since i was 12 i had always loved samurai's, i thought they were sweet, my cousin had a nicely done up one and i always wanted to have one of my own. needless to say i didnt know how much was in it and how much itd cost to buy one like that. 6 yrs later (now 18) i found this samurai. it is a 1986, there are 96,000 miles on the body and 55,000 miles on the motor. it has a spring over lift and 2" lift shackles. he had rivited diamond plate around the whole body. i bought it for $1,400. its already lifted, it runs and drives perfectly fine so i didnt see where i could go wrong with it. i live in upstate NY and the body has a good bit of rust. the frame has surface rust from what i can see but the body has some rust that is all the way through (i'll post more pics tomorrow).

my plans are: pull the body off the frame.
                  : replace the floor pan
                  : make all new body panels for it (minus the doors, hood & tailgate)
                  : paint it all (neon orange possibly, rhino line the underside to prevent future rust)
                  : then i want to tend to the frame, see if there is anything real bad or if it is just surface rust like im thinking.
                  : then rhino line the whole frame, again to prevent future rust.

i know as of right now it needs new leaf springs, the ones it has now are almost flat and worn out. the guy put procomp es 3000 shocks in the front but not the rear. so i want to upgrade the shocks.

thats the first stage, i want to focus on the body and frame first, with minor performance/operating upgrades, just to be on the safe side. later phases will be alot of performance upgrades and what not.  

Looks like a fun little rig.

Great little find... and sounds like you have a good idea on the body off (to fix the rust problem).

... just know, that's a loooong road. Replacing rusted out panels, and edges takes a long time. Especially when you have to rebuild the corner, or edge out of 16g steel. 

First coat over that new steel should be "etching" primer. Then http://www.por15.com/ POR15, then bed liner.  Bed liner alone won't cure a rust problem OR keep it from rusting, but POR15 will encapsulate the steel and primer, and not allow any moisture into the steel. POR15 dries with moisture, not evaporation... so it's moisture resistant (for lack of a better explanation). If you can't get rid of ALL the rust, use a rust killer type product. SEM makes something called RUST MORT that's worked for me. Or, if you can't get to it very easily and need it to turn the rust into a hard coating (that can almost be painted), use something by Permatex #81775 RT-8A called "Rust Treatment".

Good luck, and keep us posted!!

thank you for the tips. i will for sure look into all of them. i plan on taking the body off the frame next winter and just fixing as much of it as i can because i know there is no way i will ever get ALL of the rust. but i want to make sure the floor pan and rockers are atleast done. that way i can get racing seats, 5 point harness, put rock sliders on it and build my roll cage.

im going to look at some 33" mud tires tomorrow. then thursday im going to look at new stronger leaf springs and a bumper that can hold a winch. i want to get the leaf springs and get em put in so i dont have to worry about snapping a spring. it isnt something i want to ever worry about on the trail or just driving down the road. and the ones in it are BAD. they are flat-almost backwards.

last night i pulled the windshield off to get to the wiper motor, i have to order it tomorrow. then thursday im going to put that back in. put the new leaf springs in and put the newly mounted 33's on it.

Just a heads up, if those are the stock Sammy springs, they don't have much of an arch from the get go.
Ol man emu replacements have a small arch that gives the 1 1/2-2" lift it posts.

Toyota pick-up springs are the same way, little arch, both have that "Brush Snagg'n" reversed thick spring on the bottom of the stack. 

CAPT

i didnt know that. so thank you for the information. but i do think they are worn bc the fronts are almost arching backwards. so just on the safe side i am going to replace them.

got some 33's today! they will be mounted on thursday! im pretty pumped.

well the 33's look sick on the samurai, fit perfect! bought the wiper motor that'll be in tomorrow. just had a minor set back today, messed around in the yard being pretty hard on it and it blew a camshaft cover gasket and started dumping oil everywhere when i parked it in the garage(needed an oil change anyway, just a quick way to do it lol).... gotta order that tomorrow. but until then i'll get the new wiper motor in, window on and support bars on.

working on it in the garage.

the oil leak was just a valve cover gasket. got the gasket today and put that in. changed the oil with a new oil filter. windshield wiper motor is all good and works now. so she is ready to go on the road and trails! cant wait.

so i have tomorrow off from work. so i think im going to start cutting my wheel openings. i want more clearance for the 33's but dont want to go any higher. so cutting the wheel openings seems like a good option and its basically free.

 I trimmed my front wheel wells, what I did is cut the rocker panel back about 1.5" at the bottom and went up at a angle to the fender, so it blends in and gives you a bit extra room when you turn.
 And anther thing that works good is moving the front axle ahead 1", all I did for that is redrilled the spring pin holes on spring perch and U-bolt plate back 1", but you will need 1"-1.25" driveshaft spacers on both ends of the driveshaft, depending if you already have a spacer on the front and how thick it is.
My SJ-410 with a 4.75" spoa lift, the rocker panel trimmed, and the front axle moved ahead 1"  I would barely rub my 33x12.5x15 TSL's.

sammys lookin real good man. Im in upo rstate too thing must have been a southern car or kept inside to be lookin that good... damn salt. what part of up state you in im up by rochester lets go wheelin!!!

i'll look into the axle movement. i already have driveshaft spacers, but im not sure on the thickness bc they were in it when i bought it. but i put trimming them on hold. i want to cut a good bit but to do that ill need to fab new wheel wells and right now i dont have a welder so doing that would be tough. im saving money to purchase a welder.

well it looks good bc the rust is covered up by diamond plate. the frame is still beautiful but the body needs some work. but for now it looks fine covered up. i live in Johnstown.

well i wasnt planning on getting this much stuff today but i had to jump on this deal.

front bumper that holds a winch
rear bumper
& YJ front springs with missing link!

now i just have to install it all. then i will look for some YJ springs  for the rear and get new missing links for that.

well i went to replace the wheel lugs in the rear and found that my drums are pretty rough. so just waiting on the parts from Rock Auto to rebuild and clean up my drums. putting that all back together and then i will start the YJ spring conversion. for now i will be fabricating boomerang shackles for the rear but the fronts came with missing links. at some point down the road i will have enough saved to buy new missing links for the rear.