December '08 ZOOM - Rick B. (4RnrRick)

Congratulations for winning the December 2008 Zuwharrie Owner of the Month!
I know you thought you had reached the summit with a major magazine feature, but now you’re being inducted into the annals of ZOOM history!

So tell us about you. Who are you, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?

My name’s Rick and I’m from a small town in Oregon (approx. 9000 people). I’m definitely a small town type of guy and don’t like the hustle and bustle of the bigger cities. So much so, that I’m actually living and working in the same town I was born in. Professionally, I have my Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineer (BSME) and I work for a company in the Wood Products Industry.

Tell us a bit about your family.

First and foremost - I have awesome wife of 12+ years of marriage. Not sure how she puts up with me most of the time, but she does. She is definitely one of the most caring and giving people I know. I also have a beautiful, smart, energetic 6-year old daughter. It’s hard to remember what life was like before those two were in my life!

Tell us a little about your previous build and the inspiration to tear it down and turn it into a Suzuki.

Without doing into a bunch of detail, my previous trail rig, Quasimodo, was an 85 Toyota xtra cab flatbed powered by a 2.7L 3rz-fe (Tacoma motor) with dual cases, Toyota 8” axles on 36” Iroks. It is what I would consider a “standard issue” Toyota Rock Crawler with a few more goodies. It also received the fore mentioned 6-page feature in Crawl Magazine.

Basically I was to a point with that vehicle that I wanted to shave some weight off it. Also the body was feeling a bit wide on the tight trails. Doesn’t help that I had fiberglass fenders and an exo cage, but this kept the tires covered up thus keeping it street legal. So it came down to me chopping it up (narrow the front fender and dovetail the flatbed) or just starting over with a narrower body vehicle. Plus one more thing that I did miss was being able to have the option of taking my wife and daughter with me, like back when I had my 4runner.

In the end I came to the conclusion that if I built a Samurai, that I should be able to save around 800 lbs in weight, have enough room for 3 seats. Plus on top of that, the new 39.5 Iroks and 2” remote reservoir coilovers front and rear will help out the trail performance and ride quality.

I traditionally build my rigs so they are all purpose. Meaning I can do anything I want in them, in any weather and be comfortable. So building a “door slammer” was a high priority for me (and my family). For Oregon that can range from bombing around on the Oregon coast dunes in the soft sand, Trail running around TSF (Tillamook State Forest Off highway Vehicle Area) in mud and dirt trails, Snow running up in cascades, Running the high desert rocks around the Bend, OR area or even some pre-running in eastern Oregon. So far I think I have accomplished that.

Your Tuki build is getting lots of comments in the Suzuki Tech section, can you tell us a little about it?

Basically I stripped down my previous rig for parts. Yes the magazine featured ‘Quasimodo’. I got a lot of crap from people all over for tearing that rig down. Most told me that I should just sell it as-is or keep it. But the way I looked at it is I have spend the last 10 years slowly buying, building and upgrading parts on my previous 4wds, I seen no reason not to just reuse the parts I already had. Especially since the current parts was exactly what I wanted for the next build. And I can’t afford two 4wd’s! So that’s what I did – I stripped out the drivetrain (motor, tranny, t-cases, drivelines, axles, winches, etc.) and found stock Toyota drivetrain and rebuilt it into a driver and sold it to a “Mudder” that lives about 75 miles north of me. Haven’t seen that truck since, but honestly – I’m curious what it looks like today.

I got the donor ’87 Samurai as a complete rig minus motor for ~$600. Later I found out the person I bought it from, bought it as a runner for $200.... oh well, win some, loose some. Even at $600 – it was a decent deal as it was complete, farily straight, clean interior and no rust. A perfect candidate to chop up. {insert :evil: smile here} This is when I started the “Tuki” build-up thread http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content/topic,70671.0.html

How long did it take you to build your Zuk to what it is today?

As of right now, I’m going on 14 months. When I first started the project I expected it only me to take 4-5 months, but I got burnt out working on it and have taken many breaks from it. Even today I’m not really focused on getting it done ASAP. I figure if I’ve taken this long to build it, there’s no reason to take any short cuts now just to get it running – so my focus is on building it right the first time. I just work on it when I want and have no real “deadline” or expectations of when I’m going to get it done. The slow economy has also slowed my progress because watching my money closely. But I hope to have it in the snow this winter.

I haven’t kept track of hours in the project – but if I had to guess, it would probably have to be close to 500 man hours.

What’s left in store for it?

Right now, I’m finishing up all the little plumbing details (brakes, fuel system, steering, emissions) and then I will tackle the electrical. I have yet to wire up the motor or finish stripping the old motor wiring out of it completely. Sure it looks like a complete rig, but without it being wired (and running), its just garage art. Sure, that’s a silly way to describe it, but there’s not much you can do with it right now other than look at it or push it in and out of the garage...

If you could have anybody else’s Zuk, who’s would it be and why?

Thats a tough question... I’m building my Sami to be exactly what I want. So I’m going to sway away from the norm here and say it would have to be the Escudo Pikes Peak Suzuki. As for why – I doubt I need to explain that one!

What has been your best wheeling adventure?

I honestly can’t pick one… My first wheeling trip Moab was a blast other than it was hotter than hell and I should of trimmed my fenders on my old XJ some more! My first trip to the Rubicon was a blast – drove over half the trail in the dark and ended up getting my 4Runner in the Put Up or Shut Up DVD – all 5 seconds of it, lol. My first trip to the Hammers was a blast – again hotter than hell, but it was with great people and the trails are just WOW.

If you could go to any place in the world to wheel, where would that be?

That would be “down-under”, how could you beat wheeling in the Australian Outback. Its more the whole idea of it, than anything else (being from the US). Or racing the Dakar would be an epic adventure, also. But back to the real world, with life’s responsibilities and real world budgets – I plan to get to Naches in Washington, Fordice in California and back to Moab, Utah eventually with Tuki.

Who are you closest to in the Zuwharrie community?

Elotsip – One cool dude!

What other toys/hobbies do you put a lot of time into?

Before four wheel drives – I was heavy in mountain biking. I even made some of my own parts throughout the years. To think of it, the first time I went to Moab was for cycling – not wheeling. I’ve always had a deep passion for cycling. As I child if I wasn’t on a bike, I was probably sleeping or playing video games. Right now my mountain bike collects more garage dust than trail dust. But even with that said I’ve probably have put on 50-75 trail miles on that this year and have been on several trail cleaning tips. Yes, mountain bike trails need trail work just like full size 4wd trails.

I’ve also always been a video game junky. Not so much now that I’m older – but I recently got convinced to start a World of Warcraft account. I’ve always stayed away from monthly fee games, but in all honesty, its not that bad. For the price of a pizza, I can play for a month online. So thinking of it that way – its pretty cheap entertainment. Hence one major reason as of late why I haven’t been working on Tuki as much as I probably should, too busy playing WOW.

The other hobby is Radio Controlled Rock Crawlers.... That sport/hobby has really grown in the last 5 years. I competed with those several years ago and then sold the last of my stuff to buy the donor Toyota to build Quasimodo. Now I’ve recently gotten back into it, more as a hobby now, than competitions. Years ago when I was competing, it was an addiction – and surprisingly enough I even won the Unlimited Class Championship (based on year end points). Back then everything was homebrew and hand made with very few companies producing parts. And most of those were “garage” companies. But now there are many RC Crawlers that are pretty darn good right out of the box from the main manufactures and designed specifically for crawling. Those companies still haven’t got them totally figured out, so they still need some tweaking, but they will. So that has really taken the custom one off stuff out of the sport – which I kinda miss.

When are you going to bring the Tuki out for a Zu event?

Once its running and driving, I should be able to make it to event.

Contact Information:
Name: Rick B
Zuwharrie user name: 4RnrRick
Email: RickB@engineer.com

Main Vehicle Specs:
Year: 87
Make: Suzuki
Model: Samurai
Color: White and Orange (think creamsicle) LOL

Engine: 2000 Toyota Tacoma 2.7L 3rz-fe 4 cylinder. 150 HP, 177ft-lbs, 22re fan clutch, T-100 oil pan, homemade K&N filter charger

Tranny: Factory 3rz clutch & flywheel, Marlin 3rz to R-series bell housing, Toyota R150 V6 5 speed tranny

T-cases: AA R-series to toyota gear drive T-case adapter, Marlin Crawler 23 spline 2.28 total-spline gear set in front box, Marlin Crawler Billet MC08-R10 dual T-case adapter, Marlin Crawler 23 spline 4.70 total-spline gear set in rear box, Bobby Long chromo output shaft, Triple drilled yoke flanges.

Driveline: Toyota high angle CV drivelines made from 2 ½” schedule 40 pipe. Front shaft is a 2 piece unit using Hendrix Motorsports pillow block bearing.

Steering: PSC TC power steering pump & pulley, PSC reservior, Ported FJ-80 reverse rotation steering box, 1.5 dia x 8” stroke PSC hydro assist cylinder, modified Stock “low steer” crossover arms

Front Suspension: 3-Link (converging lowers) + panhard, 14” long 2” Sway-a-away Race-Runner remote Reservoir Coilovers.

Rear Suspension: Double Triangulated 4-Link, 14” long 2” Sway-a-away Race-Runner remote Reservoir Coilovers.

Tires/Wheels : 39.5” Iroks on 15x10 Mickey Thompson Street-locks (soon to have Staun internal beadlocks).

Armor : 1.50 x .120 wall DOM tubing for exo cage and rear internal cage. Skid plates are 1/8” and 3/16” thk. plate.

Interior : Toyota Paseo Front seats, PRP Pre-Teen suspension seat and 5 pt harness, RCI 19 gallon Fuel cell.

Recovery gear : Front = Warn HS9500i, Rear = Warn M6000

Best Modification: Will have to be the coilovers once I get them tuned.

Worse Modification: Not having a “real” 4wd for the last 13 months. My DD sidekick just doesn’t cut it.

Future Mods: Making it run, so its not garage art.

Other Clubs: Oregon Trail 4wd Association, PNW4WDA