Any Samurai fans?

rufrdr

rufrdr

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My wife found a stack of photos and this photo of my 87 Samurai was in the stack.

I put high arch leafs on it, 4:56 gears, 235R15 tires, relocated the spare and put a 5 gallon gas can and tool box on the back. It was great off road but it really struggled on the highway especially in the desert when the wind might be blowing 50mph.
Good times

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That looks awesome. I like them a lot. I have an 87’ that I am going to start a motor swap on soon. I will be installing a 2liter, trans and tcase from a 2001 Chevy Tracker. It will hopefully be able to move out of its own way when I am finished. Here is a picture of it from summer. The kiddos have to earn their keep, haha.

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I had an '88 1/2 (round hole rims). Test drove one with less than 10k miles, it ran like a tank, rough as heck. While the sales geek wasn't looking I checked the tire pressure. Gave him my card and said $2800 out the door. Got a call the next day, deal. Picked it up that day and let 20psi out of all the tires. The sales guy just laughed as they could not move it as it rode too rough. Ran that all over New England for two years as a company car with zero issues other than new tires at 70k miles. Sold it to my next door neighbor for $3k. He still had it 4 years later though a bit rusted.
It was the best $2800 I ever spent!
 
tominator said:
That looks awesome. I like them a lot. I have an 87’ that I am going to start a motor swap on soon. I will be installing a 2liter, trans and tcase from a 2001 Chevy Tracker. It will hopefully be able to move out of its own way when I am finished. Here is a picture of it from summer. The kiddos have to earn their keep, haha.

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Unless you've already got 2.0L engine. Save the headache(fitment) and do a 1.6L 16v. Fits alot better and a much easier swap overall.


Side note, nice sammi
 
My older brother was almost killed in one by a semi merging over on him. His samurai got sucked under the trailer and rolled it. He got thrown out the soft top, skipped and slid down IL Rte. 53 for about a 1/3 mile before ending up in the grassy median.
 
Junkyard dog said:
Unless you've already got 2.0L engine. Save the headache(fitment) and do a 1.6L 16v. Fits alot better and a much easier swap overall.


Side note, nice sammi
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Yep, that is what everyone has told me but I got the tracker for free so I’m going to try to make it work. I used to do this kind of stuff as a hobby somewhat regularly but that was when I was more poor than I am now and had to make it work, had more time and no kids.
Who knows, it might end up in the for sale section as an unfinished project, lol.

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My brother had a samurai. it was a manual. the heat/ac didn't work. I borrowed it sometimes and went a lot of places with him.
you ever driven a manual ragtop samurai on snow/ice drenched roads in a killer cold snap in michigan with no heat?
it is not recommended
 
I had one for 5 years 7 years ago. I loved it. I only sold it because it was dangerous for my highway commute as it maxxed out at 60mpg and other drivers couldn't safely calculate slower traffic.

I find myself looking for one to build every couple of months but no way I'd be able to squeeze a family of 4 for an adventure
 
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