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Newbie with a Sami soft top

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Offline PWSX3

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Newbie with a Sami soft top
« on: March 13, 2005, 02:05:14 AM »
Hello everyone,
Just want to say HI :)
We just got a stock 1987 Sami and hope to fix it up for my 15 year old's first vehicle. The motor is in pieces so the first thing will be a 1.6 swap.
Also going to do a SOA lift so I would like suggestions on the best way is to do this??????????
Need to make it safe for the 15 year old so we have plans for sliders, roll cage, etc.
Right now we wheel with a 1994 Ford Explorer and it does well since we have 3-5 people in it when we go wheeling, but would like to make the Sami a daily driver for the boy yet be able to go wheeling on the weekends.


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1987 stock for now Sami for my 15 year old's first vehicle.
We Wheel with a 1994 Ford Explorer 5" Superlift, 35" tires, locked in the rear, custom tire rack, sliders, misc. stuff.
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Offline HotRod

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2005, 03:00:28 AM »
Well, for now I wouldn't suggest liftingn it yet.
Give the Lil guy a chance to learn to drive first.
BTW: Welcome aboard PWSX3 ;D
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Offline PWSX3

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2005, 03:09:06 AM »
He has been driving for 2 years off road, but this will be his first stick shift. I look at it this way he needs to know how to drive any kind of vehicle before getting his licience which will be in 2 years because of our laws. This summer he is going to spend time with his cousins and there is a chance he will be driving big trucks in the fields for them but they are automatics.
Still want to put the lift in because his mom wants to l wheel this summer when the girls go out.  
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1987 stock for now Sami for my 15 year old's first vehicle.
We Wheel with a 1994 Ford Explorer 5" Superlift, 35" tires, locked in the rear, custom tire rack, sliders, misc. stuff.
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Offline 1bigtracker

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2005, 03:31:48 AM »
make sure you buy a qualitiy(sp?) roll cage.  Samurais do roll over easyer than a full sized rig.  Make sure to buy pading and grab handles too.

as for a SPOA lift, take you pick, there are 15 or more choices but a few are better then others.  i have never bought a SPOA lift so i will let some one else tell you which one to buy.

when you put bigger tires on you will need to regear the trucklet.  You could do this two ways:

1) The easy way.   T-case gears, sammys have a high range reduction

2) The hard way.  Axle gears,  you can change the ring and pinion.  This might be good it you plan to install lockers.

stu
« Last Edit: March 13, 2005, 03:32:36 AM by 1bigtracker »
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Offline PWSX3

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2005, 07:17:39 AM »
Yes I have heard about the rolling over part  but hopefully we won't have to worry about that. (fingures crossed)

Here is a little better picture of it, as you can see it has a little rust under the doors. The windshield frame also has rust but I found one in better shape I'm going to use.

I do have a question on the sliders do most people connect them to the frame or just to the body? Looks like you could do it either way on this thang.

As for the gears, is that why most people seem to go to a Toyota axle because it is stronger? For now I am going to use the stock axles because of money or lack of it.


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1987 stock for now Sami for my 15 year old's first vehicle.
We Wheel with a 1994 Ford Explorer 5" Superlift, 35" tires, locked in the rear, custom tire rack, sliders, misc. stuff.
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Offline 1bigtracker

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2005, 07:23:59 AM »
Quote
Yes I have heard about the rolling over part  but hopefully we won't have to worry about that. (fingures crossed)

Here is a little better picture of it, as you can see it has a little rust under the doors. The windshield frame also has rust but I found one in better shape I'm going to use.

I do have a question on the sliders do most people connect them to the frame or just to the body? Looks like you could do it either way on this thang.

As for the gears, is that why most people seem to go to a Toyota axle because it is stronger? For now I am going to use the stock axles because of money or lack of it.



for slider,  connect them to the frame, same with the roll cage

and for axles,  there are many reasones for yota axles, one is that they come with 4.10 gears(and other ratios) which is lower than the sammy 3.73(i think)  also people use them for strenght.  they are stronger than a sammy axle.  anything over a 33in tire i would recommend yota axles.

stu
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Offline azrocktrash

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2005, 10:50:28 AM »
Quote
make sure you buy a qualitiy(sp?) roll cage.  Samurais do roll over easyer than a full sized rig.  Make sure to buy pading and grab handles too.

as for a SPOA lift, take you pick, there are 15 or more choices but a few are better then others.  i have never bought a SPOA lift so i will let some one else tell you which one to buy.

when you put bigger tires on you will need to regear the trucklet.  You could do this two ways:

1) The easy way.   T-case gears, sammys have a high range reduction

2) The hard way.  Axle gears,  you can change the ring and pinion.  This might be good it you plan to install lockers.

stu



  they don't roll as easy as people think.i've had mine 10 years,and it's been on it's side twice. :oand that's because my wheeling has gottin more aggresive.
    just remind your young one that it 's  not a race car,they are made to go just not fast.
        hope you enjoy your sami as much as i have. ;D
                oscar
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Offline 1bigtracker

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2005, 12:19:35 PM »
Quote



  they don't roll as easy as people think.i've had mine 10 years,and it's been on it's side twice. :oand that's because my wheeling has gottin more aggresive.
    just remind your young one that it 's  not a race car,they are made to go just not fast.
        hope you enjoy your sami as much as i have. ;D
                oscar

yea i tryed not to say "they tip over easy" but its kinda hard.  just when compared to a full sized rig i KNOW that they roll over easier.

stu
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Offline PWSX3

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2005, 01:55:18 PM »
Well since we haven't found a donor vehicle for the engine swap we decided to start on the body work. Today we took off the tire rack bracket off the tailgate and welded in the holes. Figure that rack won't hold up to a 31" tire. There was also a dent so we got it pulled out and Grandpa will finish the rest this week.
The windshield frame was all rusted so we were able to find a good one so we sanded it and got it all ready for paint.
This will be Patrick's first paint job, he did really well with the sealer and color but I got scared when he put a run in the clear so I finished that for him. I'll let him practice a little more before trying the clear. He was really excited to be able to paint his own vehicle. Here is a sneak peak at the color he picked out. It should look pretty good when we get it finished.



Next week we will hopefully finish the tailgate and hopefully be able to paint the doors if we can get the hinges cut for making it easier to take them off.
I told Patrick he could pick any color he wanted as long as it wasn't dark blue, green, yellow, just like everyone else has on there Jeeps!!!! At least in a vehicle lineup you will know which one is his and hopefully he won't loose it in the parking lot.......... The color is more the darker part, the light from the camera made it look more yellow.
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1987 stock for now Sami for my 15 year old's first vehicle.
We Wheel with a 1994 Ford Explorer 5" Superlift, 35" tires, locked in the rear, custom tire rack, sliders, misc. stuff.
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Offline trialspro

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2005, 11:18:13 AM »
Quote

just remind your young one that it 's  not a race car,they are made to go just not fast.
     

LOL, he'll know that the second he hits the gas pedal and experiences the 66hp (if they keep the 1.3)

Andrew
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Offline PWSX3

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2005, 11:39:47 PM »
Quote

LOL, he'll know that the second he hits the gas pedal and experiences the 66hp (if they keep the 1.3)

Andrew



We are already looking for a 1.6 since the motor in there now is no good so we won't know what it's like having the fine 1.3 power!!!!!!  :D
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1987 stock for now Sami for my 15 year old's first vehicle.
We Wheel with a 1994 Ford Explorer 5" Superlift, 35" tires, locked in the rear, custom tire rack, sliders, misc. stuff.
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Offline LawDog

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2005, 06:15:24 AM »
I like the avitar pic.  Is that when you first brought 'er home?  I wanted a "just got it home" pic of the LawDog but it was dark out and all I had was my flashless camera phone.
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Offline PWSX3

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2005, 11:07:29 AM »
Quote
I like the avitar pic.  Is that when you first brought 'er home?  I wanted a "just got it home" pic of the LawDog but it was dark out and all I had was my flashless camera phone.



Yes that is when we picked it up. It was the day after Thanksgiving and we were having a snow storm but it worked to our advantage because we didn't have a key so I could pull it around were I needed to. We had a key made now but no motor so it still hasn't moved without pushing help.  
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1987 stock for now Sami for my 15 year old's first vehicle.
We Wheel with a 1994 Ford Explorer 5" Superlift, 35" tires, locked in the rear, custom tire rack, sliders, misc. stuff.
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Offline PWSX3

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2005, 12:57:44 PM »
Here is my son getting the doors painted.  One more piece done while we are waiting for a donor motor.
Spidertrax doesn't have the door handles right now so it will be a few more days before they are back on the Sami. We are also putting new window trim in to keep it a little airtight, OK to keep the doors from rattling, don't think you can keep a soft top airtight!!! :D:D




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1987 stock for now Sami for my 15 year old's first vehicle.
We Wheel with a 1994 Ford Explorer 5" Superlift, 35" tires, locked in the rear, custom tire rack, sliders, misc. stuff.
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Offline snakeman

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Re: Newbie with a Sami soft top
« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2005, 04:56:17 PM »
I just purchased and installed Sky Manufacturings Stage 2 SPOA kit. It came together very nice, and was well thought out IMO. Money well spent!

http://sky-manufacturing.com/

Jeff
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