87 Suzuki Samurai

Flashboiler. Well.... The FSM has been pretty handy to have on hand. I'm still considering it.
Seems very economical to do it myself.


Did a little bit more maintenance today. Whoever owned this Samurai before me swapped the oil switch out with a oil pressure gauge. I'll have to get another switch to replace it but in the meantime the oil pressure gauge install they did was not up to par.


The tubing is broke or the this fitting is leaking. I think I may have been losing a bit of oil through here because my Samurai never left wet spots anymore so I think it was just squirting out while I was driving.
[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/oil-pressure-gauge-fitting.jpg[/IMG]


They ran the line to the gauge right through the firewall without using a grommet or anything.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/oil-pressure-gauge-tubing-firewall.jpg[/IMG]


I had mentioned that I had needed to replace my starter. I was hoping this wasn't the case so I first tried my own clicky starter fix. Apparently the starter is powered straight through the ignition switch unlike most other vehicles who do this through a relay. A fix is to add a relay in place of the starter wiring so that the ignition is powering the relay and the relay is relaying power straight from the battery to the starter. This didn't solve my poor starting problem but I think it was a good addition none the less.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/clicky-starter-relay.jpg[/IMG]


Installing the new starter was pretty easy. Just remove the air box to get better access.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/starter.jpg[/IMG]


At some point in the last few weeks I cleaned out all of the dead leaves sitting in the heater vent box. I used a conduit plug to plug up the hole. My vents still blow out some leaves every now and then but I can live with it for a while. I'm told to get great results I have to remove the entire dash and clean everything out with a pressure washer.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/heater-vent-cleanout.jpg[/IMG]


I was doing some cleaning last weekend and wanted to get underneath the rear seat just to see what was under there. I removed the drivers side bolt with no issues but as soon as I cranked on the passenger side bolt the head broke clean off. I attempted to drill out the broken thread and tried to use some extractors to remove it but didn't have any luck. It was rusted in there extremely bad I guess.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/rear-seat-broken-bolt.jpg[/IMG]




Unfortunately I broke the nut off the body while trying to free those threads. I had to drill through a crossmember on the bottom of the Samurai so that I could add a nut from the bottom. I used a holesaw for this.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/rear-seat-broken-nut.jpg[/IMG]


On top of that I discovered that I did have a bit of rust to deal with after all. I'll have to repair this rusted hole before winter. It's behind the rear drivers side wheel well.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/rear-drivers-side-wheelwell-rust.jpg[/IMG]

Been pretty busy, looking good

I made the hole in my plenum under the heater core (on the driver side). it was plugged up under it and was stopping the air flow. Also check the other side on the blend door. Sometimes they get to where they wont seal when in the open/closed, heat/defrost settings. I just tied mine into the defrost setting and left it.

I cut a similar hole and vacuumed out all kinds of stuff... Thought I did good, then it used the shop vac and at the same time blew below with an air nozzle and got way more out. Heater worked much better after that.

replace the transfer case in mine today...

Well I've been doing a few things hereand there to the Samurai since the last post.


I had to replace my window cranks a fewmonths ago but the new cheap Amazon ones I bought broke after about amonth. The tabs on the knob broke off after regular use. I used a1/2-13 bolt to repair them. Nothing fancy. Just a button head boltand a jam nut with red loctite.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/071.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/072.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/073.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/070.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/075.JPG[/IMG]


This has been working great and Iexpect it to be a permanent repair.


So I decided to take the Samurai and my2 year old daughter on their first camping trip. Me, Adam and Aarondecided to go run the Jenny Creek trail and camp at Jenny Lake thislast Saturday.


I've been wanting to keep a FireExtinguisher in the Samurai for a while. The seals on the front axleof my old TJ caught on fire once (I suppose that happens when youstrip all the teeth off the pinion gear and try driving it down thehigh at 55mph). and I was glad to have a fire extinguisher with methen to put out the flames. I optioned a bunch of spots for thischeapy $20 extinguisher from Home Depot before deciding on the targabar. It's actually not a bad spot and I don't hit my head on itunless I'm contorting myself weird to look back.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/129.JPG[/IMG]


Also for this trip I didn't want tofight over the cigarette lighter USB charger with my girlfriend so Idecided to install another one. I've had a couple marine cigarettelighters sitting in an old junk box for about 10 years now so Idecided to put one to use. Space is cramped inside the Samurai but Ifound a good spot for it on the rear passenger side of the radio boxwhere my cheap amp and CB Radio are.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/131.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/130.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/006.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/007.JPG[/IMG]

I've been liking to keep a 5qt jug of oil with me under the hood with a funnel because this Samurai is drinking oil. Not as bad since I fixed the poorly installed oil pressure fittings but still. For the camping trip I stored some extra stuff under the hood as well. Some miscellaneous hardware and fittings as well as some gear oil.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/171.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/172.JPG[/IMG]


I always like to have some tools with me in any vehicle I own but I've been shuttling my standard tool bag too and from work for working on the Samurai and it's rather large.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/180.JPG[/IMG]


I picked up a tool roll from Amazon for the trip as well because I really wanted to save space inside the Samurai.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/178.JPG[/IMG]


I strapped a multimeter to it in case I needed to diagnose an electrical issue.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/177.JPG[/IMG]




My battery was giving me some trouble a couple of weeks ago and I finally had to replace it. I used a cheap Duralast battery from Autozone and finally got a universal battery hold down to keep it from bouncing up and into the hood. I had to drill an extra hole into the battery tray for one of the retaining rods.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/170.JPG[/IMG]




The trip went extremely well and I ended up having enough room for everything. We picked up one of those fancy Yeti coolers last minute before the trip since every other cooler we had and could borrow did not fit on the seat next to my daughters car seat well enough. The Yeti roadie was PERFECT! and it kept ice extremely well and I expect to get years of use out of it. I would have preferred to save a bunch of money by going with the RTIC coolers but they're on pre-order and I have no idea where to source them locally.


We ended up strapping the sleeping bags and pads to the spare tire with some straps.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/140.JPG[/IMG]


This worked out extremely well.


The trip was really fun and I have to say that the Samurai did well and it continues to impress me. I am a bit disappointed with the lack of crawl ratio though and I'm adding T-Case gears to my list of must-do up there with the engine rebuild. I had to floor the gas peddle in the 1st gear low range to make it up the rock gardens on Jenny Creek and my girlfriend did bump her head once or twice.....


I haven't done much to the Samurai since the last trip but I did attempt to fix my drooping passenger side mirror with a neoprene gasket between the ball and the mount.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/185.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/186.JPG[/IMG]




Since the camping trip, which was only 1 night and by no means the epic trip I have been wanting to do by the way, I've been more or less set on having a roof rack and decided to make one. I picked up a bender and a couple of stick of 3/4" EMT conduit. I'm not done yet but I will definitely post when I am.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/012.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/016.JPG[/IMG]




That's about it for now.

Dang it, I have 3/4 emt you could of had.
Your welcome to use the hitch storage anytime I don't need it. In about 2 month We are teaching engine performance, let me know if you want to bring it in they can do commpersion, leak down test for you.

Nice progress and it looks like the camping trip was a blast!

I've gotten some things done here and there. The Samurai doesn't seem to be drinking oil since I fixed the pressure gauge lines.


I've been working on the roof rack every weekend. I think I've finally settled on some mounting methods for it.


I had Joe (Zukrider) do weld the main hoops for me since I had no experience welding myself at the time. These are the main part of the rack and I wanted these welds to be solidly done. Huge thanks to him for doing the welding.


I picked up a cheap tubing notcher from Harbor Freight. I picked up the holesaw from home depot.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/044.JPG[/IMG]


I cut a couple of more pieces of conduit that will support the second hoop above the lower. I wanted a 4" gap between the hoops. In retrospect I should have done something shorter, like maybe 2".


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/045_2.JPG[/IMG]




I did a mockup to get a feel for what it would be like all welded together.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/052.JPG[/IMG]


Did another sitting on top of the samurai.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/054.JPG[/IMG]


I got the posts welded all by myself! Been playing around with a 115v welder that my brother in law has. No gas, but some of the welds look ok.


I got the slats cut and notched last week and got them welded up this Saturday.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/011.JPG[/IMG]
(There's a recall on the iPhone camera's and mine has been going bad.)




I was checking out the space and my daughter decided to crawl into the cooler.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/033.JPG[/IMG]


I still need to weld the top hoop to the posts but the base of the rack is more or less completed.


I've made some bracketry from aluminum to support the rack that doesn't interfere with the soft top and doesn't require me to drill into the body anywhere.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/001_2.JPG[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/002.JPG[/IMG]


(I'll try to fix these squashed pics soon)


There was some black trim on the bottom portion of the targa that I replaced with some 1x1/4" aluminum to tie the roof rack support to. This will simply keep the bracket from swinging and chewing away the paint on the targa and isn't intended to support any weight. It's attached with stainless steel sheet metal screws.


I made the window frame brackets a couple of weeks ago. The pictures speak for themselves in how the bracket works. I plan on running a length of conduit from the window frame to the targa brackets.
[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/043.JPG[/IMG]


Threw the rack on top of the Samurai again to get an idea of how it'll look.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/004.JPG[/IMG]


I'll leave this post with a teaser of some other things I have planned.


[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/008.JPG[/IMG]

Nice Work looks like you'll have doubled the storage capacity of the Samurai !

Nice !!

Obviously well thought out. EMT is cheap and will be plenty strong if put together properly with enough support etc. Looks GREAT on there too. What size does that notcher go to on the pipe?

I've been using a 7/8" holesaw. It's ok. The OD of the conduit is about 15/16".

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Looks good! I like the ingenuity in building your own rack!

:thumb: Well done!

[QUOTE=DETN8R;293947]

[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/011.JPG[/IMG][/QUOTE]

I like this photo the best!

Seriously though, looking good!

A tip for making the HF notcher last a little longer is to weld end caps onto both ends of the upper tubing mount. May not help for long, but will help with accuracy and strength in the mean time.

I'm not sure if I understand you.
End caps on the notcher?

Thanks again for the replies. I'll post another update soon

Don't have much time to search, but there are a ton of different mods people have come up with to improve on the HF notcher. Here is a quick very basic video showing something like what I was referring to. First one I came across, so if it sucks, I apologize in advance.

[video=youtube;Ty915Z0GrJo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty915Z0GrJo[/video]

So I know a post got lost in the weirdness that happened yesterday morning. I did replace my copper tubing oil pressure line, I'm not sure why I neglected to mention that but I swapped it for a nylon line. Still not the best material but I am carrying spare copper line if I need to perform a trail repair.

That spacer for the harbor freight notcher would help and I may add it in the future. For now I can deal with the offset notches and I don't have any immediate plans to use it for more than a few more pieces I need to make for the roof rack.

Just wanted to do a quick update tonight. I got some of the brackets made for the roof rack. I bent the two rear targa brackets to fit properly. I still need to bolt everything together.

We also just got our first snow here so I'm going to try to get this done quickly. I hope to have everything done on Saturday or Sunday.

I got the window frame supports done. They'll run back to the targa brackets and support the roof rack basket in the front.


Here is the rook racked mocked together.

[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/035.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.detn8r.net/Samurai/037.JPG[/IMG]