1987 Sammi

[warrpath4x4]

Because of course I needed something else to work on lol, but one of my co-workers is transferring to another state and had to many vehicles. I picked this up for cheap, and it runs and drives. He bought it back in the late 90's when he was in high school, since then he sold it, bought it back, and his kids have been using it moving irrigation water. Its been rolled at least 4 different times (which is why the windshield frame is in the back seat). I don't even know what I am gonna do with it yet but couldn't pass up the price, I may just fix a couple things and sell it, may run it this winter while we still build the Cherokee.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Pulled the broken windshield out last week, removed the track piece for the front of the soft top, I have a little rust repair to make before putting new glass in.

 

[warrpath4x4]

this weekend I worked on the windshield frame, cut out the rusted spots

welded in new material but I don't have a pic of that yet, definitely not quitting my job to go do body work lol.

also pulled the front bumper (which only had 2 bolts)

and for those who were wondering how much it weighed....

 

[centexk5]

I bet the front end jumped 3”. That’s a ton of weight on that thing.

 

[fourwheelerjeff]

Project Zukota

Just picked up this 88 Zuki on yota axles. My youngest boy wants to drive it to school but that’s 4 years away. So I’m going to go ahead and start getting it ready to be my next crawler. Got a few things to address but other than that its a pretty solid zuki. It has EFI on it so probably...

www.rockkrawler.org

That's a buddy that is building one if you want some pics and ideas

 

[warrpath4x4]

I bet the front end jumped 3”. That’s a ton of weight on that thing.

ya it bounced up pretty good when the bumper fell off

 

[warrpath4x4]

Project Zukota

Just picked up this 88 Zuki on yota axles. My youngest boy wants to drive it to school but that’s 4 years away. So I’m going to go ahead and start getting it ready to be my next crawler. Got a few things to address but other than that its a pretty solid zuki. It has EFI on it so probably...

www.rockkrawler.org

That's a buddy that is building one if you want some pics and ideas

thanks I will check it out, I found a couple of Suzuki or samurai forums but there's not much traffic there anymore.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Tuesday evening I bolted the frame on to the samurai for the first time, no glass in it yet as i figured it would be easier to install with the frame bolted down.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Just spent a bunch of money on this thing, lockers, soft tops (bikini, jammer, duster), 6.5 sumo transfer case gears, updated output shaft, alternator upgrade, extended brake lines, certified machine Toyota 3K carb (when they get some in stock).



I am meeting a guy tonight who has a set of seats I'm gonna look at, heated leather out of a Honda Odyssey

 

[cheavyk10]

Man I need one of these for NW wheelin'. My K10 is just too fat to fit thru the trails up here. I've been looking for a tin top but they are definitely getting to be the more expensive version.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Man I need one of these for NW wheelin'. My K10 is just too fat to fit thru the trails up here. I've been looking for a tin top but they are definitely getting to be the more expensive version.

ya i have always been interested in the samurai platform, and when this one was offered to me at $500 i couldn't turn it down. ya it needs work but hell for $500 i could have flipped it and made money without touching it.

Years ago we were snow wheeling in a CJ on 38's, XJ on 35's, and a K5 on 38's, we were all stuck and here comes to tin tops just putting right past us.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Saturday we did a bunch of running around and went to Milton Freewater to the drive inn theater, but I picked up a piece of pipe to sleeve the front crossmember in the frame.

Sunday we slept in since we didn't get home till 3AM from the drive inn, got fair entries turned in, moved some firewood. Installing the sleeve was the only thing I got done on any vehicle. The pipe is 1.25 which has an OD of 1.66 and the tube in the frame is 1.75 ID, the frame tube was dented from previous abuse so it made the tube fit nice and snug after driving it in with a 15 pound sledge lol. Only issue was when I got the tube I verified they got me the right size, I did not verify they cut it to the correct length so it doesn't go all the way across like I wanted, its about an inch short on each side but it will work. I sleeved the tube so I can incorporate it into my winch mount since I don't really trust the stock bumper holes in the frame.

 

[warrpath4x4]

So obviously the steering needs to be addressed, they welded the ends directly to the draglink which looks homebrew and moves around a lot.

I'm not sure which kit I want to go with though and was wondering if anyone had any insight between these or a better option?

 

[warrpath4x4]

yesterday I tried to order the Trail Tough steering, but their website didn't like my credit card and I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone. So today I ordered the Trail Gear align correct full kit but ordered it from Poly Performance with a military discount, no tax, and free shipping.

 

[warrpath4x4]

This weekend (and this week) I am working on the roof of our house so not much time for anything else. We did manage to pull the rear seat and seatbelt. Also pulled the plastic side trim in plans of making rocker protection/sliders, as part of that I was going to unbolt these.

Of course though they are welded to the frame, and not very well but enough to make it a hassle to remove. Also found the transmission crossmember has seen better days.

 

[swettysblazer]

I always had good luck selling Trail Gear/Low Range stuff. The quality is good. Only thing that was a bummer sometimes was the wait times.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Got my lockers today and felt like an idiot lol.

I know I have to use the 26 spline spider gears from my rear axle and move them to the front when using the longfield chromoly axles and lockers, ive seen several videos of people using their rear spiders up front when installing lockers.... did not pickup on the little detail that most of them were running spools in the rear so they had the spider gears available lol. So I found some NOS spider gears for about $65-70 and ordered them, now I can run my lockers front AND rear.

 

[warrpath4x4]

got an email from Certified Machine that they got a shipment of Toyota 3K carbs in and should have all the back orders filled by tomorrow. I will be really interested in how much better the carb swap runs because the choke on this one is wired in place making it a cold blooded bastard.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Certified Machine carb showed up yesterday, the mounting kit that comes with it has some quality machined pieces and quite the detailed instructions.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Well the whole family came down with Covid so nothing happened for most of the last 2 weeks, were all doing better now and luckily none of us were too bad.

Back to building, first my son and i spent a day cleaning the "shop" and moving all the Cherokee parts out (stored in the Cherokee), moved the cherry picker, engine stands, and chain saws to another shed. There is just enough room to get the Sammi in and work around it.

as you can see, there's not much room, this building used to be an old carriage house, there's a concrete floor and not much else of anything lol.

removing the stock carb (with the choke wired) and installing a Toyota 3K from Certified Machine

and since I have the extra space right now we are installing a Chevy alternator. I used the LROR kit, not too impressed with them, the kit includes the lower and upper brackets, belt, alternator, and pigtail. the belt doesn't fit, its too short and there's only about .25-.50" of adjustment before the alt fan hits the water pump pulley. so its not done yet.

But I did get the new carb installed.