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I always did like using those little Sammys for mild off-roading. I know of something you can do to help with the rusty floor issue, although it’s more of a Band-Aid fix rather than an actual repair. I’m presuming that the truck has floor mats in it, so what you can do is get a can of Right-Stuf expanding foam, lift the floor mat, spray the foam liberally on the floor around the rust holes and then set the floor mat back on top of it. The weight of the mat is enough to push the foam out of the rust holes where it will harden and help seal them up.
As a method of getting the front caliper bleeders loose, try spraying them with penetrating oil and then tapping the caliper right near the bleeder with a hammer. Several sharp whacks right near the bleeder should help free some of the corrosion and allow the bleeder to move. If that doesn’t work, you may have to replace the calipers.
Good luck with the build. I hope it’s a lot of fun for you.
It came with some car mats when i got it, but after a while i just threw them in the bin, so the floor is just metal, but i like the idea of expanding foam to fix the rust, it would at least keep the muck out. I have looked at the rest of the sammy and thought of replacing the front wing but even behind it is rusty. I dont mind since its not going on the road it wont need an mot/veichle test, the plan in the future would be to get a sammy in good condition and to use this one for parts.
The front calipers need replacing, even after some wd40 and hammering the passenger side valve snapped off, but i have ordered a pair of new calipers, at the moment the brakes consist of the nearest wall or ditchS:)
The sammy is great for off roading, the tyres on mine are ordinary road tyres but i am very impressed by where this can go even on them, a locking diff would be nice but it can get about the farm ok,
before i had discovered suzukis my only experience with off roaders was a land rover:
The body looked good, but it was underneath were the problems lay, the chasis was in a terrible state a friend welded it up, some new seats, lights, and a quick service to the engine i sold it on for a profit, they are fairly easy to work on and the parts are easy enough to get, they just are not as much fun to drive as the suzuki.I put new brakes in but even after putting in a new calliper i still am having some problems with them and i think there is a leak somewhere in the system, because the pedal feels ok when bleeding the brakes but when i tighten up the valve it becomes all spongy and both sides have been bled. But i decided to continue on at the suzuki, the front end isnt in good shape, the bumper is missing, the wings are rotten and the raditor isnt sitting right, so after a while out came the wings:
A bit of rust underneath on the drivers side but hopefully its only surface rust here is a close up of the radiator:
the original fan broke off when i was driving and one of the fins took chunks out of the old radiator, this radiator is out of a nissan micra with its electric fan still attached, the hoses are out of a few different cars. The problem is the pulley at the bottom hits against the fan and makes a noise, i plan to cut the front part of the pulley out which was for power steering when the engine was in the vitara.
At the moment im looking for new body panels for the samurai which is turning out to be quite hard new ones are too expensive and its very difficult to find second hand ones with no rust.Love it, not seen many Sammys around, but the one I have seen was more than capable of showing its muscle off road, looks like a great little off road toy!
There isnt an awful lot here, i have never actually seen another one since i bought mine, but they are fantastic off roaders, the vitara (i think its badged as a chevrolet tracker in the US) is good aswell although i still prefer the samurai.
With the front end off i decided to check the timing belt, because i had no idea of the mileage or what the service history was like on the donor vitara, i took off the cover:
Its not the worst belt ive ever seen just some writing is wore off and the sides look a bit frayed, i have ordered a new belt and tensioner. I was worried about the belt snapping but i have been told these are non interference engines which is good.
The front panels are a bit hard to get, but i have one im waiting on ebay. With it all apart though i can look at the wiring which gives trouble now and then (including a fire last year) I added extra spot lights at one time as well as an electric fuel pump, and removed the key to use a switch instead. But all these wires are very untidy and the connections are not very good, and in the case of the fuel pump last year the wire was too thin so it melted and caused a few sparks.
I took out the dash with the intention of cutting out bad wires, the properly tracking and soldering good wire in its place:
(i painted the garage including the table so more tools than normal are sitting on the jeep)The worst area:
If i want to put spot lights on again should i use a relay the next time, in the past i just wired the switch up to 12v then sent it to the lights.
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