. Unfortunately I've heard enough bad things about rocky road outfitters that I'll just stay away from them. I've honestly never heard so many bad things about a company before.


I don't have enough in the budget for an extreme lift AND tires. If I went big I'm sure I'd have to get new rims too and I wouldn't have enough. I want some gearing and articulation. Maybe a locker in the rear.

[BLOODBANE]

With any lift spring be ready for a more severe ride until the springs are broken in. Being that the Samurai is such a short wheel base and leaf sprung all around. You can do the YJ conversion on the cheap is why I suggested it. you can get the springs from almost any pick-n-pull and companies like TrailTough, ZOR, LROR sell all the brackets you need to bolt them on. Gives you a lift and also a better ride (i just accept the ride for what it is).
When my dad was alive and would ride with me in my Samurai, he said he always felt violated after riding in it.....

[dieseldoc]

LROR (lowrange off road) is your go to, other than ZOR ( zuks off road).
they have new yj springs at $200 an axle, this is the way to go as they act far better and are the 2" wide set up.
the 4:1 gear are not a bad set up but as you will grow I would step into the 6.5 as they will let you grow far past 32" tires.
the 10% reduction in high range is wonderfull on the freeway and hill climbs. youe would be able to get into a 32/33 with the YJ swap with little work.
wheels are easy to come by.


I have some sami parts for you if you want them.
I have two good T-case shifters.
A power steering conversion crank pulley, this is for the Trac/kick pump, you will love power steering on you little sami.
the 2 shifters were going to be done for a twin stick set up. its some fab work but can be done and works well.

[DETN8R]

Thanks DieselDoc. I think I am ok for now, I'll let you know.

Really considering my lift options right now. I might purchase some toyota axles so I'd want to get the YJ springs if I could. Just having trouble finding time for the research.

Anyway.

I have gotten a lot done!


I decided it was time to replace my door panels with something else. I had seen some ABS door panels sold but figured I could save some money by making them myself.


I chose to go with 1/8" black ABS sheets from the local plastic company.



I removed the factory door panels and removed the fabric from them to use them as a template for my new ones. I traced onto the shiny side with a gold sharpie. The textured side is the side I wanted facing out. I used a jig saw to cut off the curved part.



I removed the plastic inserts from the doors and replaced them with some rubber insulated rivet nuts.






I'm pretty satisfied with the end result. I used some 10-32 Stainless steel button head screws.



I picked up a new larger cooler from Amazon since our Yeti Roadie wont cut it on longer trips. I went with the Pelican Elite 45qt cooler.
It takes up a sizable area on the roof rack.



All the gear packs around it well enough. Or so I thought during the test load.



We took an overnight trip to Mount Herman a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to see how the roof rack and our camping kit worked out.
My girlfriends family has a long history of river camping on rafts and her mom gave us some old dry bags to pack our gear in in case it rained and the stuff on the roof rack got wet. I finally got a Hi-Lift as well and removed my spare tire since it wasn't holding air and mounted the hi-lift.



I still want to get some gear that packs better. I took advantage of the Memorial day sale going on at REI and got the Thermarest Quadra camp chairs for us. These pack up really nicely and the legs become the case. The next piece of gear I want to downsize are my old REI 3.5 Camp Beds. I had originally purchased them for winter camping 8 years ago and they have been used every since but they are big and bulky. I took the Coleman 426b on this trip because of the two camp stoves I had acquired it was the newest. It didn't perform as I expected and I'm not sure if it was just my unfamiliarity with this type of stove or if there was a problem with the Stove. I'm going to give the 413G stove a try next since I have replaced the plunger and tank cap on it already. The trip was pretty fun despite our late start. The inside of the Samurai didn't seem at all as cramped as it had last summer on the few trips we took it on and it was extremely nice to have all the stuff up on the roof rack and out of the way. The new tent had a buckle break and I had to use a zip tie to hold the rainfly down on that corner of the tent.


Fathers Day Weekend I was determined to make some progress on the new rear bumper and I committed to figuring out what was going on with the LED tail lights and the trailer adapter. Some fiddling around confirmed that I had a poor connection through the parasite connectors that someone had used to wire up a trailer plug.



The tail lights worked! I began removing the old bumper and permanently wiring in the trailer adapter. I removed all the hardware and brackets for the bumper and the license plate brackets.



I made some wire labels at work using our shrink tubing label printer so that I could accurately identify the wires in the future should I choose to rewire them again. I used some adhesive filled shrink tubing and soldered the wires to the trailer adapter to make sure that I had good solid connections that wouldn't corrode over time.

[DETN8R]

Since I had already made all the brackets for the new bumper I simply had to clean them up with a sanding disk on a grinder and tack everything in place. I used some clamps and got the new bumper tacked to the brackets so that I could take the whole thing to a more qualified welder.



I asked one of the professional welders at work to weld the brackets on for me and he did a great job!






When I installed the bumper the next day everything lined up perfectly! I did have the bend the top brackets up a little more as they warped just a tiny bit from the welding but everything looked great!



Now I just need to get the tire carrier portion done so that I can mount a spare tire, the hi-lift jack, jerry can, license plate.


That's it for now.

[Jim]

Good work - the door panel looks great!

[DETN8R]

Thanks Jim!