Tural

heard some good stuff about suzuki samurais. there's one on local craigslist for 3 grand. it's an 87 with 100k miles and a new paintjob on 31's. he CLAIMS that he gets 41-45mpg. i seriously think he needs to get his calculator and his brain calibrated. i just wanna know about the real life figures. i assume it should be getting around 25mpg with 31's.
i would go to the sammy forums but i trust our jeep guys a bit more. i just wanna know if anyone has had any experience with these vehicles i'd appreciate the input.
just wondering about the regular stuff. the usual driveline life with mild abuse, common issues, difficulty of maintenance, highway capability etc.
thanks ahead guyz.

jeepman13

my brother had one for a while and his did awesome...off and on road.

CherokeeEnthusiast

I have owned many ask me any questions you need an answer to. I have built a couple. And am planning to get another one soon.

Tural

dude, you can't imagine how much i'd appreciate it. my wife wanted a tj or a yj, and now she's talking about a samurai.

http://roanoke.craigslist.org/cto/1757955599.html
whatd'ya think of this. he wants 3 grand for it. but i think it might be worth about 2000. and also if you can answer the questions that i asked in the first post.

JeepingDan

I had a 87 The little thing did pretty good offroad for bone stock. only issue was frame rot missing top and I had to babysit it in the winter mornings till it warmed up.

4.3L XJ

I own one and got 12 mpg with the stock motor. You had to have it wide open all the time because it was so underpowered.

fadedblackxj

1.3L engine 2900lbs....hehe

Tural

hmm... heard you can put a vitara motor in them. is that a good project? or is it not worth the time?

4.3L XJ

That one is heavy, I weighed mine and it was 2050#

1050 on the front axle and 1000 on the rear.

Tural

your samurai?

fliprider2000

i have had 3 of them. the little 1.3 really is not that great and once you lift them you need to add a power steer pump and they roll really easy . we have 2 in are grup now and one has had almost everthing replaced in the motor and it still pretty bad. in my opinion the 1.3 is a guttless crap motor

4.3L XJ

Agreed. They are not a good motor. In fact, I looked into replacing the crank and rod bearings and went to the dealership and found that there are not one size of standard bearings, but many and you have to find the part number of each because the machining of the crank and bearing journals is so sloppy. They are a long stroke, short bore detuned engine.
They work well in the third world, but not a good engine here.

4.3L XJ

Yes, mine. Not running currently but is on the project list.

tannerp89

me and my buddy are working on a VW 1.6L turbo diesel conversion for his sami'.....just got the motor and starting the rebuild hehe