Like an infectious disease that keeps coming back I don't seem to have the ability to keep a Suzuki Samurai out of my life.
To start off with, here is a bit of my history with the boxy little buggies.
BS1 - My first Samurai was an early 1988 model (there were several design changes in 88) bought for $200 in stock form with an extremely rusty body and an interior full of spiders, mold, and porno mags. It ran great, but was stuck in 3rd gear. I feathered the clutch and drove it 15 miles home where a quick fiddling with the shifter got it back working. I gutted the interior and drove it as a daily driver for the summer, including one trip to Mio where a full throttle run up Bull Gap resulted in two loose fender flares and a pin hole leak in the oil pan. On that trip lgottler also ran over a deer and whipped it into the air where it nearly went through my windshield. Alas we skinned, cooked, and ate the deer for breakfast at our campground, much to the terror of the family in the quarter million dollar motor home in the next site over.
A few months later my little brother borrowed the Samurai while I was out of town, and ignoring my "put four quarts of oil in it before you start it" warning, he promptly seized the engine so violently while driving it that it ripped both motor mounts clear off the frame and layed the engine over several degrees.
A few weeks later a Corona fueled night in the barn started a quick and dirty build. Using mainly cast off parts, it recieved a vortec 4.3 with an Astrovan four barrel intake, a T5 transmission, a spring over swap with a set of 3 inch lift springs, and a set of dry rotted 35 inch mud terrains.
Way tall, and squirrly on the street, it would do a wheely in first gear, a wicked burnout in second, and only by feathering the clutch in 3rd could it be launched in a reasonable manner.
Upon the birth of my son I sold the Samurai without ever wheeling it, to a lady out west who used it for Mud racing. She kept in touch till a few years ago, and her own adventures including blowing up the 4.3 on nitrous, and swapping in a 383 stroker along with a rear mounted radiator.
Somewhere I may have pics of that one and will post them if I find them.
BS2 and 3 were bought at the same time. Both were bone stock, and BS2 was a super clean 1986 with a slight rod knock, and BS3 was a 1990 "parts truck" that had been rolled, and the previous owner was decapitated in the accident. The highly supersticious seller refused to admit he was selling me the death rig, so he made me sign a document that I was buying the 86 for $900 and the 90 was a free gift.
I drove the 86 in stock form for about six months with lucasoil in it until it finally gave up. I don't quite remember how it happened, but someone offered me crazy money for it, so it went away. Now just
the 90 sat in my backyard.
A discussion with some friends turned into a bet of sorts, whether I could build a Samurai for decent trail use for under $1,000. So the build began, and was documented in a two part writeup in The Boondocker put out by Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association.
The build was a success, which included a spring over lift, a used 6,000 lb winch, some heavily cupped 33's, a welded rear, 5.12 tracker front gears in both differentials and not much more.
Here she was:
It saw action in Michigan, Canada, and Kentucky, and was flopped about a half a dozen times. This was the Samurai that taught me most about these little rigs, and I fine tuned my driving skills with it as well.
That Samurai was wheeled hard and put away wet. When I took a Sabbatical from the offroad world it was used as a farm truck until the winch broke and the transfer case was blown. After sitting neglected for awhile it was sold during some hard times.
BS 3.5
Since BS2 was never "built" or wheeled, it doesn't realy recieve full rating, so the third one was really more like 2.5
I've told myself for the last few years if another 1990-1995 model (the fuel injected/big driveshaft flange years) came my way I'd snag it, and a few months ago this little 1990 popped up here.
It has an O.K. body, some rust issues and whatnot. It also is stock with exception to an SJ410 windshield fold down kit and some two inch lift shackles. The engine runs but has a hole in the side of the block where a rod came through, and the underside has a liberal coating of oil. However the price was right and it came with an Optima battery and an older carburated engine with supposedly only 40k on it. So let the build begin!
To start off with, here is a bit of my history with the boxy little buggies.
BS1 - My first Samurai was an early 1988 model (there were several design changes in 88) bought for $200 in stock form with an extremely rusty body and an interior full of spiders, mold, and porno mags. It ran great, but was stuck in 3rd gear. I feathered the clutch and drove it 15 miles home where a quick fiddling with the shifter got it back working. I gutted the interior and drove it as a daily driver for the summer, including one trip to Mio where a full throttle run up Bull Gap resulted in two loose fender flares and a pin hole leak in the oil pan. On that trip lgottler also ran over a deer and whipped it into the air where it nearly went through my windshield. Alas we skinned, cooked, and ate the deer for breakfast at our campground, much to the terror of the family in the quarter million dollar motor home in the next site over.
A few months later my little brother borrowed the Samurai while I was out of town, and ignoring my "put four quarts of oil in it before you start it" warning, he promptly seized the engine so violently while driving it that it ripped both motor mounts clear off the frame and layed the engine over several degrees.
A few weeks later a Corona fueled night in the barn started a quick and dirty build. Using mainly cast off parts, it recieved a vortec 4.3 with an Astrovan four barrel intake, a T5 transmission, a spring over swap with a set of 3 inch lift springs, and a set of dry rotted 35 inch mud terrains.
Way tall, and squirrly on the street, it would do a wheely in first gear, a wicked burnout in second, and only by feathering the clutch in 3rd could it be launched in a reasonable manner.
Upon the birth of my son I sold the Samurai without ever wheeling it, to a lady out west who used it for Mud racing. She kept in touch till a few years ago, and her own adventures including blowing up the 4.3 on nitrous, and swapping in a 383 stroker along with a rear mounted radiator.
Somewhere I may have pics of that one and will post them if I find them.
BS2 and 3 were bought at the same time. Both were bone stock, and BS2 was a super clean 1986 with a slight rod knock, and BS3 was a 1990 "parts truck" that had been rolled, and the previous owner was decapitated in the accident. The highly supersticious seller refused to admit he was selling me the death rig, so he made me sign a document that I was buying the 86 for $900 and the 90 was a free gift.
I drove the 86 in stock form for about six months with lucasoil in it until it finally gave up. I don't quite remember how it happened, but someone offered me crazy money for it, so it went away. Now just
the 90 sat in my backyard.
A discussion with some friends turned into a bet of sorts, whether I could build a Samurai for decent trail use for under $1,000. So the build began, and was documented in a two part writeup in The Boondocker put out by Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association.
The build was a success, which included a spring over lift, a used 6,000 lb winch, some heavily cupped 33's, a welded rear, 5.12 tracker front gears in both differentials and not much more.
Here she was:
It saw action in Michigan, Canada, and Kentucky, and was flopped about a half a dozen times. This was the Samurai that taught me most about these little rigs, and I fine tuned my driving skills with it as well.
That Samurai was wheeled hard and put away wet. When I took a Sabbatical from the offroad world it was used as a farm truck until the winch broke and the transfer case was blown. After sitting neglected for awhile it was sold during some hard times.
BS 3.5
Since BS2 was never "built" or wheeled, it doesn't realy recieve full rating, so the third one was really more like 2.5
I've told myself for the last few years if another 1990-1995 model (the fuel injected/big driveshaft flange years) came my way I'd snag it, and a few months ago this little 1990 popped up here.
It has an O.K. body, some rust issues and whatnot. It also is stock with exception to an SJ410 windshield fold down kit and some two inch lift shackles. The engine runs but has a hole in the side of the block where a rod came through, and the underside has a liberal coating of oil. However the price was right and it came with an Optima battery and an older carburated engine with supposedly only 40k on it. So let the build begin!