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The Samurai

IZwack

Moderator Emeritus
Joined
February 5, 2003
Messages
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City, State
Germantown, MD
Year, Model & Trim Level
1998 Ford Explorer
So this dainty creature was picked up last weekend .. its an '88 Suzuki Samurai sporting the inline 1.3 liter 4 cylinder carburated engine:

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Anyways, we've been at it for a few days now and this is where we're at:

The floor behind the seats have been cut out along with the rear cross member. We welded a new 2x4 with 1/4" wall as the new rear cross member and the rear shackles will hang from that.
Copy_of_DSCN0005.jpg

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Rock sliders were also tacked into place .. made out of 2x2 with 1/8" wall.
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The rear doors are missing for now but will be bolted back on once the cage is in and everything is buttoned up.

This weekend, we hope to have the main tubes for the roll cage welded on. And hopefully at the beginning of next week, the body will be welded to the roll cage. Oh and the roll cage and the body will be removable as one unit from the chassis.
 



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Hey, that looks kinda like mine!!! lol. Keep it up.
 


















I was almost going to call you a trader:rolleyes: But sence my dad wheels a Zuk, I can't say much;)
 






I was almost going to call you a trader:rolleyes: But sence my dad wheels a Zuk, I can't say much;)
Depending on how well this turns out, I might get a Zuk for myself. The construction of this thing is just amazing. The chassis is a uniform 2"x4" square tube that runs the entire length -- no "C" channel opening or any narrowing in dimension, its just a bent rectangular tube. Everything is just so simple :thumbsup: :D
 


















IMHO, Sammy's are probably one of the best wheeling vehicles out there. I still miss my Sammy :( ,but I needed something a little more comfortable for a dd...

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FROADER >> My brother was thinking of that same color. But we changed our mind and we're probably going to go with Orange and White to try to make the vehicle more visible in the street due to its lack of protection (paper thin doors ;)). Were going to do the front half white and the back half orange with the line between the two at an angle -- I think the Australian and European (think Dakar) off-roaders often use this design. Kinda like this:
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But who knows, we're not even at the body yet, still on the cage.


What size tires are those Draper? And what gear ratio in the axles did you go with?
 






those are 32's on there. I used the stock gears but re-geared the xfer case with a kit from Rocky Road. They now have 8:1 reduction gearsets for the Sammy case. Check out Rocky Road for all your Zuk needs. I bought almost all of my Zuk stuff from them.

BTW, I never broke anything wheeling with my Zuk on 32's with the re-geared xfer case. Pretty stout little buggy.
 






those are 32's on there. I used the stock gears but re-geared the xfer case with a kit from Rocky Road. They now have 8:1 reduction gearsets for the Sammy case. Check out Rocky Road for all your Zuk needs. I bought almost all of my Zuk stuff from them.

BTW, I never broke anything wheeling with my Zuk on 32's with the re-geared xfer case. Pretty stout little buggy.
Thanks for the info!!! :thumbsup:

Yeah considering the light weight, it seems like Zuks are more than capable.
 












Or this?
 

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Thanks for the info!!! :thumbsup:

Yeah considering the light weight, it seems like Zuks are more than capable.

Here is a little more info for ya. GEO Tracker parts. I got a buddy who is a member of zuwharrie and way into Sammies.

You can swap a pair of front tracker 3 members in for 4.62 gears. the 1.6 (needs a kit i think) for the 1.3 you got.

If you lift it enough make sure you measure real real good on the front driveshaft. If you get bind on it it will tear up the front output shaft in the transfer case.

If regear the transfer make sure you cradle it (can post pics if needed) or you'll bend mounts..

i've road in both a SOA and a YJ converison SOA.. the yj rides a ton better.

the 22re will fit just fine. (finished the swap almost just need to heatshrink and wireloom it)

Got tons of info on the little things for these as i keep having to help my buddies out on the trails and stuff like that.
 






Wow thanks a ton for that info zhanx!

What do you mean by "swap a pair of [Geo] Tracker 3 members in for 4.62 gears"?

Are you talking about the the Tracker's front differential third member? If so, why just the front? The rear differential is different or something? So basically Trackers come with 4.62s off the bat?
 






Wow thanks a ton for that info zhanx!

What do you mean by "swap a pair of [Geo] Tracker 3 members in for 4.62 gears"?

Are you talking about the the Tracker's front differential third member? If so, why just the front? The rear differential is different or something? So basically Trackers come with 4.62s off the bat?

just the fronts the rear is different for the front ones will fit both the front and rears on the sammy

4.62 is auto
5.12 is 5 speed.
5.86 is 88 with a 1.3L
good luck finding the last one.

also check out rockjunkie4x4.com for the transfer case gears he's local for me and a great guy to deal with.
 












4.62 is auto
5.12 is 5 speed.
5.86 is 88 with a 1.3L
good luck finding the last one.
So I take it that all three ratios are good to go and will bolt right in -- provided I find two Trackers with the same ratio of course. In other words, I dont just have to find a pair of Trackers with the 5.86 right? I can find a pair of the other two ratios.

My brother and I did some scouting on Saturday at four local junk yards and we must have come across maybe 8-11 Trackers.


Brian1 >> thats an awesome rig -- but unfortunately the MD laws are very strict and we would never make it out of town w/o getting pulled over with such a set-up :(. This state is the suck when it comes to off-roading.
 



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Will the other ratios fit? Or only that last one listed?
Cauz we're only aiming for maybe a 31" or 32" tire (at most).

the the ratios i listed will fit the 4.62 is a good solid easy to find one. but i listed the rest for you so when you go to the junkyard you know what to look for. a pair of trackers with auto trans or manuals trans. the 5.86's are really really really hard to find.

if you want pics of a cradle for the transfer let me know i did one today and i can get pics of it. or any thing else
'oh my aim is zhanx also if you got any more ?'s to make it faster
 






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