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A decade of zukin'

3K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  zuki4x4chick 
#1 ·
Well after around ten years this is what has evolved of my 89 suzuki samurai.

I picked it up with the basic SPOA and on 31's beat it to shit like that for a few years.
Then upgraded to YJ leaf springs, that was fun on 31's and very floppy.
Next was toyota axles and 35's I ran these with 4:1 tcase and 5.29's
upgraded to the 6:5.1 gearing and a a tcase bucket with some stronger mounting points.

Then one day I thought I blew a Birfield out wheeling. ( turns out I just pinched a rubber brake line and the brake locked up that one front tire)
I purchased some dirty thirties regardless. And apon installation this happened..


Tire Wheel Automotive parking light Vehicle Car

Front tire off, lets remove some of this old smashed up body.


Tire Wheel Automotive tire Hood Vehicle

A little more...


Hood Automotive lighting Automotive tire Vehicle Motor vehicle



And .. off goes the front clip
:help:
Hood Tire Automotive tire Vehicle Wheel

pulled it into the shop and started hacking shit off.


Tire Automotive tire Wheel Motor vehicle Tread

Picked up an IFS rear axle, cleaned it up and started mocking up the 4 link
At this point we also decided to do an 8" frame extension in the front and began to "dove nose"
and drop the hood, this involved lowering the rad about 4"



Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Motor vehicle





Tire Wheel Automotive tire Car Vehicle

We started to bend some tube after a few soda's and some brain storming.
off to a good start



Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle Tread





Motor vehicle Automotive tire Tire Automotive design Wood

Here is a shot of the front hood concept


Wheel Tire Car Automotive tire Vehicle

Got the front stinger going and tied into the rear main hoop


Wheel Tire Vehicle Car Automotive tire

Most of the tube bent up and welded just adding lateral support for the cab of the rig and some materials to mount up the skins


Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Hood

New seats in and mounted up, good fit. sits nice and low but dropping the front of the hood makes for some decent visibility


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All painted up, got the full Hydro all plumbed up, drive shafts back from being lengthened.
time for some skins


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Really liked how these turned out, and easily removable at that.



Wheel Tire Vehicle Car Automotive tire

flexing it out under its own power for the first time and the coilovers were rubbing on the rear tire
easy fix were some 3/4" wheel spacers for the rear a bit more stability as well.



Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Hood

And the front poser shot



have taken it out for a few runs, flopped it the first time out with in 10 minutes. that was epic.
I was working on this with the help of some talented friends all damn summer of last year and really want to take advantage of it this wheeling season..

After that im thinking of linking the front, lowering the whole thing a little and swapping a 1.6 16 valve with an auto and a kicker 3, this way im solidifying the drive train by marrying the two transfer cases and I do not have to do any further drive shaft modification. any input????



Center to center wheelbase right now is about ~ 104" and I think im at a good spot there on 37's. :finger_1:

who wants to wheel ?????
 

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#8 ·
Very nice build :) you will love the upgraded 1.6l 16v and the kicker 3 I have this done to my rig and love the setup works great I kept my sami t-case stock thats all I need. I was thinking when my 1.6l 16v dies upgrading to the v6 grand vitara motor I heard it has 140HP and will mount to the sidekick transmission without any mods
 
#10 · (Edited)
Thanks for the kudos,

About the 2.0 liter motor I've thought of this swap but was partial to the 1.6 16 valve due to (dare I say) easy
Install and availability, 2.0 liter is def an option tho. I will look into this some more.
 
#13 ·
To be honest I haven't really done much research as far as motor swaps go, Obviously more power would be great but I still want to try to keep the whole thing as light as possible.

For the time being i'm just going to wheel it as is and enjoy the 4 little gremlins bouncing around under the hood, pick away at some ideas over the summer, maybe even start to acquire some parts once I make a decision and then do some sort of swap this winter. :beer_cheers:

Right now I've just got the 1.3 in there with the MySide application ( Harley carb ) has anyone ever tuned one of these up or know anyone who has? its running quite lean and its hard to keep it idling while the full hydro is at work if I'm not on the gas, I've temporarily adjusted the idle to run higher in order to stop it from stalling. I'll continue to run it like this for now, but would prefer to have her dialed right in..
 
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