New Samurai!!!

[Sway]

Well after my thread asking advice about a Sammy in the classifieds, I went up to Staffs on Sat, and came home with this!



She's not as bad on road as I feared, a tad vague steering, noisy (bloody rattly, squeaky back roof is coming off at the earliest opportunity!), and bumpy, but perfectly fine for my daily commute.

See pad fitted after test drive for the 160-odd mile trip back, funnily enough I haven't removed it!!


Engine starts on the button, no smoke or real need for choke. Brakes are very good, and after trying a couple of emergency stops last night, very little squirming from the tyres.

Few bits need doing, and there are already lots of ideas being bounced between me and my welder best mate!

Sills need plating:



Need to replace the z-bar with a merc arm half hi-steer, and fit a new steering box as it's leaking:



Then I can get onto the fun stuff!

Don't want to take it to a pay and play until I've fitted a roll cage (came with a cab cage that we'll add front a rear wing arms to link to the bumpers, and a diagonal between roof and rear of bed), so may take it on some local green lanes in the meantime.

Then want to fit a half bulkhead behind the seats (formed from a pickup rear door) and a flat soft half wall with window. Will probably box out the bed and put a lockable top on, so I have a 'boot' and pickup capacity between the cage rails.

My first 4x4, so want to take things easy and learn as I go. The mods above are essential IMO, for it's use as a daily driver, but I'm not going to start faffing around with lockrite diffs or anything for a good while.

What do you think?

Anything I should bear in mind when I take it on some green lanes (I'm well aware of the legal and social side, done plenty of reading and know most of the local landowners)?

Oh, and what should I get in the way of recovery equipment etc. prior to going on my first pay and play (hoping that I can get it ready for Core 4x4 on the 13th June)? Would a forestry winch and some straps be good enough?

Cheers,

Sam

Edited by Sway on Wednesday 19th May 20:39

[OllieWinchester]

Excellent news! Can't see the pics 'cos they are blocked at work, but I'm sure you'll love it. Hopefully see you at a pay and play day somewhere in the south in the future. That is, once I replace my knackered radiator, clonky rear UJ, tempremental starter motor, attatch some decent recovery points etc etc.......

[Sway]

OllieWinchester said:

Excellent news! Can't see the pics 'cos they are blocked at work, but I'm sure you'll love it. Hopefully see you at a pay and play day somewhere in the south in the future. That is, once I replace my knackered radiator, clonky rear UJ, tempremental starter motor, attatch some decent recovery points etc etc.......

[normalbloke]

What Ollie said,I'd worry about the recovery points more than a winch at P+P site.There are Marshalls there whose job it is to recover you if needed.Also a good rope/strap front and back, and ensure you attach it prior to going into the mire.
See you down there perhaps!

[Sway]

normalbloke said:

What Ollie said,I'd worry about the recovery points more than a winch at P+P site.There are Marshalls there whose job it is to recover you if needed.Also a good rope/strap front and back, and ensure you attach it prior to going into the mire.
See you down there perhaps!

Cheers!

With regards recovery points, it's got a front point mounted to the chassis crossmember already, but nothing on the rear. What should I attach, and would it be ok if it was mounted to the underside of the rear bumper (which is welded to the chassis)?

Hope to see you there too, ordering massive PH smilies today so you'll definately see me!!

[Ash From Flux]

Haha what a little beast, you'll have a lot of fun in that.

[JVaughan]

Looks great .. as Ollie said .. recovery points .. anythign 10mm or bigger though a chassis rail should be sufficient .. Get yourself some heavy duty shackles and some good quality lifting strops of ebay and your good to go

incidently, check out difflock . com forums for suzuki advice ...

[Hooli]

Sway said:

normalbloke said:

What Ollie said,I'd worry about the recovery points more than a winch at P+P site.There are Marshalls there whose job it is to recover you if needed.Also a good rope/strap front and back, and ensure you attach it prior to going into the mire.
See you down there perhaps!

Cheers!

With regards recovery points, it's got a front point mounted to the chassis crossmember already, but nothing on the rear. What should I attach, and would it be ok if it was mounted to the underside of the rear bumper (which is welded to the chassis)?

Hope to see you there too, ordering massive PH smilies today so you'll definately see me!!

If you mean the comedy loop of metal under the front then no it's not good enough. That'd snap as soon as look at it on any proper recovery.

[Sway]

Hooli said:

Sway said:

normalbloke said:

What Ollie said,I'd worry about the recovery points more than a winch at P+P site.There are Marshalls there whose job it is to recover you if needed.Also a good rope/strap front and back, and ensure you attach it prior to going into the mire.
See you down there perhaps!

Cheers!

With regards recovery points, it's got a front point mounted to the chassis crossmember already, but nothing on the rear. What should I attach, and would it be ok if it was mounted to the underside of the rear bumper (which is welded to the chassis)?

Hope to see you there too, ordering massive PH smilies today so you'll definately see me!!

If you mean the comedy loop of metal under the front then no it's not good enough. That'd snap as soon as look at it on any proper recovery.

Fair enough! What do I need to do to ensure decent recovery points are in place?

[muddybuggy]

ayup, new to piston heads but not new to the sj, got to say theyre cracking offroad and a lot of the time will out do the bigger toys, i signed up here though as i noticed its got a scissor lift on, my opinion you would be better of with standard ones before yor springs bend backwards, theres a lot better ways of getting lift, like rear springs up fronts and rascal ones on the rear!

[OllieWinchester]

I've got Bedford springs on the back of mine, and they've given it a load of lift on the back.

[working class]

OP, what an absolute pile of Awesomeness you have bought! looks wicked!

Few questions, does it have power steering? Is it diesel or petrol? what sort of mpg are you getting? And is it permanent 4wd?

[Sway]

working class said:

OP, what an absolute pile of Awesomeness you have bought! looks wicked!

Few questions, does it have power steering? Is it diesel or petrol? what sort of mpg are you getting? And is it permanent 4wd?

Cheers!

No power steering, which is fine on road, but a workout off (although I'm talking proper lumps,mud and ruts!)

1.3l petrol, which is slow (45-50 is max speed!), and mid 20's mpg.

Planning at end of the year to fit a 1600 VW TD (not TDi) lump, using the original 'box etc, which will give far better acceleration (won't help top end as it has very low gearing), and achieve mid 40's mpg running on pure veg oil!

Non permanent 4wd, with high and low range 4wd available, but only on loose surfaces to avoid transmission windup as there's no centre diff.

Hope that's helped!

Sam

P.s, absolutely loving it still, even as a daily driver! Especially with no roof in this weather!