Back To My Roots: A Suzuki Samurai Project
- Thread starter stuntnuts
- Start date
Zuki4x4
Well-known member
stuntnuts date=1574705705 said: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:
Now you must deal with 100 detail images of said headliner:
This looks great, for some reason I found your build post on a VW forum (looking for headliner posts) and then thought, hey I have seen that zuki, came here are started re-reading your post [red_s]
Did you happen to take any measurements of your board (length and width cuts)?
Does it rattle around while driving?
Did you sink a screw in anywhere to hold it in place?
I'm assuming you pushed the boards in place from the rear door?
How much did this headliner project cost?
I got a few quotes today from local shops and they wanted roughly $450 to make a panel board headliner!
Any input helps
![[thumbsup]](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f44d.png "Thumbs up [thumbsup]")
[black_s]
Spokerider
Well-known member
The use of panel board for a headliner is not an oem suzuki option. Guys are just using this method as a preference. IRRC, wartowels did the same thing.
melbakid
Well-known member
The advantage to panel board is you can put sound deadener/heat insulator up against the roof and then slip the panel board with the upholstery into place. You don't have to try and glue it to the roof. Down the road if you want to change the color you can and don't have to fight the glue mess. The panel board is about $16 USD at Home Depot or Lowes.
Zuki4x4
Well-known member
Panel board at my local HD is $9, and headliner material is roughly $5-$7 a yard.
I might tackle this myself, save a few bucks!
Just curious as to how the OP placed in the panel after it was finished...
Im going to assume the front section was pushed in from the rear, and the rear section was pushed in reverse (so to catch the rear lip)
Also, I heard someone speak of a "factory TT board headliner", but I have never seen one..
I think it was mentioned here at the Zu.
Edit -- I purchased "factory material" from megazip and attempted to glue it to the roof myself, lets just say it was not good! :\\\'(
I might tackle this myself, save a few bucks!
Just curious as to how the OP placed in the panel after it was finished...
Im going to assume the front section was pushed in from the rear, and the rear section was pushed in reverse (so to catch the rear lip)
Also, I heard someone speak of a "factory TT board headliner", but I have never seen one..
I think it was mentioned here at the Zu.
Edit -- I purchased "factory material" from megazip and attempted to glue it to the roof myself, lets just say it was not good! :\\\'(
At the risk of tooting my own horn ,I glued directly onto the ceiling this was after wire wheeling the old adhesive and spraying expoxy primer to mitigate condensation which of course equals rust. I think it turned out good not perfect but good .
If using panel board I would probally paint the roof before hand again the condensation in the gap between the panel board and roof will start rusting i believe
If using panel board I would probally paint the roof before hand again the condensation in the gap between the panel board and roof will start rusting i believe
Zuki4x4 date=1597278751 said:This looks great, for some reason I found your build post on a VW forum (looking for headliner posts) and then thought, hey I have seen that zuki, came here are started re-reading your post [red_s]
Did you happen to take any measurements of your board (length and width cuts)?
Does it rattle around while driving?
Did you sink a screw in anywhere to hold it in place?
I'm assuming you pushed the boards in place from the rear door?
How much did this headliner project cost?
I got a few quotes today from local shops and they wanted roughly $450 to make a panel board headliner!
Any input helps
I did not write down the measurements. I can probably measure in the truck and get you pretty close.
There are no screws holding it in place. It bows up, and that is enough, along with the roof stiffener to keep it in place. No rattling, and much quieter than nothing but tin up there.
The boards were installed from the rear gate.
The project was cheap. A few yards of headliner fabric, one 4x8 fiber board, and some expensive 3m glue. Don't skimp on the glue though!!!!
TTSJ413 date=1597332366 said:
The main benefit in using a panel board is your work is not upside down while installing it. The material is placed on the boards, glued into place, and the flipped over once the glue cures to install. The only added cost in all this is the price of the fiber board, which was under $10.
Zuki4x4 date=1597337842 said:Panel board at my local HD is $9, and headliner material is roughly $5-$7 a yard.
I might tackle this myself, save a few bucks!
Just curious as to how the OP placed in the panel after it was finished...
Im going to assume the front section was pushed in from the rear, and the rear section was pushed in reverse (so to catch the rear lip)
Also, I heard someone speak of a "factory TT board headliner", but I have never seen one..
I think it was mentioned here at the Zu.
Edit -- I purchased "factory material" from megazip and attempted to glue it to the roof myself, lets just say it was not good! :\\\'(
You've got it, that's exactly how it went in.
Yes, gluing to the roof itself is stressful, as you only get one shot to get it perfect.
Spokerider
Well-known member
I need to do this.
As for the measurements of the boards........those figures would be helpful to those wanting to use panel board. Otherwise......prolly just jamming a piece of panel board into the roof / sidewall crevice, and just measuring it's depth, and adding that amount to your boards dimensions will get you there.
I remember how many hours of slaving went into removing the old headliner, sanding, prepping, and finally painting the ceiling took, and the sore neck and shoulders I got from it all. I am reluctant......actually, I won't attempt to glue headliner up to bare metal as factory procedure. Once was enough!
As for the measurements of the boards........those figures would be helpful to those wanting to use panel board. Otherwise......prolly just jamming a piece of panel board into the roof / sidewall crevice, and just measuring it's depth, and adding that amount to your boards dimensions will get you there.
I remember how many hours of slaving went into removing the old headliner, sanding, prepping, and finally painting the ceiling took, and the sore neck and shoulders I got from it all. I am reluctant......actually, I won't attempt to glue headliner up to bare metal as factory procedure. Once was enough!
Spokerider said:I need to do this.
As for the measurements of the boards........those figures would be helpful to those wanting to use panel board. Otherwise......prolly just jamming a piece of panel board into the roof / sidewall crevice, and just measuring it's depth, and adding that amount to your boards dimensions will get you there.
I remember how many hours of slaving went into removing the old headliner, sanding, prepping, and finally painting the ceiling took, and the sore neck and shoulders I got from it all. I am reluctant......actually, I won't attempt to glue headliner up to bare metal as factory procedure. Once was enough!
That's the thing....scraping, grinding, wire wheeling the old foam and glue ruins the painted surface of the tin roof, promoting rust. The backer board method eliminates all of this. You just cover all of that mess with the board. There is no need to remove all the old stuff to promote adhesion, because the board isn't adhered to the tin roof.
First up the boring stuff...
Over the weekend I installed the extended brake hoses on the front. After that, I bled the brakes, which was quite a challenge. I knew going into it that my European-spec Motive Power Bleeder didn't have the correct master cylinder attachment for the Samurai, so that wasn't going to be usable for this. I ventured out to Harbor Freight and picked up a handy-dandy vacuum bleeder instead. I was hoping this would be a cheap and easy bleeding process, and the $25 for the tool seemed like a safe bet. That was an utter waste of time. The bleeder screw attachments didn't fit well, and seemed to suck in more air from my surroundings than it did to air in the system. Needless to say, I gave up on that pretty quickly.
Instead, I employed my lovely wife to pump the brakes and we did it the old fashioned way. (BONUS INFO: She did not ask me which pedal was the brakes) :laugh:
There was a TON of air in the rears, to be expected as I replaced both the hoses and the wheel cylinders. After a good amount of time, the rears finally cleared all the bubbles and looked good. The fronts were pretty simple in comparison. I took it out for a quick test drive, then checked all the unions I worked on for leaks and everything was good.
New extended front brake hoses.....Pnuu, this is for you:
I also got a small order in from MegaZip in Japan. The windshield washer tank was original, gross, had stress cracks in it, and the plastic was stained with Rain-X fluid, so I ordered a new one, which matches the rest of the engine bay quite nicely. Out with the old, in with the new:
I then got word that my tires and wheels were ready for pickup, so I went and grabbed those:
A little comparison, for reference:
First up was to see if the spare would fit on the carrier. I figured I may need to put a wheel spacer back there due to the added width of these wheels and tires, but surprisingly it fit just fine:
Now it's time to install the rest of them. I promise you that this will be the last time you see this Samurai on the stock wheels and tires:
And as promised:
I made a quick stop at the Zone for some tire shine and gear oil. If I didn't catch COVID-19 in that place, I must be immune:
And now, off to a "closed due to COVID-19" movie theater parking lot for a quick iphone photoshoot. I'll just dump these here and try not to break the internet:
Also in this empty parking lot, I spotted another Suzuki, this one much newer, but in much poorer shape. It looks like a 2012-ish Grand Vitara, abandoned, with a smashed in windshield, no plates, front bumper cover in the back seat, and the passenger side footwell piled up with Monster Energy empties. I took a few pics with it, to one day demonstrate to my kids how we take care and how we do not take care of vehicles, and why. Also why we don't smoke crack. These photos pretty much represent the beginning and the end of Suzuki in the United States:
And last but not least, a quick pic at the VW dealership, this time with the proper stance:
Overall impressions besides the obvious grand improvement, visually, are mixed.
Number one, they vibrate the steering wheel. I'm not sure if it's a balancing issue or if that's just how truck tires ride. I plan to swap the fronts to the back and the backs to the front and see if it improves. If it does, I shall have them re-balanced.
Number two, they made the Samurai slow. I can't believe the difference. Each wheel and tire weighs 23 pounds more than what I took off and you really can feel it. I can't imagine how pitifully slow it would be with this combo and the stock engine. But, I guess for this instance, it's better to look cool than to be fast.
I did take it out on a quick highway run to see what I could get out of it for a top speed. With the old engine and old wheels/tires, on the same spur that I took it on, I could only get it up to 52mph. With the new engine and the new wheels/tires, I got it up to 75mph, and it definitely had more in it. I just got a bit scared, reving at 4500rpm, and I let off the gas. So it can do it, I just don't think I will do it.
I'm finally at the point cosmetically where I always envisioned it. There will be more to come, but where it's at now is pretty much what it will mostly be.
Over the weekend I installed the extended brake hoses on the front. After that, I bled the brakes, which was quite a challenge. I knew going into it that my European-spec Motive Power Bleeder didn't have the correct master cylinder attachment for the Samurai, so that wasn't going to be usable for this. I ventured out to Harbor Freight and picked up a handy-dandy vacuum bleeder instead. I was hoping this would be a cheap and easy bleeding process, and the $25 for the tool seemed like a safe bet. That was an utter waste of time. The bleeder screw attachments didn't fit well, and seemed to suck in more air from my surroundings than it did to air in the system. Needless to say, I gave up on that pretty quickly.
Instead, I employed my lovely wife to pump the brakes and we did it the old fashioned way. (BONUS INFO: She did not ask me which pedal was the brakes) :laugh:
There was a TON of air in the rears, to be expected as I replaced both the hoses and the wheel cylinders. After a good amount of time, the rears finally cleared all the bubbles and looked good. The fronts were pretty simple in comparison. I took it out for a quick test drive, then checked all the unions I worked on for leaks and everything was good.
New extended front brake hoses.....Pnuu, this is for you:
I also got a small order in from MegaZip in Japan. The windshield washer tank was original, gross, had stress cracks in it, and the plastic was stained with Rain-X fluid, so I ordered a new one, which matches the rest of the engine bay quite nicely. Out with the old, in with the new:
I then got word that my tires and wheels were ready for pickup, so I went and grabbed those:
A little comparison, for reference:
First up was to see if the spare would fit on the carrier. I figured I may need to put a wheel spacer back there due to the added width of these wheels and tires, but surprisingly it fit just fine:
Now it's time to install the rest of them. I promise you that this will be the last time you see this Samurai on the stock wheels and tires:
And as promised:
I made a quick stop at the Zone for some tire shine and gear oil. If I didn't catch COVID-19 in that place, I must be immune:
And now, off to a "closed due to COVID-19" movie theater parking lot for a quick iphone photoshoot. I'll just dump these here and try not to break the internet:
Also in this empty parking lot, I spotted another Suzuki, this one much newer, but in much poorer shape. It looks like a 2012-ish Grand Vitara, abandoned, with a smashed in windshield, no plates, front bumper cover in the back seat, and the passenger side footwell piled up with Monster Energy empties. I took a few pics with it, to one day demonstrate to my kids how we take care and how we do not take care of vehicles, and why. Also why we don't smoke crack. These photos pretty much represent the beginning and the end of Suzuki in the United States:
And last but not least, a quick pic at the VW dealership, this time with the proper stance:
Overall impressions besides the obvious grand improvement, visually, are mixed.
Number one, they vibrate the steering wheel. I'm not sure if it's a balancing issue or if that's just how truck tires ride. I plan to swap the fronts to the back and the backs to the front and see if it improves. If it does, I shall have them re-balanced.
Number two, they made the Samurai slow. I can't believe the difference. Each wheel and tire weighs 23 pounds more than what I took off and you really can feel it. I can't imagine how pitifully slow it would be with this combo and the stock engine. But, I guess for this instance, it's better to look cool than to be fast.
I did take it out on a quick highway run to see what I could get out of it for a top speed. With the old engine and old wheels/tires, on the same spur that I took it on, I could only get it up to 52mph. With the new engine and the new wheels/tires, I got it up to 75mph, and it definitely had more in it. I just got a bit scared, reving at 4500rpm, and I let off the gas. So it can do it, I just don't think I will do it.
I'm finally at the point cosmetically where I always envisioned it. There will be more to come, but where it's at now is pretty much what it will mostly be.
Spokerider
Well-known member
I discovered the same thing.........rotating tire / wheel mass makes a HUGE difference......more than one would assume.
The Pro Cpmp 31's that I had on, picked up rocks 1" in size and launched them into my wheel wells........didn't like that much.
The aggressive tread was very noisy on the pavement.......they hummed loudly.......didn't like that much either.
The heavy tire / steel wheel combo ate up the already diminutive HP.........the engine had to work way too hard just to get from A to B and back.......that was strike three.
Why I now have 215 85 16 on alloy wheels.
The Pro Cpmp 31's that I had on, picked up rocks 1" in size and launched them into my wheel wells........didn't like that much.
The aggressive tread was very noisy on the pavement.......they hummed loudly.......didn't like that much either.
The heavy tire / steel wheel combo ate up the already diminutive HP.........the engine had to work way too hard just to get from A to B and back.......that was strike three.
Why I now have 215 85 16 on alloy wheels.
