Hey everyone, new member with a Sammy

[concentric]

Hey folks.
I found out about this board from a member here that hangs with me on another forum, the USN. I thought I'd drop in and introduce myself. I've been tromping around the US for a decade or more now, but mostly on foot. I'm interested in getting to some more remote places for base camp now that I live in the Appalachians in NE TN and I'm planning on modding my Sammy to get me there, and get me there in reliability and style.

I just bought my '86 Tin Top a couple weeks ago and before I start doing anything radical I've started working on some basics, fixing a few problems here and there and assessing the stock mechanics of my rig. If Sammy owners have any advice for me about things I should look at immediately, or the order in which you'd do mods, I'd love to hear about them. I don't have much experience with 4x4s, this is the first one I've owned. Previously I've done some work on Porsches and old WVs, I had a 1969 Westy that I restored from the ground up and used that for a mild expo vehicle and for camping in the desert.

My intended use will be as a daily driver for short to medium commutes, camping trips with the lady, and my all-weather go-to vehicle for getting me back and forth to work at the local ER where I'm employed. When you have to get to work, you have to be there, so this is important. We often have inclement weather in the winter that I will have to slog through.

I'll post a pic of my rig here. If anyone is local to me and has a Sammy, I'd love to pick your brain about the breed. So far this is a great place to check out Expo topics and you all have great rigs! I hope to get mine looking as good as some of these here.

Tentatively, I have been thinking of foregoing many mods to the engine of the vehicle and just focusing on the suspension and interior. It seems to me that once I spend the cash on trying to trick out my 1.3, I would be better served with just dropping a 1.6, 1.9, or 1.9t VW diesel in there and calling it a day. However, if anyone has any thoughts on mods that might work on both engines, I'm all ears. Not sure if there would be much crossover, but I thought I'd ask.

Currently the mods that have been done to the car include:
- Weber carb for the 1.3
- Sport seats in the interior
- Optima Yellow Top battery with 400W inverter hardwired in the truck
- 27" Super Swampers
- HID retrofit headlamps
- HID fog lights mounted to front bumper
- Thule roof rack

Thanks in advance, happy to be a new part of the community.

 

[32vsnake]

congrats on your purchase...very cool little truck

 

[saburai]

Expo Sammy

Welcome Jason, glad you made it here. Great looking little truck:smiley_drive: I can't wait to see it in person!

 

[concentric]

Thanks, Saburai. And thanks for the suggestion to come over here.
Can't wait to show you the little beast in all it's pre-build glory. Now if I could only get some time to actually get out to the driveway and do some work on the thing.

This winter is just begging for the Sammy to run me into the Smokies, bust out the Hilleberg Jannu and my Mountain Hardware Lamina -30F bag. I just got given a telescope, I see some winter stargazing in my near future.

 

[daverbmxer]

I like it! Do you have any info on the HID headlights?

 

[Jeff@QuadShop]

I've owned 7 Samurai's, I did the 1.6 MPI swap into one and the VW 1.9 IDI into another. Feel free to ask questions. Also I have some great places to explore in eastern KY when your ready.

 

[concentric]

Jeff, that sounds great. Which do you prefer for a daily driver? I'd like to be able to maintain a comfortable 65mph cruising speed with the motor I choose on the 27" tires. I nearly got rear-ended today on I26, slow-poking. I would love to take a trip out to eastern KY, that sounds like a blast and you are quite close, really. My current concern is making sure that any lift I put on the truck will be enough to create the clearance that's needed for a 1.9. I am going to call Acme today and check with them. The OME lift looks like it's good and within my price range, but it only offers 2" front and 2.5" in the rear if I read right.

Dave: You caught me a day too late. The previous owner had put in the HID lights and fog lamps with some sort of kit that converted the H4 housings in the truck. The ballasts got some water in them or something and I lost one of each so I pulled them, reverted to the H4 bulbs to get it working again. They went into the trash last night for trash day and they're on the way to the dump now. I'll try to get in touch with the guy I bought the truck from to see where he got it, he was a Honda tuner guy so perhaps that's where he sourced the conversion from. Still bright, but I might see about doing it again sometime, as those lights were awesome. Give me a couple days and I'll see what I can find out for you. I was given three H4 bulb sets with the Sammy, so it was just easier for me to revert, rather than try to figure out what he did and replicate it. I have places to go this weekend.

Today I'm piddling with painting the tired trim, but it's damn windy out. I have no desire to try to use a spray can in 35 mph winds, even with the superior spray pattern and coverage of Wurth satin enamel. Love that paint. I've also been measuring the interior for some mods. I had a wild idea that it might have been possible to use a hammock inside the truck to sleep in, if I got a roll cage and used that to cinch up my ENO, but the interior dimensions are a tad too short for me, I'm 6'. That was kind of superfluous anyway, I have a lot of nice camping gear that will work fine outside and I may cop a page from the forums here and use some brackets that hang off the front and rear bumper to hang the hammock like those pics of the ammocan tailgate Nevada Sammy in our Sammy owner's thread. In any case I have been looking at another mod that should be pretty slick, fabbing some cupboards that sit on top of the wheel well and make use of that curved space fore and aft of the hump. If I can get a flat surface there, I can weld in two 120mm mortar ammo cans that I can put locks on, one on each side. They are 32" long, which fits right behind the seats of the Sammy. That should be perfect for recovery gear and stuff for hunting season.

 

[Jeff@QuadShop]

I liked the diesel better but the problem is you won't be able to run the 27's with the 1.9. With stock R&P's and stock t-case I had to run 33" tires to get the RPM's correct at highway speeds. With 27's you could run the 1.6 NA diesel motor and be ok gearing wise but it's pretty gutless.

If your going to stick with the 27's, you'll need to do the 1.6 swap. Do yourself a favor and do the 1.6 16v and not the 8v. It's a little more expensive because of the custom wiring harness but it's a much better motor.

That is a great looking tin top, I'd love to find one that clean to build for expo travel.

 

[sross]

Welcome to Expo man! I've also got a tintop and think they're great trucks. The OME suspension is by far the best mod I did to it. It rides sooooooooo much better. I don't know much about the diesel swaps so they may not provide enough lift, but you could always do longer shackles to make up the difference. When those swampers wear out put some 4:1 gears in the t-case and move up to a 235x75x15 tire. I also highly recommend going through and doing all the maintenance on the steering system. Mine went from terrifying on the interstate to just uncomfortable after I replaced all the bushings, the rag joint and the steering stabilizer. Only new mod I am currently contemplating is power steering, I live in a city and the ability to park in spots nobody else can is awesome, having to muscle the tires around less so.

 

[Backroad Explorer]

Welcome to ExPo Jason. Love to see some more pic's of that nice TinTop :smiley_drive:

 

[concentric]

Thanks for the diesel and suspension advice, guys. I'm pretty satisfied with the control and steering of the car so far, but I can tell the suspension needs a refresh. I love parallel parking in my Sami, or just driving up over the curb to get at those corner spots. Works the charm.

I tried to email Acme Adapters today and got my communication bounced. I'm going to try from another email address, but if any one has his telephone number, would you mind PMing it to me as a backup?

 

[Jeff@QuadShop]

I missed your lift question. You only need a 2" lift for the 1.9 IDI engine.

 

[chet]

nice little tin top! I have done 8v and 16v swaps in the past and I would never do an 8v again. the gain in HP just wasn't worth it. If I ever get a sammy again it will be getting a 2.0L swap in it. I drove someone esles with that motor and Oh my god was it nice! or a 22re toyota swap.

 

[concentric]

Welcome to ExPo Jason. Love to see some more pic's of that nice TinTop :smiley_drive:

Thanks.
I will be happy to take you some more pics, both the good and the bad. The upside is that it's a fairly solid truck with some decent mods, just needs a refresh here and there.

I can certainly see that there is some cancer in little spots on the body and the floorboards have some small holes. But those really aren't that big of a deal, a couple shots with the MIG and they will be good to go, or I could glass them in. The interior of the rockers are pretty rotted as well, I was thinking of fabbing some rock rails to replace the whole structure, and had been toying with the idea of having my buddy TIG me these out of aluminum, maybe with some drawers built in if the structure is 4x4", but I'll have to look at the dimensions and I wonder if the aluminum would be strong enough to support the weight of the body.

Underneath the fenders (along and beneath the fender flares) also has some rust spots, as well as where the wheel-wells meet the body, this should be taken care of also. I am not sure if it would be best to cut it out and just put some bigger flares on the truck, or what. I'll have to look at it and think it out.

I tried to to finish some of the tuning and trim work, but on Saturday night I went out into the back yard and we had snowflakes swirling around, so it's too cold to do any painting. I got called into work today, so the Weber adjustments will have to wait a few days.

 

[concentric]

Still trucking along on getting the Sammy ready for longer trips and the winter. Saburai was down at my place, we finished up my GM alternator swap and tidied up a few things on the truck, and tore around the field in it for a nice test.

I've done some basic maintenance crap since I last checked in, just been slowly going through the truck and repairing what I can afford to tackle. I've got an all-aluminum radiator and a new OME steering stabilizer on the way from Low Range, those are the next steps.

Once I get some time over Christmas break, it will be body work to clean up the rear deck before I start working on specs for the storage systems.

I will take some more pics here soon, and I found some more info on the HID boxes for the member that asked, I'll post a pic of the boxes as well.