Back To My Roots: A Suzuki Samurai Project

[stuntnuts]

In 1991, I had just gotten my license, and was ready to step into the world of car ownership. Long before my current Volkswagen obsession, I wanted a Suzuki Samurai. It had to be a soft top, and really that was the only criteria. The appropriate 1986 Samurai, in white, was found and I drove it happily until winter came upon us and also when I had to take it on a road trip. The thing was dreadfully slow (65mph tops), and freezing cold inside, in the long New England winters. Otherwise it was EVERYTHING I was initially looking for in my first vehicle. Reliable, looked good, learned how to drive a manual on it, and learned that tinkering on cars is a lot like tinkering on BMX bikes (just at a larger scale).

My best friend was a diehard VW guy and it eventually rubbed off on me around 1994. I sold my beloved Suzuki Samurai because it sucked on the highway, I froze in it in the winter, and I just HAD to have a GTI. I let it go and the rest was history. This is a local newspaper image of me driving my original, in 1993.

Over the last year or so, I've been slowly finding myself looking Suzuki Samurai content all over the internet. As usual, I was browsing SearchTempest and finally found the one I had to have. Like my original, this one was a 1986 and white, had the same original body graphics, but this one was a Tin Top....pretty much EXACTLY what I would wish for. All of the Samurais available around my regions are rusted to crumbs, been converted into "rock crawlers", and have race car seats in them. Basically nothing I'm interested in. This one was in Houston, Texas, all original, owned by an older retired gentleman, 114,000 miles (40,000 of which were RV towed miles), and had never been offroad, nor seen salt.

I secured a deal with the seller, sent out the payment, and arranged to have the vehicle picked up and delivered to me in Maine. I have never purchased a vehicle sight unseen, but the seller seemed very trustworthy and very accommodating to my needs. A week after it was picked up, it arrived to me....

After giving it the initial once over, I was very pleased. It started and ran, looked as described, and most everything worked. Unfortunately, it suffered a huge bullseye to the upper passenger's side of the windshield in transit. I'm assuming this is the case because the seller never disclosed glass damage and it was not documented on the initial check in form, written up by the pick up driver. Oh well.....I don't "think" Samurai windshields are very expensive, we'll see.

Other issues that need immediate addressing are the lack of functioning ebrake, which was disclosed, and a pretty good sized oil leak, which was not mentioned. I'm a bit bothered about that, but I can live with it. Hopefully it isn't anything major, I haven't investigated, just monitored the drips.

The first order of business was to gut the interior and clean the floors, jambs, and interior paintwork. Everything inside was dirty, not just sandy carpets, but dirty interior paint, filthy is more the word. I spent all day yesterday scrubbing and reinstalling the interior and I'm VERY happy with the results. Sadly, I snapped one of the mounting bolts for the rear seat when I was taking it out, but was able to drill out the bolt and will re-thread the hole with an oversized tap at a later date. All that remains from the headliner is glue and foam, which was disclosed, and that is next on my interior to-do list.

Before:

After:

That's it for now. Reinstalled carpet and interior pics forthcoming.

 

[stuntnuts]

My plans for the Samurai are as follows....

Clean it all up and fix whatever I can with available stock parts. Certainly no full on paint jobs or anything like that. I will do some mild "paint correction" myself, but that's the extent with the paintwork.

My original 1986, that I owned in 1991 (when the car was 5 years old), had seats in far worse condition than these ones are in. I ultimately had to have them reupholstered at that time. Seeing the seller's pics, I was prepared to get these reupholstered, as well. But it isn't a necessity at this point in time, as this isn't a show car (minus cars and coffee) and I've personally seen far worse, first-hand, when they were much younger cars.

The third plan may be quite controversial, so I'm putting myself out there, here it goes....

I'm pretty sure I will be performing a VW 2.0L ABA swap in the relatively near future. This thing is carbed with a manual choke, leaks oil like a sieve, and is quite loud. And as much as I'd like to keep it "all original", I just don't see myself directing that effort into this engine. I'm very familiar with VWs (they are my comfort zone), I've wired a million of these engines in my day, and those engines are bulletproof. Plus, I'd like to blend a little bit of what I was into in the past with what I'm into in the present.

That's the plans as of right now.

 

[stuntnuts]

This is my current To-Do list is...

-Install new headliner......................................... ................................................DONE.
-Clean exterior
-Get a new windshield quote or see if they can epoxy a 1/2 dollar-sized bullseye.....New windshield in future
-Re-tap bolt hole for rear seat.............................................. ...............................DONE.
-Fix E-brake............................................. .................................................. .......DONE.
-Investigate engine oil leak.............................................. ...................................Valve Cover is leaking, engine swap in near future.
-Clean dash and console........................................... .........................................DONE.
-Remove trailer wiring birds nest.............................................. ...........................DONE.
-Remove RV Tow Bar evidence.......................................... ..................................DONE.
-Replace Door Window Weatherstripping.................................. .............................DONE.
-Fix windshield washer system............................................ .................................DONE.
-Replace side view mirrors
-Replace a side marker lens
-Hood prop rod grommet........................................... ..........................................Replaced, grommet doesn't stay put.
-Jack handle grommet........................................... ..............................................DONE.
-Pull wheels off and inspect 4 corners
-Replace Radio Antenna........................................... ...........................................DONE.
-Replace Outer Door Window Lower Weatherstripping
-Replace Vapor Barriers.......................................... ............................................DONE.
-Replace Front Bumper
-Replace Tail Lights............................................ .................................................DONE.
-Fix Back Up Lights............................................ .................................................DONE.

That's it for now. This list will hopefully get smaller, but most likely grow.

 

[stuntnuts]

Today is the first day of the Daily Commute. Hopefully there will be many more. It really is frightening when you compare the size of it to that Honda Pilot next to it.

 

[stuntnuts]

Here are some updates from over the weekend. I didn't get as much as I had hoped I would checked off the list, but I still made decent progress. The Samurai came to me with carpeted, blue floor mats that looked like they were period correct judging by their condition. I promptly disposed of those and went on the hunt for something All Weather and size-appropriate for the little footwells in this vehicle. Unfortunately, nothing vehicle-specific could be located, even thru WeatherTech. I headed to my local Parts Store and found these "cut to fit" gems for $24.99. I did just that and the fit was actually quite good.

I also secured an engine for the ABA swap. It is coming out of a 2001 Cabrio with 82,000 miles on it. Dealer maintained and the timing belt was just performed. It belongs to a good friend of mine, who is in the midst of a AFP VR6 swap in that car. This is basically one of the last of the good, low mileage ABA engines around here. Unfortunately these Mk3.5 Cabrios have Immobilizers in the ECUs, and I didn't want to deal with that, so I had to find an earlier model ECU and harness. I tracked one down at a local independent foreign auto shop local to me, out of a 1998 Cabrio which does not have an Immobilizer.

I gutted the harness, removing all the unnecessary items within. This one shall remain unwrapped until the Samurai wiring integration is all figured out, because I feel like I'm going to have to add wiring to this harness.

Harness as received:

Gutted harness:

Remnants to be saved for future wiring projects:

I also replaced the door window weatherstripping. The stuff that was in there was completely dry rotted and wilting into fibers. Completely missing in many places, I thought this stuff would basically fall out while removing it....boy, was I wrong. For some unknown reason, the old stuff did not want to come out and fought for dear life the entire time. I finally won, and got all the old stuff out and into a pile of felt rubble on the driveway.

The existing weatherstripping, what was remaining, as received:

The old stuff:

I removed the door cards for access to the lower channels. The Vapor Barriers were in rough shape and partially held on with duct tape. I will address this:

New Weatherstripping:

New Weatherstripping installed:

Next up was the Radio Antenna. It broke at some point in its life and resulted in terrible reception. A direct replacement was ordered and installed with great results.

Antenna, as received:

New Antenna:

Removing the old Antenna and fishing the new cabling through:

And finally, the new Antenna installed:

Another issue with the Samurai is the large bullseye in the upper passenger side portion of the glass. I went to the local glass company to see if this could be epoxy filled. I was doubtful, but they said it IS repairable. Just for the heck of it, I got an estimate on a full glass replacement, $289. This would be out of pocket to me, because I only have liability on the Samurai. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this yet. It is 1-1/4" long from crack to crack.

The oil leak has been monitored and it isn't fixing itself. It appears to be coming from the valve cover in a couple of places. I'm not sure I'm going to address this one, since an engine swap is in its very near future. What you see in the pan is about 12 hours of drips collected:

Last up for this past weekend was to sort out the headliner, or at least get started on it. The Samurai came to me sans-headliner. The previous owner told me that he was "driving with the windows down and the wind caught an edge and the the thing let go like a sail". :laugh:

The early Samurais had their headliners glues directly to the roof panel, no backer board. All that remains from the old one is glue and old foam.....LOTS of glue and old foam. The replacement I had in my mind was to make a backer board with headliner material glued to that, instead of attempting to install headliner material directly to the roof and also deal with scraping all the old glue and foam. The old foam will also act as a vibration reducer between the top of the new backer board and the underside of the roof panel.

I went to the local Joanne Fabrics and purchased two yards of light grey "headliner material" and to Lowes to pick up a 1/8" sheet of hardboard for the new backer. I measured twice and cut once:

There's a stiffener bar that goes left to right under the roof that I plan to use as my seam concealer. The new headliner will be two-piece for ease on install. The board slides nicely between the roof sheet metal and the roof frame.

Once both pieces were test fit, I placed the stiffener bar back in and determined that the 1/8" thick hardboard is too thick to anchor the bar back in its original place. I'm going to re-think 1/8" hardboard and most likely go with sheet plastic, which is considerably thinner. I'm not sure if that will work or not, it may be too thin and sag....we shall see.

Anyways, here's what it looks like with both panels installed and the stiffener bar mocked in place:

That's all for now.....stay tuned.

 

[stuntnuts]

Headliner updates:

I determined that the thin plastic paneling (my Plan B) that Lowes sells was going to be too flimsy to be used as a backer board for the headliner, so I had to make the 1/8" hardboard work somehow. I modified the roof support bar by simply drilling a new hole on each side, which will lower the overall position of the bar, allowing the backer board to pass through. I reinstalled the panels and test fitted the modified roof support bar. All is well. Now I need to pull it out again and glue on the headliner fabric....hopefully tonight, but doubtful.

 

[stuntnuts]

Last night, I messed around with vapor barriers. I removed and cleaned up all the old rope chalking and installed new beads and 2mil "drop cloths" for the new vapor barriers. I got both of these materials from Home Depot for under $10, with PLENTY of leftovers. 2mil seems thin to me, but that "felt" like the existing stuff that Suzuki used from the factory. I could have gone thicker, but the minimum size roll of that was like 500 square feet and a lot more money.

Old rope chalking removed, cleaned, and prepped for new chalking:

This is what I used for rope chalking. Home Depot carries it, but not one of the boys in orange aprons could locate it on the shelf for me. Eventually I found it, in a box on the floor, homeless and no shelf location nearby:

New chalking and vapor barriers installed:

Once those were installed, I removed the headliner backer boards again. This time, to actually glue on the headliner material. I had my wife give me a hand with this, because even though the panels are small, it is a two person job. I've tackled headliners before and have always had good luck with 3M Super Trim Adhesive. A simple procedure, you just spray both surfaces, wait about a minute, then join them together. I did one half of each panel at a time, folding the headliner material over itself as the other portion is being sprayed. I let it dry overnight and will wrap the edges hopefully later on tonight. Once the glue from the wrapping is dry, I'll install it and pray that it fits and doesn't tear going in (that's what she said).

3M Super Trim Adhesive:

Spraying the adhesive using the fold over process:

The first panel all adhered:

Letting them dry overnight:

 

[stuntnuts]

SO MUCH to report from over the weekend!

First off, the headliner panel edges were wrapped and finally installed. I'm happy to report that the material did not tear when I put the panels in the vehicle, as I was sorta worried they would. The headliner, to me, was the worst thing cosmetically this Samurai had going for it when it arrived to me. I'm super happy with the results and feel much better about the vehicle overall now. I do kind of wish I got white headliner material, but it wasn't available. I chose light gray, and it does match the seat material perfectly, so I shouldn't complain.

Wrapped edges:

Headliner being installed:

Headliner installed:

Now you must deal with 100 detail images of said headliner:

Up next was that back seat bolt, which if you recall, snapped on me when I gutted the interior. The factory bolts were either M8s or an M10s, I can't remember. I'm leaning towards M8s though. Regardless, I drilled out and tapped the broken one to an M12x1.75 hole. The OCD in me wouldn't let the other one remain a different size, so I drilled and tapped that one as well. The threads on both holes came out great and the back seat was reinstalled. I also put a bit of anti-seize on the threads to prevent this from happening again.

New holes:

Back seat reinstalled:

After the interior was wrapped up, I tackled that non-functional parking brake. The previous owner did the rear drums at some point and told me he could not get the parking brake cables re-attached to the actuating levers. He was kind enough to save all the attachment parts and mail them to me. I can see how he had a hard time getting them hooked back up, as you really had to tug on those levers to get them to reach the cable ends. I used a long screw driver as a longer lever on the lever to get them to move enough to be able to hook them back up. In hindsight, simply loosening the cable length at the parking brake handle would have made this much easier, but I was pressed for time and didn't want to crawl further under the vehicle than I had to on that day. :laugh:

Unfortunately, I took zero pics of this, but I do have a pic that the seller sent to me prior to shipping out the Samurai:

And last but certainly not least, our first family outing in the Samurai. We took it down to Seacoast Cars and Coffee in Newington, NH on Sunday. The plan was to leave super early. It starts at 8:00am, and if you don't get there around that time, you'll find yourself parking in an overflow lot. I went out to the car at 7:00 to put the Recaro car seats in for my kids. This is a pretty easy job on a car with LATCH anchors, not so much on the Samurai with non-locking, retractable lap belts from 1986. :banghead:

After literally an hour and a half of struggling, with my wife's help, we finally got them installed to a point where I was comfortable putting my kids in them and feeling safe. That sucked....I never want to do that again, and it really makes me want to look into pulling out the stock lap belts and retrofitting some custom LATCH anchors. We'll see.

Anyways, we stuffed the kids in the back, and we were off......SO LATE for our 40 miles drive to our event! We arrived at Seacoast Cars and Coffee at 10:00am, and it was evident that the majority of the good stuff had already left the premises. The event ends at 11:00, BTW. We parked and ran through as much as we could. Of course, we HAD to look at the "DIY" Monster Truck that someone brought for waaaay too long, but whatever makes the kids happy.

Due to time constraints, I completely forgot to take any pics of the Samurai at the event. But here a couple of pics, to prove it actually was out and about, from the parking garage in Downtown Portsmouth, NH, where we ate lunch. I still haven't had a chance to even wash it yet:

And finally, a couple of pics that my wife took of us enjoying the ride down...

Please excuse my angry face, I had no idea she was taking our picture and I was focused on keeping the Samurai shiny-side up on the highway, while dealing with 30mph crosswinds blowing us all over the place.

The kids being silly in "their" new car. They really enjoyed being able to do what they want in this car, without restrictions, unlike when we travel in my GTI or the Sportwagen.

 

[stuntnuts]

Very minor update. I removed all of the existing trailer and tow bar wiring:

I also picked up the Volkswagen 2.0L ABA engine for the swap. It came out of a 2001 Cabrio, has 84,000 miles on it, dealer maintained, and had a timing belt and water pump service performed just prior to removal. This is my friend's car, which is currently undergoing an APF VR6 swap. I already started to tear it down last night, but no pics of that yet.

Here is a picture of it from when I picked it up:

 

[stuntnuts]

I obtained period correct Thule Load Bars, last night on CL for $60. They came off of an original owner 1985 Volvo 240, with locks and keys, perfect length, no cutting required. Better pics once they are adjusted and the Samurai is outdoors.

 

[stuntnuts]

Not directly a Samurai related update, but I installed four new LED shop lights in my garage to make working on it way easier. They are called "The BOLT" from Prime Lights, 4 foot strips, 3 bulbs each. It's bright like the sun in there now. So happy I did this. Highly recommended.

https://www.primelights.com/shop/items/the-bolt-3-lamp-led-shop-light-8-550-lumens-pl-blt66wfr

Before:

After:

 

[stuntnuts]

Surgery is underway!

Last night I started the process of pulling the 1.3L out of the Samurai. I got the engine harness all unplugged and labeled all of the stuff that will be incorporated into the VW 2.0L harness. I also got the Air Conditioning disconnected. Luckily, as I expected, it was completely absent of refrigerant. To keep the engine bay lean, I will not be reusing the AC, so there entire system will be removed. The radiator and fan shroud have been unbolted. Once I drain the coolant, it will be ready to come out, as well.

Up next is the downpipe, clutch cable, and coolant hoses. Everything else after that will need to be disconnected from underneath. I plan to pull the engine and transmission as one unit without removing the nose, we'll see how that goes. Some people say it is no problem, others say the entire front clip should come off. :screwy:

I can't wait to get this engine bay empty so I can start scrubbing off all of the Texas dirt and grit that accumulated over its 34 year lifespan.

Here's a little photographic evidence to prove that some work has begun...

 

[stuntnuts]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been in bed with the flu for literally the last 7 straight days. Last night I felt good enough to go out into the garage and pull a few more things out. I got the clutch cable disconnected and the radiator, fan, and AC condenser out. Not much, but something.

What do I do with the AC system? I'm not using it with my ABA swap. Should I toss it or do you think there's any market for it? I'm not on any Samurai forums and I don't think my local craigslist would generate much interest. The radiator immediately went in the trash, as there was evidence of some leaking. I will say, the petcock and the drain tube on this thing made it a pleasure to drain the coolant. I will miss that.

All that's left is the tranny bolts (if I choose to pull just the engine), fuel lines, and engine mounts. I need to get my hands on an engine hoist as well. Then cleanup can begin!

 

[stuntnuts]

I had a very busy weekend!

I arranged to borrow an engine hoist from my buddy and got rolling on getting the Samurai 100% ready for the pull out:

The engine and transmission were disconnected from their mounts, and I removed the transmission to transfer case driveshaft:

I also figured it would be a good time to remove the front bumper, which I'm going to replace due to the fact that previous owner's wife backed into it at some point of their ownership:

Once the bumper was removed, it was the perfect opportunity to remove the tow bar bracketry, which was an eyesore and will never be towed by any RV that I'll ever own:

All of the tow bar bracketry parts:

This will result in a much cleaner looking front end, once everything is put back together:

The engine hoist has arrived!

When I got it all out of transport mode, I tried to pump up the piston to see how high the boom raised. It did not lift whatsoever. I panicked for a moment, but figured I'd check the oil level in the piston. It appeared to be nearly empty. a2WOB16v told me, when I picked it up, that he hadn't used it in about ten years. I was worried that one of the seals had let go. Luckily one quart of hydraulic fluid remedied the problem and the hoist was ready for action:

I asked my buddy Turner to come over to give me a third hand while attempting to get the engine and transmission out, as one unit, without removing the radiator support. With the good advice from the contributing members of this forum, who suggested an engine leveler earlier in the thread, thank you! It worked out great!

Probably my favorite pic, thus far, in this thread:

The engine was out! One lesson learned, that I'd like to point out, is to drain the gear oil out before you lift the engine/transmission at a 45 degree angle. All the gear oil that was in the transmission poured out thru the hole were the driveshaft usually resides. :banghead: MY wife has complained for two days now that the garage "smells like onions" and she isn't wrong:

Man, I've REALLY got my work cut out for me with the Samurai's engine bay. Thankfully, the majority of the grime appears to come off fairly easily:

Once we were all clear, I took the time to inspect the lump that we just removed. As mentioned way earlier in this thread, the engine had a really bad oil leak. It was coming from the valve cover gasket and dripping down the rear of the engine, onto the bellhousing. I also noticed the rear of the transmission was pretty wet, as well. I think it's the seal for the driveshaft, but it could also be shift lever area that is leaking. When I pulled the shifter, I noticed that there was zero gasket or sealant between the tower and the transmission. The previous owner informed me that he did do the shifter bushing at some point, so perhaps it was never resealed:

Either way, I'm going to replace the shaft seal and properly seal up the shift tower when everything goes back together. The inside of the bellhousing is extremely gross, as well. I'm not sure if I'm dealing with an input shaft seal leak or just the engine oil leak dripping in and contaminating it. I may replace that seal also, to play it safe.

Engine and transmission separated:

One thing I love about this vehicle is that the transmission weights next to nothing, which should make future repairs pretty easy. Here is the transmission, covered in disgustingness. Time to get DIRTY:

The last engine swap I did, on my own vehicle, was my 1.8T Mk2 GTI...17 years ago. At the time I was dealing with a 11 year old daily driver, with plenty of oil leaks and a disgusting engine bay, just like this one. Since then, I've done plenty of wiring jobs for people, but the dirty work was always left to the owner.

Back then, the engine/engine bay cleaning chemical of choice for me was Castrol Super Clean. I hadn't seeked that product out since then, but I was happy to find out that it still exists. However, there is no mention of Castrol on the label anymore. They must have sold off its rights between now and then. Regardless...I grabbed a bottle of that, and some dollar store duct tape, a spray bottle, and my trusty scrub brush and prepared to begin the cleanup process:

I got the transmission degreased and looking proper yesterday. I did this in my garage that was built in the late 1940's, which luckily has a "grandfathered floor drain" that leads to parts unknown. I'm not sure where the dirty water, used Super Clean, and years of oil, grease, and dirt ended up, but it wasn't on my transmission anymore:

And that's where I'm at today. Next on the agenda is to clean up the ABA, which should be MUCH easier than cleaning the Samurai transmission was. I also need to find a quick home for the Suzuki engine. I'm only working in an 18'x18' garage, so floor space is at a premium. I may put it up on craigslist for $100 or so and see if anyone bites. If not, there's this Mechanical Engineer dude that I ride the commuter bus with that mentioned he may want it to build (i think) "a wood-fired engine" with it???? So I might just give it to him and let him have fun with it.

Once the engine and transmission are all cleaned up, I shall tackle that engine bay. But until then, here's one last pic of the scene that currently is the chaos of my garage:

 

[Zuki4x4]

Awesome!  [red_s]

Thanks for posting the headliner pics! I need to do this to mine!

Any chance you nixed the ECM and harness plug? I need a donor set for a project I want to test/experiment on 

Willing to sell it for the right price?

Looking good!

 

[stuntnuts]

Awesome!  [red_s]

Thanks for posting the headliner pics! I need to do this to mine!

Any chance you nixed the ECM and harness plug? I need a donor set for a project I want to test/experiment on 

Willing to sell it for the right price?

Looking good!

Thanks.

I haven't tackled the existing harness yet, but once I do, I'll have no use for the ECM and the connector. Definitely will unload that.

 

[Diesel_Zuk]

Welcome! Excellent build thread, with EXCELLENT pictures!! I too am a VW fanatic, except I'm a diesel guy. Several TDI's and turbodiesels over the years. My samurai is TDI swapped, and I did another TDI swap in one. My current AHU samurai had some problems recently, and I was considering swapping it to an ABA, but I ended up just fixing my diesel. Keep up the awesome posts!! And please post videos of the ABA swap after it's done! The bottom pic with the green mk3, I just picked up for $300 monday night, not running. I got it running in about an hour and a half  :laugh:

 

[cygnus x-1]

If not, there's this Mechanical Engineer dude that I ride the commuter bus with that mentioned he may want it to build (i think) "a wood-fired engine" with it???? So I might just give it to him and let him have fun with it.

 
 

I know what he's doing.  He wants to build a wood gassifier and run an engine on wood gas.  Basically you heat wood in an oxygen low environment and it produces carbon monoxide and some other flammable gasses.  You can then use that gas to run an engine.  It was done in some places during WW2 when gasoline was all being used for the war.  It's an interesting thing to play around with but being that Samurai engines aren't so common anymore, I think it would be better to find someone that actually needs that engine.  If you want to mess around with wood gassification, use something more common, like an old lawnmower engine or something out of a car that they made trillions of and are mostly worthless, like a Corolla.  


Anyway, cool build!  Looks like you found one of the few clean unmolested Samurais still left.


C|

 

[Gracana]

Awesome thread! That's a nice tintop. Are you going to buy ACME adapter parts to mate your engine to the suzuki transmission, or do something else? Any idea if the height of the VW motor and intake will cause trouble?

Regarding the windshield.. if you haven't sorted it out yet, you can get a replacement with seal for $110 (with the black friday sale discount) from LROR. I swapped mine out with the help of a friend. I'd never done one before, and it was difficult... but not so bad I wouldn't do it again.

 

[Spokerider]

What a sweet samurai! Not many left in that condition.
Great thread with lottsa pics......and us zuk addicts like pics...?

Are you happy with the headliner / board solution? Do you think the board will stay up there with road bumps and such?
I still need to figure out a headliner for my TT.