4x4 North

I bought another Samurai. This one has been getting all my attention lately as it's closer to "done". This one is a conservative build, really th goal is a dirty bush buggy.

Dragged it out of a fence line this spring.

Had to rebuild the transmission that was making terrible noises, so that I could hear the terrible noises that the rear end was making. Planned to regear it for 31s anyway. 4.86s out of Grand Vitara front ends are going in. Mostly because that's what I have on hand. Also flux cored the crap out of the GV front hoping that the 26 spline GV fronts are the same as the Sami rear. Worst case is I wasted wire, I've no need for a GV "unlocker" carrier anyway. Yet to install this as I am currently working on suspension crap.

Threw together a crappy bumper this spring. It doesnt really fit the suspension mods I've done since, so it may end up on the green one or get changed up to look better.

Currently working on tweaking the absolute garbage suspension mods I've done.

Shoehorned some mostly new CJ 5 leafs (I think) that I had lying around in there, had to move hangers around, and I refuse to take pictures of the abominations until I clean them up and make them less abominable looking.

Waiting on brake lines from that FedEx lost in the Edmonton airport before I can do a proper test drive, but caster and driveline angles are close to what stock was. Any opinions on changing caster on these things? The spec I found online is 3*, havent bothered to dig out my FSM, mostly cause it's a PDF and I'm computer illiterate.

Also I'm happy with the way the ching Chong tires I found look, kinda looking forward to seeing how they chew.

New suspension is a brake bleed and wheel torque away from getting a test drive. I've still gotta clean up the spring hangers and make them look like they belong, but I think I'm happy with the geometry. Still need to find some shocks, as I'm not super happy with the janky stuff I've done to make it test driveable.

From the old manuals I've been looking at, I think the springs I used are either early CJ5 or late CJ3 packs. With moving the hangers around to not change the wheel base and pushing them down 1" I am sitting about 1/2" lower than the old man's buggy that's SPOA on stock springs.

Also, 26 spline Grand Vitara front side gears do fit Sammy axles, but the cross pin seems to be slightly offset because of the disconnect. Or maybe it's just where I welded the disconnect when I bastardized the carrier. I had to massage the long shaft to be about 1/2 shorter, I am slightly concerned about the spline engagement on the short side, but this is just a temporary solution until I spring for a pair of ARBs and possibly some chromoly axles if I do bad things to these ones. Besides, a sacked out 1.3 with no compression shouldn't have enough power to break anything, right?

how is the ride with the longer springs

3 degrees of caster is a bit on the shy side, but should drive fine as long as you have some toe in.

That front bumper looks pretty sweet actually.

Went out for a proper test drive today. I swear every time I fix a bad noise I can hear a new one. Both the steering box and transfer case clunk a little now, imma try to adjust the box, at least till I install the sidekick power steering stuff I've been saving for a rainy day. (Just need to find a pulley to drive it) Tcase can wait till I decide if I want to regear that.

I did bump the caster up to about 4.5, it seems stable at 105kmh, that's where it tops out now. With the ratio change the speedo was reading about 135...never seen a Sami speedo that close to pinned. The welded rear end probably helps it track straight as well. Chirping tires in the Can Tire parking lot also got attention from the jeepers that spent all their money on lights and wheels.

As far as the ride quality with longer springs, I think its marginally better. I hope it will improve more when I am not running stock shocks that I did atrocious things to. The rears keep hitting the end of their stroke on rebound, and one is blown out anyway. Fronts seem OK, but I made them fit by welding more bolt to the top...short term solution till I figure out what I'm putting in there.

shocks are key to any suspension in my opinion.

the biggest complaint I get is ride quality when a customer brings their vehicle to me wit a lift. first thing I do is install a quality shock and then go from there too fine tune the suspension

Was ripping around last week, giving it a bit of a shakedown then it stopped idling and got super gutless...blamed the carb, bought a Chinese 3K and threw it on. Barely better.

Did a compression test, 2 and 3 were dead. Found this when I pulled the head. No one had a head gasket in town. Had to hit up my "hard to find" parts guy. *Thick Indian accent* "Give me 20 minutes". That guy stocks the weirdest stuff, its awesome.

3K carb seems to give it more bottom end, as guy say. Gonna take it for a rip today to pick up stuff to make the choke work and maybe get some gears set up for the front. Should get a better idea of how it will behave.

Eh, it's nice when the failure is apparent. Are those motors known for head gasket failures like that?

Carb issues is really what they are known for. Growing up around these 1.3s I've yet to see a head gasket go till now, but I haven't seen everything. The early 1.3s and 1.6s are also known for cracking blocks between the cylinder linings. I didn't take a picture, but this one has the crack between 1 and 2. If it becomes an issue I'll probably swap a 16v 1.6 or 2.0 into it.

ive only seen headgasket issues when the engine has been severely overheated to the point its dicked and should be tossed. and generally putting a headgasket in is a temporary fix. A customer of mine had three head gaskets replaced at other shops in less then two years daily driving his around. I told him I wont touch it unless he is putting a complete new engine in it.

pointsnorth wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 10:11 am ive only seen headgasket issues when the engine has been severely overheated to the point its dicked and should be tossed. and generally putting a headgasket in is a temporary fix. A customer of mine had three head gaskets replaced at other shops in less then two years daily driving his around. I told him I wont touch it unless he is putting a complete new engine in it.

That's fair, if it blows another, motor is trash as far as I'm concerned. I'm hoping that it was just 35 years of fiber head gasket deteriorating.

I have yet to overheat it, but given the state of the gearboxes, I wouldn't be surprised.

I did run a machinist square and a feeler gauge across the head, and it seems to to be within .002" which is spec. So it *should* be OK,

I know of one guy running a 1.3 with full 1.6 16v head and fuel injection in the ultra4 stock class in his samurai. impressed alot of people with his performance at last years king of the hammers