1 thing I did forget to mention is that you will still need to relocate your shackles Drone is dead on about that! They need to be located in a horizontal position equal to the the relaxed lenth of the spring from eye to eye. Which in your case will probaly give you more lift yet.

You have a 3" body lift and your SPOA lift appears to be with no xtra lift in the new pads. So this means the remaining lift is in the springs.

I would fix the shackle plates (buy some 2" HD plates) and pull out 1 spring and see where you are. I have driven a Sammy with a SPOA / YJ spring lift and the ride was pretty soft. This combo gives a lot of articulation so by nature it needs to flex in order to do so.

Drone,

Can you detail more about your previous lift with the 35's?

With your previous lift did you run the Z bar steering arms or use a drop Pitman arm? I think I like the drop Pitman arm better because it retains more of a natural movement and you don't have so much stuff out in the open for nature to reach up and grab ahold of.

I don't really know the pros and cons of the Z bar having not actually utilized this set up in the past.

                                                                                            thanks, Tux...  

I won't pretend to know what springs those are, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet.
Shackles need about a 30* angle from the eye to the frame to allow for the leaf to lengthen slightly as it compresses. If yours are horizontal they won't allow for this. NO, do not weld or bolt them. Those springs strike me odd because #1: they appear too long #2: the 2nd & 3rd leaves aren't in the same arch as the main leaf & #3: at least the RF main spring is bent (just in front of where the 2nds spring ends), probably because of the shackle setup, or lack of...
The rig does have some goodies; dual xfer case... lots of ppl want em. It has a traction bar on the rear axle = good. If there isn't too much other booty fab going on, you might have a great rig with a little work.
A lot of Sammy lift springs are reputed to ride stiff & not knowing what those springs are, who knows what weight they are designed for... could be a much heavier vehicle. I'd say, get a set of proper springs, fix or redesign the shackle setup, add some right length shocks & go from there.
Question: how wide are those leaves?
On the engine question, I'd agree a v8 is overkill & there are lots of options for more power, like a 1.6l from a Trackick.
On the idle, there are idle adjustments on the carb, but 1st check for vacuum leaks as that can cause high idle.

Hth,
Fuzz

Edit: I didn't read through the whole post to get to where u got a new spring set, sry. *note to self: "read whole post".

Guys, I just want to say thanks for being so wiling to take the time to read about my dilemmas and provide me with such good feedback. The fronts that are currently on are 2" wide and based on others pictures, I would assume that they are Sami rears. The rears that are currently on are 2.5" wide and based on the commonality, and if I was a betting man, I would suspect that they are Jeep springs (YJ?). As I said before, I purchased some used factory leafs and was planning on riding with rears on all four corners. I would assume that the stock-style rear shock would still work but I'm not sure about the fronts. Also, I agree with an earlier recommendation to move the spring mount out to accommodate the longer rear springs in the front. The question is, do I move the front mount out or the rear, farther back? Is there a kit that would accomplish this goal without the use of a fancy shop or any technical welding or engineering?

Most spring plates have an alighnment hole in them that the spring center bolt rests in. If you lay the spring in this position then you can invision the approxamate location the shackle will need to placed at.

Earlier I said horizontal placement because once the spring begins to compress it should begin to compress outward as weight from the Sammy is placed on it. For most applications the placement is slightly inward driving the spring outward.

                                                                                       Tux... 

Rumpshaker:
I would move the front forward and leave the rear as it is, but you could also move both 1.5" and call it good, then your axle stays in exactly the same place.  I wonder if he modified the frame mounts for the springs as well or just did something weird like cut the spring down so it fit in the stock hangers...

The issue with horizontal placement of the shackle is you can easily bend it backword far enough that it wraps around and sticks to the frame.  So an angle forward is a good idea.

toxblacray:
I use half of a high-steer kit, similar to the one sold by Sky Manufacturing.  No bump steer and it works great with the flex.

Okay, so Low Range Offroad just got my kids college tuition (LOL). I have the front and rear YJ Kits coming along with the corresponding bone shackles. I will be picking up a full set of YJ springs a couple of towns over for fifty bucks (not bad). When the kits get here, I'm gonna hit it like I just got out of the pen. After I set it up, I'll take some measurements and get some shocks. Updates to follow..

"I'm gonna hit it like I just got out of the pen"   LOVE THAT ONE LOL

Well, your ride will be plenty soft. 

Got the kit yesterday afternoon and hit the barn with it in hands after dinner. I was disappointed to see that they forgot to ship the U-bolts so there was only so much I could do. Another odd thing was that there were no instructions. I realize that some of you are laughing right now but I am new to Zuks and though there were probably pics on the internet, my computer is in the house...

Anywho, I sent them an email and I am awaiting a response. They sent me the Sky YJ Swap Kit which comes with shackles, right? For the life of me, I cannot figure out how or why I purchased bone shackles (hmmm?).

More from the lost Zuki guy:
1. I had previously purchased rubber bushings but they were for the stock Sami springs; will they work for the YJ springs?
2. Does it matter if you used the sleeved bushing or just the rubber bushings that fit? The reason I am asking is b/c I do not see how the sleeved variety will fit.

Thanks Guys (& Gals?)

They usually ship with instructions, I'm surprised you didn't get any.   They should be able to get you a PDF to help walk through the swap.  If nothing else the Sky Manufacturing web page has a quick set of instructions.  You can check them out at http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/new/detaproduct.php?id=171

Maybe you bought some extra shackles just in case? 

The bushings for a Samurai are different then the YJ bushings.  So you will need new bushings, sorry.

I use a mixture of sleeved and non-sleeved bushings, depending on what fits.  So no real help there either.

LOL I'll take those bushings off you mine are about gone now (never by cheap homemade shackles from a junkyard Zuk)

LOL I'll take those bushings off you mine are about gone now (never by cheap homemade shackles from a junkyard Zuk)

Doughboy, if you're serious, you can have them for $15 + the ride (I paid twice that). They are OEM rubber style. I did use a razor to bevel the inserting edge of each bushing to ease the insertion. A couple of them did have a synthetic lube on them to reduce squeaks but I'll wipe that off. Let me know.

As fr Low Range Offroad, they are shipping the U-bolts 2nd day air and I ordered the proper bushings. Hopefully, I can jump on it this weekend. Though, I must admit, there's gonna be some great football on and the weather is awesome for wings or a low country boil... 

I do want them but I have been out of work for over a year now and just don't have money but if you still have them when I get a job then I'll do it.

The U-bolts arrived and I finally got some free time to do some work---what; still no instructions??? I swear, I'm pretty aggravated. I can attempt to work off of the various pictures that I've seen from a variety of sites but written descriptions and instructions would prove helpful. Anywho (rant-rant), I started putting things together and I have another problem; do I need to install the steel sleeve through the leaf spring eye bushings (dead center, crossing through both bushings)? The reason I ask is b/c I am having a major issue---it goes through one and tears up the other. Also, I think that I am short a couple of bolts. Though it appears to be a decent kit, it does lack in several areas.

Sorry for the rant but I am frustrated. On top of everything, they charged me for dog bone shackles for the front and rear that I didn't need (Sky's front and rear YJ kits already include 'em) and all I'm gonna get is a credit---how about a refund???

I agree, that kinda sucks only getting a credit, especially since thye parts weren't even required. You'd think the salesperson would have known that.