Next bit! (Had to swap computers to get camera pics)
Rrrrrright....
The next lot isn't really in any particular order... I just went around the truck getting pic of stuff I'd already done!!!
Mods
Here we go!
Free wheeling hubs
I first got these after a trip to slindon!!! I ended up killing my drivers side CV joint... was stuck in the petrol station for 3 hours
I got my mate to bring me down to free wheeling hubs... put them on in the petrol station car park and drove home!
I ended up buying them off him for £50, as they are SO useful for long distance!!! I get about 30mpg on the motorway with these on.
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Heavy Duty Rear bumper and LED light clusters
This is kind of 2 different mods, but I only have a picture of the LED lights in the new bumper.
basically the original SJ lights are rubbish, as the earth bar on the back of them always corrodes away to nothingness - leaving you with disco lights!!!
I used to work at a Forklift truck company, so I got hold of two of these light clusters from a Hyster forklift!!!
The are 12v, submersible, and have rear, stop and indicator lights built in!!!
The only problem is, I broke one when I reversed into a bank... When I had them on the standard bumper they stuck out a bit...
Now they are in the newer bumper they are well recessed!!!
I have to get another and the are £65 per cluster!
I guess they do have a 4 year warranty though!
The standard rear bumper I had on gradually got more and more broken... Eventually it was mainly just held on with 2 bolts going down through the top and into the number plate light mounts
I decided to get a new bumper... found one of these on ebay from "nofearzuks" for £100... The standard bumper he was selling had round holes for landrover lights, but he agreed to make me one with the recessed box section instead!
The other 2 small lights are for fog and reverse... think the were about £4 each from ebay
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Front sidelights/indicators
Where I've taken the bumper off i've obviously lost the standard side lights and indicators. So I got these LED ones from ebay... You may notice they are the same as the fog/reverse lights on the back... Just in white and orange. I've just attached them to the grille with bolts and washers!
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Suspension Lift
Well you may have noticed in the new tyres picture that I had some terrible shackles on there!!!
I traded a set of awful 3" lift shackles with my mate matt aaaaages ago... I think I traded them for some beers or something
When I put the tyres on, first off they rubbed on the arches and the bumper. Bumper was an easy fix for the angle grinder
Arches were slightly different. So I put the 3" shackles on just as a temporary measure to clear the tyres!
That lifted it up OK, but then I noticed that the tyres rubbed on the springs on full lock...
Rrrrrigh what can I do about it then... So back to ebay I went. Found a guy local to me selling some. They didn't sell as he refused to post... so I got the spacers (and a full exhaust while I was there) off him for £30 for the lot!!!
Here's a pic showing the offending shackles... This is a rear one, and I still have them on the rear cos I have yet to buy more add-a-leafs...
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They're HUGE! The back one's aren't so bad because a) there's less weight on the back and b) by the time you get stuck on the rear shackles you're normally past the obstacle anyway!
I acquired a couple of add-a-leaf springs! Thanks to mudinstructor from difflock!
So I put the add-a-leafs in but couldn't find my original shackles, so I altered the stupid lift ones a bit!
Here's the result, much better!
Add a leaves... you can't really see them now cos the leaves are all muddy
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New shackles:
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Oh yeah I polybushed it all as well while I was doing it
Interior
I've made a few mods to the interior while I've been at it...
Mudinstructor also sorted my out a collection of bits and bobs... among which I found a dash gauge panel!
It fits over the cubbyhole next to the samurai clock. In itI have put a water temp (super important
) and a voltage gauge.
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I also got fed up of all my tools and recovery equipment bouncing around in the back!
So I popped down to my local army surplus shop and got some nice big ammo boxes!
They are bolted into the floor in the back, so don't go anywhere!
This way, the tools are easy to get at from the front, and the strops and rope are easy to get to from the back.
So I don't have to drag muddy ropes through the car
Excuse the lack of tailgate cover and the wires hanging out!
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SU Carb
This is probably the best mod I have done to the Samurai so far!!!
When I got the SJ it had a standard aisin carb on it which, rather predictably, broke.
The auto choke broke so it was doing the usual idle at 3000rpm, either that or cutting out when you take your foot off the pedal!
Pain in the arse!
So I thought it would be a good investment to get an SU carb (after reading A LOT about the carbs themselves, and about the conversion). I bought my SU from ebay... some guy had just ultrasonically cleaned it and rebuilt it... I got it for £53
I had already decided that carb adapters are rubbish, and went to Rhino ray for one of his adapted manifolds... cost £120 + my old manifold, but by god is it worth it!!!! It now works perfectly, all the time!
(Except when I drowned it in slindon)
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To show how good the carb is, it ran my engine on 3 cylinders for about 6 months.... and I was still using it as my daily drive to work
1600 engine
Theres not a huge amount to say about this one!!! My 1300 was knackered, so I used ebay (again) and found myself a vitara 8v engine for £100, went and picked it up the next day!!!
Took me ages to put it in, mainly cos I'm lazy! I used the no adapter plate method, I don't see the point in spending £45 on something you don't really need
I love the engine, and apart from busting the sump gasket, it's been pretty good!
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One random thing is, after putting the 1600 engine in, the gearbox appeared to be about an inch further forward!!!
So I got a prop spacer and put it on the transfer > gearbox prop... like so:
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