88 Samurai Build

Brownsxj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Location
Durham NC
There has been a lot of nice builds popping up on here lately that have inspired me to start my own thread. Be patient as it will take me a little time to get all the photos in order and bring you guys to where it is now.

So I picked up a 88 Samurai in October ‘17 complete without a motor or transmission. I saw it for sale on Craigslist here in NC out towards the coast. It was a clean little thing with 99 percent rust free tub and frame.

So I called up Sam Winget to see if he still had my old Toyota axles from a previous build. I was able to purchase them back and threw them in. I also painted the hood black in memory of my old samurai I had a long time ago.

I was able to get a spot in Justin Horton’s garage to have a good covered workspace.
 

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When I met Sam to get the Toyota axles, he happened to have a 92 22re, trans, and tcase in his shop. I wasted a bunch of time and effort with a Grand Vitara setup and ended up calling Sam to see if he would let the Toyota stuff go. Justin Horton was thinking about the samurai idea too, so we made a day trip out of it.
 

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In the quest for more Toyota parts we acquired a first gen pickup. Off this we were able to get rims, rollers, brake booster, clutch master, pedal assemblies, motor mounts, and some other random parts.
 

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The rims were in really nasty shape. So I scraped, wire wheeled, and threw some paint on them.
Some used 33x12.50 Ko1s were then mounted.
 

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Before I worked on the rims and tires, it was time to finally see a motor in this thing.
 

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I picked up a Fj80 steering box from Frankenyoter. I wanted to use this because of the forward facing pitman arm. For the mount I reused the old samurai 1.3l frame side motor mount.
 

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I bought a Dr. Z Fab kit bumper for the front. I had to modify some of the pieces to get a good fit on how they all interlock.
 

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So I love doing fab work and always wanted an ARB bumper. So I added more metal to the kit bumper.
 

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Next was fitting a radiator. Everything is starting to get real tight in there. I ordered a Spal 16” fan from Griffin.
 

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So the Friday of Hurricane Florence I ran up to Alro Steel in Greensboro to get some 1.5” DOM. They agreed to stay open long enough for me to get there. Really nice people to work with.

I started with the engine bay so I could finally bolt the front end back on for the last time of the build.

Also bought some Baja SS seats. I have always wanted a set.
 

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Blue Can Mafia
 
Doug Lane, who used to get on here a lot, has almost the identical setup. Toyota drive train, even blue. That thing would flat out go on some 33” boggers! I wheeled all over Harlan with him years ago. I don’t think he wheels anymore. This makes me want to reach out to him and try to get him to come out again.

Nice build!
 
Thank you 77GreenMachine. The blue one on here is gone now, mine is the silver one.

Let the cage work get started!
 

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A family friend/ co-worker of mine pulled up to the job site a couple of weeks ago with a transmission issue in his wrangler. The AX15 blew a bearing and took some gears out with it, so we had his trans rebuilt. While waiting for it to be finished, we went ahead and put a 2.5” lift (springs, uppers, lowers), wheels, and 33” Ko2s. Why not right?

33s came from #89wrangler. Thanks again.
 

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So this brings us to now. Tonight I hope to get more done on the cage.

The pics were from last weekend. New highsteer arms were a must. The last set I screwed up drilling them out for a 5/8” bolt. The framing for the seats should move pretty quick I feel. It will be real nice to bolt in the seats and get a feel for how I will be in it. But also to be able to move into the spreader bars behind the seats as well.
 

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I made this little guy just now before coming home for dinner. I had a bunch of work calls flood in walking into the shop (aka no service area)... should have kept walking. But got a solid hour. Should help as I can’t bridge between the seats and keep the tube from clapping the floor.
 

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Had some help in the shop today. My wife Marie wanted to hang out building a 4x4 Lego’ish thing while I worked on my Suzuki’ish thing.

More done on the subframe and seats mocked up.
 

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It has been sitting for a while since I have been traveling a little with work. I haven’t accomplished much since the last update. I pulled the gas tank but tonight I had some time and a spark of motivation. I notched the dash to get around the a-pillers to see where I can put in my spreader bar concealed under for visibility. This is a crucial moment too because this effects wiper motor, hvac, and most important...my dash cluster... I still have hopes I can graft my Toyota one in somehow.
 

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A little more cagework tonight. A-piller spreader under the dash with about 4.5” space to help fit a cluster back in there.
 

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