hi,

im looking for an offroad project and i found a few sammy's for sale?

1. im looking at only doing beginner or enthusiest off-road so whats the best route in cost to lift and fix up a sammy?

2. also, what should i look 4 in buying one?

3. if i buy one not running how much, and which engine is perfered?

thanks guys...



-j

its hard to say. depending on the year of the zuks youre looking at. the price range is gona depend on what kind of shape they are in. mine is an 87 and it ran great when i got it. it was free to me but ive found the same year zuks in pretty bad shape for around 1000. and they were worth it to me.

they put out the 3 cyl for a while and id try to stay clear of those just because they sound like too much hastle to get any power out of. and the 90 models i think are fuel injected and are wourth more $. in 87 they only came out with the 1.3 ltr sohc carbuereted 5 speed 2wd or 4wd. i see alot of the 70-80s models being choice for offroading.

check for rust on the frame body and fasteners and try to be sure to find one that can be taken apart without a torch. all in all youre looking in the right direction for an off road vehicle. they are cheap to fix up and easy to work on. as far as lifts go you have alot to choose from. 500-600.00 will get you a nice spoa (spring over axle) kit. if you have 1800 to blow you can do a coil over 5 link that cant be beaten. spoa gets a set of 31s under it, and a coil over gets you 33s and ive seen bigger with body mods.

check out www.rocky-road.com/zuksus.html.

find the cleanest one you can afford, enjoy it stock for a weak or two, get used to itthen i would suggest getting a lockright locker in the rear or if its not your daily driver, taking it to a welding shop and having the spider gears proffesionaly welded, dont try to booger weld with a wire feed. you need the right type of rod and it needs to be done correctly
this will make it wheel way better, then you need a lift or a spring over, im a fan of the spring over, then tires and maybe gears and t-case gears, mo fun=mo money

Hi and welcome to Zukiworld, Jason!

There is an excellent page here that describes the US Samurai Specifications:

http://www.zukiworld.com/section_technical/technical_spec_samurai.htm

You will note that the Samurai and the previous model - the SJ-410 - NEVER came equipped with a 3-cylinder 1 liter engine.  If you find one with a 3-cylinder engine, the engine came from a Geo Metro (built by Suzuki).

Nowadays, Samurais run from free (someone wants it out of their yard) to $1800-$2000 for a clean stock unit.  Tintops and built rigs are higher.

Things to look for that might help lower the price:

sloppy transfer case shifter.  Cheap fix but the owner may not know that.
Sloppy Transmission shifter.  A little more expensive to fix...

Mechanical problems.  This truck is EASY to maintain!  Other than a totally locked up or blown-up engine, you can do most of the fixing yourself!   Shop manuals in PDF format are easy to find on the web.

Wobbly crankshaft accessory pulley.  This is bad.  And way too common. It may require the replacement of the crankshaft.  If you can deal with an engine rebuild or have access to a cheap  replacement engine, you can buy this problem truck for cheap.

Rust.  Except for the fenders, the grille and the rear wheel wells, sheetmetal is expensive and hard to find.  You can live with rocker panel rust by sealing it and covering it with armor.  Steer clear of trucks with excessive rust unless you can live with it.

Finally, take a peek at Ack's FAQ. The link is in my signature. Lots of searchable links to good information on maintaining and modding your Samurai - including links to pages and posts here at ZukiWold.com!

 

wow thats a great link. ive was always thought that the samurai first came out with the 3 cyl engine and later came equiped with the 1.3 ltr. thats always detured me from buying older samurais. i have looked at an 85 and it had the 3 cyl and i was told that it was completly stock by the owner. now i know better. sorry for the missleading statement. i feel like an a$$ now because there was an 85 in the paper for 500.00 about a week ago. guess i shoulda looked on alldata before telling my brother not to buy it.

at the end of the link it said something about a "jimny (panoramic roof wagon)" ive seen only 1 and i was woundering how hard they are to find. did they produce many? i would love to get my hands on one.

If it's an 85, most likely it is an SJ-410 instead of a Samurai.  It has a 1.0L 4 Cyl (970cc technically) that puts out a mighty 45hp in stock form.    There are a few other differences as well.  The easiest way to tell is they have the metal slotted grill instead of the plastic one.

thanks for the tip. i still feel like an a$$ though.

#at the end of the link it said something about a "jimny (panoramic roof wagon)" ive seen only 1 and i was woundering how hard they are to find. did they produce many? i would love to get my hands on one.

The Samurai/SJ range was sold as the Jimny in the far east, they also had a 3cyl model (660cc turbo). The panoramic roof model is still being made in India by Maruti. I don't think that it was ever officially imported into the US. I know that we didn't get it here in the UK.

The panoramic roof model is still being made in India by Maruti. I don't think that it was ever officially imported into the US. I know that we didn't get it here in the UK.

They drove one in the beginning of the second Borne film though.  Course, he was supposed to be in Africa somewhere...

D|removethispart|@mn that realy sucks to know. i dont think it would be worth it to import one or id look into it. more than likley cost an arm and a leg and maybe even a testicle. well the old lady would cut the testicle off once she saw the bill im sure. thats too bad though. 

D|removethispart|@mn that realy sucks to know. i dont think it would be worth it to import one or id look into it.

Well, they do use the same body.  So if you can just import the body you should be able to drop it on a Sammy frame. 

i wonder what kind of hastle that would be. i bet shipping would be he11 on my wallet.

wow....thanks for all the good reply's??

-j