Hey everyone, glad to be here!

Well gas prices were killing me running my 1-ton pickup around everywhere and commuting so I decided to pick up a Samurai I saw for sale locally (Boise Idaho).

Found this 88 that was in good shape for the year - with no rust at all, about 30k on a new stock motor, new full softop, a spare removable fiberglass top that can go over the Driver/pass seats I hadnt seen before, and a box of extra parts like carb, alt's etc and decided I would start modifying it to fit my needs.

I do quite a bit of mild wheeling on the weekends, but also want it daily driver capable so I set out with that in mind - and with a small DIY budget.
All I have is crappy cell phone pictures, but its better than nothing I hope.

First thing I set out to do was get a different color on her -

After a trip to Lowes I came home with some spray paint - metal primer and a textured brown color similar to what hummers wear. Also got some black bedliner....

Wasnt going for perfect by any means - just want a vehicle I can use in the real world.

About the same time I was starting to think about some bigger tires and on the cheap and I added some longer shackles and picked up 1.5".

I cut the door hinges and made them removable, moved the mirrors to the body and I Rhinoed the bumper and moved it up to where it matched the body lines. I also pulled the seats and started to rhino the interior.

I decided on trying for 30 or 31 inch tires and would see how far I could get with some trimming in addition to the shackles.
I cut a good bit of metal out with the grinding wheel and picked up some used YJ flares for $25

Found a set of black wheels with 3.5" bs and the right bolt pattern at 7" wide and picked those up for $25 each and then came across a set of Goodyear mud tires nearly new in the 31x10.50 R15 variety. I little too big for where im at with lift but its all a work in progress so what the heck....

I then added a set of shims to correct the pinion angle after the shackles were extended, and picked up a towing bar I found used for another $30.

I wanted to take it out on a wheeling test run now - so I wrapped up a few more details and got a cd player in it with some 6x9's mounted on the wheel wells, and a couple off road lights above the windshield in case i needed more light...put on a bikini style breeze o top, and mounted a gas can to the rear tailgate with a skinnier version of the right size tire for spare. The Tires were clearing everything except at full lock they would contact the springs so I just had to keep that in mind and pulled it 4 hours north to the hills where alot of water and snow run-off can make for some fun wheeling. I only got the flares installed on the passenger side so far...

So its maiden voyage was in Warren Idaho. Alot of backroads and water crossings make for fun with the family. Was surprised and impressed with what the little truck could tackle without even flinching.

Towards the end of the weekend I decided to go for broke and play in some water i knew was too deep for this rig lol.
Here is a friend testing the depth and here is my floor boards after reaching the other side sucessfully and noticing I needed to pull the plugs in the floor  

Water was running swiftly and about seat level deep right before it climbed back up on the bank at the other side. It was getting dangerously close to the Air breather tube.....

The only "stuck" of the weekend occured on the same crossing coming back....I maybe hesitated a little knowing the moving water was now hitting the intake side and the drop off the bank put the entire hood up to the windshield under water for a couple seconds...Not to mention I found the point where it begins to float and loses traction.

Rescued the family to the dry bank and got the same friend with "winch" to give me a tug

She came out easily via winch and then we found out the gas cap had been under water too long and we had water in the gas.
We drained out the watery gas to my spare can, added fresh gas,  dried off the dist cap, wiped out the breather box and she fired up and ran back to camp unassisted.

That leads me to today - 3 weeks from purchase to post - and prepping for the next trip out.

Picked up and installed some 1.5" wheel spacers which ended my worries about contacting the springs at full lock.

Drained all the fluids - Diffs, Xfer case, Tranny etc and replaced new incase we had water intrusion

Worked on getting more light on board up top and went back to the home improvement store and got some ABS pipe parts because I think its def snorkel time 

More pics, build up, and test run comments to follow soon

 Very nice.  Love seeing the progress pics

Cool stuff; thanks for the pics.

I'd like to repaint my Sidekick (not a big fan of the teal color). I like the tan color a lot.

- Andy

That's great bud! Nice work and looks like a fun time too!

Looks like a good time so far. 

man i miss my sammie's. great build. ever thought about making a snorkel?