Hey whats up Im new here to the site as i just got me a 1988.5 soft top Suzuki Samurai... I traded a car that was in my garage that needed a lot of work on and i got the car plus 400 cash... I got the car it has some rust spots (i live in Hawaii common) needs new seats... a rebuilt motor but has about 55k miles or so It has a small oil leak seems to becoming from the back and the front of the motor near the top I read threw forums could be a main seal...there is also a small knock in the motor... screaming eagle carb, thorley headers, there was a grind in the tranny in 2nd and reverse.. also 235-75-15 tires... 

it has newspaper because we were doing yard work that day...
Since I have gotten the car I swapped the spark plugs,wires,distributor cap & rotor,radiator cap, changed oil, trans and front and rear 3rd member fluids.. i also tightened the clutch cable the tranny does not grind as much now it grids maybe 1 time a day or so... I also got the tires balanced..(stopped a lot of the shaking)... and changed to a ome steering stabilizer (stopped almost all the rest of the shaking)....I also swapped the stock motor mounts for the heavy duty ones... And i put a trail tough unbrakeable transmission mount...while i was removing the passenger mount i also changed the alternator belt... I removed the sway bar in the front as i read here on the forums... I dident notice that much difference on road driving with the sway bar removed....My passenger head light went out too so I bought some Ipf 7" replacement and the heavy duty wiring harness... Here are some pics from yesterday we went to the beach with the dogs....








it was hitting bump stop and the front tire came off the ground...
My next plans is to get gearing and lockers... I have one Richmond lockright locker...and i wanna grab another one and 4.57 gears in the 3rd members and 6.5-1 transfer case.. all my friends told me just to get the 6.5-1 instead of the 5 because its only going to be used in 4x4 and ill regret it later.. this car is intended to be a daily driver also i wanna be able to go down to the beach on the sand or go up in the trails up in the mountain... I plan on doing yj springs in the future... from what i read yj spring it moves the axle 1" or so would that tamper with the placement of where the tire goes in the wheel well?? thanks...

Nice looking rig, nice to see another Suzuki from the islands.

The oil leak it the back is might be from the distributor o-ring, much easier to replace then the rear main seal so you might give it a try first.

Swapping to YJ springs will move the axle location, but it should be fine unless your jumping up to 33" tires or so. 

For the gearing you might want to stick with a 4.8:1 gear set depending on what you want to use it for.  What size tires are you planning on running?

hey thanks yah i was looking in to rocky road jp eater yj spring kit... but i tryed to order something from them and it went kinda bad... so im not too sure im gonna deal with them again.. I plan on running no bigger than 33" tires.... This is going to be the first truck that i going to be building... lmk what you guys think and also shoot out your guys info on the rig....

With 4.57 and a 6.5 tc, you will be at 60mph at 4000 rpms with 33'' tires.  If you daily drive it, that may be  too low for you.  I think trailtough is the best yj lift out of the box for you. You got a nice little sammy!

in the sammy i have to hit 42-4300 every day during traffic...so i believe with the 4.57 it will give me better bottom end or torque to pull the 235s for now...does the transfer case gearing change the normal drive in just the 2wd or is it only when you go in to 4 Hi/Low?? but the speed limit over here is 40 mph almost every where the fastest youll see on Maui is 55 mph (i think)....

The advantage of the Samurai T-Case gear kits is it changes both high and low range.  The 6.5:1 t-case kit puts you back into stock high range gearing for 33" tires.

I run a 6.5:1 and 5.12 gears in my SJ-410 and find that I use 2nd and 3rd for most trails.  With just the 4 speed I max out around 12 mph.  If your wondering about gearing there are a couple of gear calculators available, if you use http://www.solemnwarning.net/transmission your rig is an SJ-413 since it is of British make.

If your careful with 33" tires you should be fine, but you might want to look into the Trail Tough front axles and possibly the Calmini heavy duty rear axles.  Just in case you break one you will want to replace it with stronger ones. 

ok thanks you guys yah I was planning on putting in the cromemoly axle shaft in the front and rear to make them stronger...

since I was off today ive been scanning threw the forums and craigslist I ordered a msd blaster high vibration coil and i found someone selling a completely removed ac system from a 87 sammy i believe... I wanted to to put the ac system in my 88.5 sammy.. The summer is coming up and its going to be hot its super hot and humid here allready... well The ac system is comming from cali somewhere....I paid 400 for everything shipped to me and the guy packed it up and shipped it out... I checked out my sammy under the hood there is nothing no ac lines,compressor,dryer,condenser... (i think the old owner before my friend and I removed it)... It has a 2 row crank pulley and a ac switch and a evaporator or(what ever is under the dash behind the shifter)...how hard do you guys think its going to be to install the ac...thanks you guys

If the guy sends you everything, and you just have to plug in the missing parts, it should be a pretty easy installation.

As for the aftermarket ignition I tend to try and stay away from them.  If your going to run it make sure you bring your stock coil with you so you can swap back after it dies while out on the trail. 

If the guy sends you everything, and you just have to plug in the missing parts, it should be a pretty easy installation.

As for the aftermarket ignition I tend to try and stay away from them.  If your going to run it make sure you bring your stock coil with you so you can swap back after it dies while out on the trail. 

Thanks and why would it die on me? or better question why do you stay away from it and what do you use? Thanks a lot...

I just haven't seen people have luck with them.  One club member has gone through 3 computer boxes, every year or so it started having issues and he would replace it under warranty.  Another club member went through 2 and ended up swapping back to the stock ignition.

On my rig I use stock ignition.  I have been tempted to switch to try and get a bit more power, but if it isn't broke... 

Let me know if you want to get together and talk Suzuki's next week when I'm out on Maui for vacation.