Ok, let's see some pictures!
Ok, let's see some pictures!
I haven't taken possession of it yet. Supposed to happen this afternoon. He did send me additional pictures.
If anything obviously wrong leaps out at you shout out. I haven't seen it in person yet.
I see one major problem - you get to drive it and I don't. That thing looks like a big bowl of awesomesauce to me...
What's not to like?
The only change I would make is to relocate that air intake to somewhere on the A pillar so you can submarine short distances. 
You should want it. I do.
A landowner in upstate SC hauled me a co-worker around some a really steep mountain site in one that had been built up much like this one. His was not raised though. It had lockers that couldn't be unlocked though, so it was an off road vehicle only. Sharp turns took several backwards and forwards.
A couple of more pictures. Not sure why they didn't post the first time.
This shot needs more winch.
Pretty sure that's 146K, not 46K.
There are only 5 digits on a sammy odometer so who knows? Could be 346k
I'm even more impressed after seeing the new pics though.
Looks clean. I love the tin tops.
If I may offer a cheap off-roader trick:
There's a vent on top of the axles. Remove the factory cover so only a nipple sticks out, slip a piece of clear tubing over the nipple and hose clamp it. Tuck the other end up under the body or into the engine compartment and put a piece of foam (ear plug?) into the hose.
It keeps water out of your rear end.
Dan
That thing is awesome. Samurais have very unrefined road manners but are highly capable off road. Much more so than their size and engine would suggest. I always enjoyed off-roading in mine. Driving long distances is not any fun at all but can happen. I drove mine to Canada and spent the whole night puking from carbon monoxide exposure. (Mine was soft top and I had left the back window rolled up. Oops!) I recovered enough by two days later to eat a meal and drive home.
When someone says the ride is rough on these, they don't mean like Ford pickup rough. They mean like ox cart with wooden wheels rough. But you'll get a feel for it on your test drive. I would totally have one again but not as my only car like the last time.
That's a valve cover from a 95-97 (roller rocker) 1.3 8V. I didn't realize they were a bolt on to the earlier motors.
With a spring-over the ride is not bad. Even softer with 8-10 psi in the tires. Out of the box, it's bouncy and a little darty. That one is obviously not out of the box! Nor should they be!
Zomby Woof wrote: That's a valve cover from a 95-97 (roller rocker) 1.3 8V. I didn't realize they were a bolt on to the earlier motors.
Will bolt on the 1.3 8 valve or 1.6 8 valve mottos we got down here. Normally come off the 1.3 fwd swifts here in the states.
And yes you want it unstoppable off-road and great forums and vendor support
BBC
Well, that was a wasted evening. I went and looked at the truck. It is as advertized and I was ready to do the deal, only to find out there is a mix up in the paperwork. He has a title signed over to him, but not one in his name. He is supposed to get that straight tomorrow and call me back. Here's your sign. 
I did get to drive and crawl all over it. No rust to be found, anywhere. It's had a frame off in the past, the entire tub is Rhino Lined inside and out, as well as the frame. The steering feels pretty tight. It's in dire need of a set of shocks. The engine runs great, unfortunately he has no idea when the timing belt was last changed. Transmission and transfer case both shift fine. It will probably need a clutch in the next year or two, it's engaging way off the floor. The distributor drive is leaking a little oil. The tires are fair. Over all I would give it a strong 7 out of 10.
Now we see if he gets his E36 M3 together by tomorrow.
Damn this thing is a mile up in the air. It's got to be almost 7 feet to the roof. I might actually want it a little lower than that. I'll need to get it home and do some studying.
Toyman01 wrote: Well, that was a wasted evening. I went and looked at the truck. It is as advertized and I was ready to do the deal, only to find out there is a mix up in the paperwork. He has a title signed over to him, but not one in his name. He is supposed to get that straight tomorrow and call me back. Here's your sign.
I have had that happen twice before. First time I was stupid and bought it. The seller was extremely hot. That helped. I tracked down the original owner and asked him, had the DMV send him a replacement title and he signed it over to me. Great guy. The second guy took care of it for me and then delivered it after. You know the truck in my build thread? That was the second one.
Hopefully it will all work out this evening. I don't know this guy from Adam's house cat, so trusting him wasn't going to happen. And we were meeting in a Kmart parking lot in the middle of nowhere.
I'm pretty sure he would have had the paperwork straight yesterday except for on thing. Apparently in SC if the vehicle is 20+ years old and coming from out of state, the vehicle must be present at the DMV to have a title issued. I didn't know that. Then again he could be trying to feed me a line of crap too.
We'll see if he calls today.
I bought my third Samurai from a JY out in the sticks (where I live) and the title was never signed by the PO. Turns out the PO was a non-English-speaking Vietnamese gentleman living in the Chinatown area in Boston.
Somehow the JY owner found him and got him to sign it over. Considering I paid $500 for it, he really went out of his way to fix it.
Come to think of it, maybe the signature was... Not the POs!?!
That whole title thing sounds like a huge pain in the arss. I'm sure glad we don't have those things.
That thing looks pretty bad ass. After spending 12 days in Costa Rica with a Suzuki Jimny, I looked for a couple weeks for a Samurai hard top, only to realize I didn't really want to spend that much $ on a toy right now. I still kind of want one though.
BTW, this is a Jimny. It's pretty much a face-lifted Samurai. That little tin can would go freakin' anywhere!
Paid $500 for mine, spring-over lift was basically free, shocks and a dropped drag link and that thing would tackle anything I threw at it!
With the double-low transfer case gears in low/low and with 33" Super Swampers, I once got out and let it crawl over a rock wall, it got high-centered so I shoved it off the rocks and it crawled off the back side and chugged along and I hopped it and drove away!
Finaly!
Done and done. The 60 mile drive home was uneventful. Always a good thing is an unknown vehicle.
It drives and rides a lot like a buckboard wagon. A tire balance, shocks and an alignment will go a long way to curing most of that.
It needs the set of 5.13 gears it came with. It almost won't pull 5th on level ground.
The transfer case is going to have to be near the top of the list. It's not quite as loud as the tires, but it's a near thing.
Over all, I'm happy. It will be fun to tinker and play with. I'm pretty burned out on road racing and autocross.
It was dark on the way home, so no off roading. There was a convenient wood pile in the yard to double check the 4WD. 
Love the decal on the back of it too. That will be staying.
Can I convince you to do the low-low range transfer case gears (if they're not in there now?). Like I said earlier, they'll also drop the 2 and 4 high overall ratio as well.
It'll make your eyeballs pop out when you crawl up a tree in 4low at 800 rpm!
And due to the removable center section, swapping in the gears is easy. Like a 9".
In reply to ebonyandivory:
There is a 6.4:1 gear set for the transfer case I've been looking at.
That would go with the 5.13:1 center sections I have for the axles. They are brand new, set up and ready to install.
From what I've read, you don't want to just do the transfer case. That breaks axles. If you are going to do just one, do the axles, other wise do both.
First order of business will be to pull the transfer case and see what's making noise. The PO said he put bearings in it. I'm guessing the gear set is trashed.
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