Suzuki Mild 1986 Build/Restore (1 Viewer)

[SKULLYOTA]

Picked up a 1986 Samurai yesterday in PDX, nice long hot slow adventure towing with a 2018 Tacoma:

Didn't see nearly enough sketchy Portland stuff either

Gonna be a real mild "build". I bought it with left over money when I sold my HZJ73 and paid some stuff off. Had a Samurai about 2011-2014 that I really enjoyed working on but had to sell when our family started getting big and it was my DD at the time.

This one actually has a SPOA already (rear end needs to have the pinion angle corrected) and a nice crossover steering kit (no bubba-fabbed Z-link or worse), some driveline spacers. Someone painted the winter camo directly over factory stickers and looks like sh*t.

Needs lots of love, but it runs good, drives, and actually had a real title in the sellers name. Not many samurai's in my price range that meet all that

This'll be a periodic running tally of what I'm going to do to "restore" this one and make it nice while trying to re-learn how to work on one of these. Luckily these are essentially still made in India under a different manufacturer so lots of Indian made parts are readily available on eBay.

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Some photos of my old one that evolved over time from 2011-2014. By the end she was running real rough and needed an engine rebuild that I didn't have time or money for. Also was hard to haul myself, the missus and an ankle biter around running errands.

 

[SKULLYOTA]

I can't believe sometimes that I bought that Samurai in a Walmart parking lot in 2011 for $1700 and it was almost mint condition.

Went on a couple offroad trips in it:

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Some more detailed shots of my new toy:

Stock airbox/air filter stuff was trash so I had to rig this up with what was already on hand in the garage:

 

[SKULLYOTA]

PO(s) also let the battery go WAAAAY to far and leak acid all over, so the only rust on an otherwise completely rustfree sammi is the battery tray and surrounding metal:

Hosed off a couple handfuls of that white corrosion powder stuff and need to spray some rust converter on what's left.

Also got to do one of my favorite new car rituals, completely tear out any and all unnecessary and added on wiring junk, removed a sketchy stereo install and sketchy offroad lights. Still got some more to clean up but I filled a box with wire from just those two accessories:

SoCkS iN tHE GaRAgE???

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Last item for this morning, Samurai also came with a new in box HF 5k winch. If I keep this sammi light enough it'll probably be enough. Or i'll sell it.

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Immediate needs are a battery, timing belt (don't want to have one snap on the highway again, that was a helluva story getting home), clutch, sloppy shifter repair, and probably tires.

 

[BILT4ME]

Don't forget the sway bar bushings at some point, because they are non-existent.


How well did that trailer track on the way home?

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Don't forget the sway bar bushings at some point, because they are non-existent.


How well did that trailer track on the way home?

Trailer tracked ok. Typical of uhaul that it was pretty beat up. 3.5L Tacoma did alright, but at most I’m guessing it was 4K lbs total being towed.

The list of nickel and dime items this thing needs is huge, but it’s a good base to start with.

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Long time ago I had bought this SJ410 grille, and stashed it. Started trying to fit it up this afternoon. Proving to be a major chore so far

 

[SKULLYOTA]

This is almost verbatim the conversation I had with the missus when I brought this home

YouTube

 

[SKULLYOTA]

got the grille mounted up. It is different enough that the stock hood release mechanism wouldn’t fit right (too close to the radiator) so I eliminated that setup and installed some jeep style hood latches.

Also test fitted an H4 headlight housing I had laying around. May use them for an LED conversion and use the bottom portion for a marker light.

Also got up early and camped out at DMV to get the plates/title/rego.

Ordered lots of parts, disassembled the shifters to replace the bushings and tighten em up.

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Installed a new Chinese Toyota 3k carburetor clone with a kit from Certified Machine in OKC

Certified Machine & Design, Inc.

www.certifiedmachine.com

Good kit, good customer service too

Also tore into the sloppy shifters, found all sorts of bad and had to order a lot of parts. Amazes me that PO’s can let this stuff go for so long…like cars work better when you maintain them people

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Got the shifters all tightened up, engine running great and took it for a test drive…..only to discover some horrible noises coming from the transmission.

Pulled the tcase and trans and discovered some wasted bearings in the trans. Thankfully the gears and synchros look good.

Started cleaning the trans in the old dishwasher and ordered a bearing kit

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Not much update. Got transmission rebuilt but not reinstalled yet. Received some aluminum door cards from eBay that I’ve temporarily distracted myself with.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Excellent!

Following

 

[SKULLYOTA]

No pics today, but successfully survived a to work and back commute today. Also wired up a relay for the "samurai clicky starter" fix. didn't really need it, but just threw one together before it does become necessary. Also cost $0.

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Whipped up a different air filter setup with some scrap aluminum and my lathe. Now I can use an off the shelf paper element and have room for an under hood box where the old pod filter was

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Trying to make the intermittently functioning front marker lights work today snow balled into welding in filler panels and fitting 2” trailer LED marker lights.

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Started working on body/paint but quickly realized this Sammy needs more filler, dent repair, etc than I am willing to do. Nothing uglier than a shiny paint job on imperfect metal. So I decided to re-camo it using the old MERDC scheme as a guide. I’ll get more pics later but i did snap these