New Member, First car :D (Samurai)

[SlimGrim]

Hey, New to cars and forums so this is my first post and I'l probably make many mistakes, sorry in advance
I'm a student from norfolk and just purchased my first car!, A white 1988 Suzuki Samurai SJ413with 50k on the clock oh and its chassis number starts with (JSA) at which I assume means its a jap model?, it has a white slanted soft-top and I think its fairly stock, it had a custom horn and security alarm that i have removed as I deem them unnecessary,It passed its MOT with no faults and the guy said that the chassis looks practically new with no rust maybe someone helpful could point me some info about what it is I have actually bought and later on in the future help with how I would go about solving any issues I run into.

Anyway heres the story, I saw this floating around on eBay with very little attention whilst looking for my first car, fast forward a few days and whilst on the way home from college I get a ring from my Brother telling me that He's looking at a Sj413 for sale,he can log in to my eBay and bid on it but the catch is that the auction will end before I get home!? panic!! I went with my gut instinct and told him to bid on it due to its location being in blakeny a coastal town near me and its low price (lets call it £700ish), Turns out it was the car I was previously looking at AND actually a Blakeny in wales... VERY far away from norfolk ._. so the next Friday my father and I head out on a 13 hour round trip there with an 18Ft IFA trailer behind his landy all over the hairpin malven hills & various field lanes and the next thing I know I have my very first car. Bare in mind by the time I got to this small unmapped speck of a town it was pitch black so I couldn't even see what I had Just purchased, But from what I gather it was somewhat of a Gem in the dark so to speak.
But i'll let you guys be the judge of that haha

[ROBBIE]

Hi nice looking motor, what's the plan? stock or mods?

[SlimGrim]

Not too sure really & thanks
, Depends on how stock it is i guess haha

[dan_2k_uk]

Hi and welcome to SCUK.

Looks pretty tidy and the first one I've seen in a while with the brown dash

[SlimGrim]

haha cheers, Brown dash...cant tell if thats a positive or a negative xD

[Anton]

sorry in advance

So you should be!





You've got a superb Samurai there mate. That looks lovely to my eye, but I'd say you should check the front arches for rust, the rear floor and arches for rust, and if you find none, then sell it to me...



Seriously, though, lovely find. Don't try driving it in 4x4 on tarmac (there's no centre differential) but at some point take it into a field and see if you can get at least one wheel on each axle to spin - if you can, and you hear no grinding or knocking noises, then you have there the bargain of the century.

2 things - watch out for the carb. You have the original carb there, and they can be temperamental when they get old and cranky. No need to worry overly, just if you start having trouble, we know of ways to fix it. Other than that, and the occasional tinworm problem, these cars are just about bulletproof unless you drive it like an idiot.

The other thing - get rid of those horns. I had one, and it's caused me trouble. Technically if you have more than one horn under the bonnet, the MOT man should fail you, since it's illegal to have a multi-tone horn in a vehicle past about 1965 (I think) and if it's fitted, it should work or it's a fail. Your man was obviously not a letter-of-the-law type idiot though. Still, no reason not to take it out and give it a viking burial...

So, loving your SJ, buddy.

[dan_2k_uk]

Nice little rare extra if you like it. Should have other brown bits of trim too. Sides of seats and head rests I think.

[SlimGrim]

Awesome info anton, yeah I removed the horns before MOT & after purchasing it I realised that it was idling strangely fast, so to the internet I went and discovered it was likely a carb issue, so back to the garage and all is running well now I'll have to take it round the field for a proper test run soon and i'll get back to you on the matter of spining wheels per axle, but if you wanted me to sell it to you, you should have told me it was crap

[SlimGrim]

Well you learn something new everyday haha cheers Dan, Sadly no brown seat trim as the seats have been replaced with some unbranded ones but they look like something out of a corsa xD although i'm sure my butt doesn't mind as i've heard the originals where rather uncomfy

[Rhinoman]

Welcome. That looks very clean for an 88, I would recommend that you get some rust proofing done while its still good.