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1988 Samurai Turned Buggy

I was planning on adding top and bottom gussets to these shock tabs and making them wider at the tube for gussets.

It may be possible to use a bit of DOM notched for the front shocks. I can use flat bar to gusset it as well and kind of blend it into the hood design.

Either way, whatever I end up with will probably be overkilled in the end.
 
I was planning on adding top and bottom gussets to these shock tabs and making them wider at the tube for gussets.

That will help, still puts a lot of load on one side of a pice of 120 wall tube.

Try to add some bracing some how on the rear. Althaybe wait till you have fuel cell and cargo area figured out, as you may be able to integrate it all together.

It may be possible to use a bit of DOM notched for the front shocks. I can use flat bar to gusset it as well and kind of blend it into the hood design.

Either way, whatever I end up with will probably be overkilled in the end.

Front doesn't look to hard to do since you have that cross member right there.

Just be careful with over kill, as adding material helps, but adding a ton of weld heat in one spot could just make it worse.
 
That will help, still puts a lot of load on one side of a pice of 120 wall tube.

Try to add some bracing some how on the rear. Althaybe wait till you have fuel cell and cargo area figured out, as you may be able to integrate it all together.



Front doesn't look to hard to do since you have that cross member right there.

Just be careful with over kill, as adding material helps, but adding a ton of weld heat in one spot could just make it worse.

I usually jump around and only run short beads on stuff like this. Figure I got 4 corners to rotate.

I think what I’m going to do is see how much angle I gain by rotating the front down a smidge. If it’s a 3/16” difference between front and rear on bump, I’m calling it good.
 
Finally a roller. Front shocks ended at 18 degrees in, mounted to the front bar using 2.5”-2.75” brackets. Rears are actually 16.5 degrees in and about 4” brackets. The rear brackets actually fall right on a node, so bracing should be pretty solid.

Pulling the engine next.
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Those shock mounts look weak. Add some tube and make a solid mount :flipoff2:

Looks great outside! Can't wait to see it in person:smokin:
 
Those shock mounts look weak. Add some tube and make a solid mount :flipoff2:

Looks great outside! Can't wait to see it in person:smokin:

Wuz-A-Zuk works in a fabrication shop, so I’m going to send a pile of cut outs his way for reinforcements on all these brackets. My lower links all need gussets as well as my shock mounts.

In my mind this just needed to become a roller before vacation. :laughing: The tiny details can be worked out down the line.
 
Is this with or with the 1.5" wheel spacers?
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If this is how you plan to run it the tire will hit the shock. Weight of the buggy and tire flex. Things always move more on the trail than flex testing.
 
Is this with or with the 1.5" wheel spacers?
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If this is how you plan to run it the tire will hit the shock. Weight of the buggy and tire flex. Things always move more on the trail than flex testing.

That’s with.

I’m currently looking for 2” spacers.
 
IMO it will still rub with 2" spacers just less. And listen there are a LOT of rigs I see where the tires rub on the shocks!! You can see the marks on them. Not the end of the world as long as its light...like its the mud caked on the tire rubbing or ONLY when I'm WAY flexed out theres a light contact ETC. BUT If I was you I'd try to fix it now.

Best way I see to gain clearance is to move the bottom of the shocks in on the rear axle. They appear to be almost inside the wheels which means that top would have to move in A LOT to gain a little as they are currently mounted.
 
IMO it will still rub with 2" spacers just less. And listen there are a LOT of rigs I see where the tires rub on the shocks!! You can see the marks on them. Not the end of the world as long as its light...like its the mud caked on the tire rubbing or ONLY when I'm WAY flexed out theres a light contact ETC. BUT If I was you I'd try to fix it now.

Best way I see to gain clearance is to move the bottom of the shocks in on the rear axle. They appear to be almost inside the wheels which means that top would have to move in A LOT to gain a little as they are currently mounted.

But then I’m back to moving the tops out more. Even a 1/2” can mean a lot on top to maintain the degrees I need.

I’ll think about how to approach this. They’re currently 4” out. I could run a bar across the back and drop the mounts down. I already notched some tubing for that.

It’s a give and take on these stupid narrow axles. Every bit they come in on the bottom I lose stability. 2” wheel spacers would push these out another 1/2” and like you said, light rubbing is fine. The rear tires aren’t even squared up with the front, so 2” spacers aren’t a terrible idea.
 
Just look at 1 wire at a time.

This one goes to the head lights? Snip

This one goes to the horn? Snip

Tail lights, windshield wipers, ect

Get rid of all the bs you know you for sure don't need and it will look a lot less intimidating.

Then it's basically just follow the wires from the ecu, iirc most of the wires coming out of the ecu stay.
 
Just look at 1 wire at a time.

This one goes to the head lights? Snip

This one goes to the horn? Snip

Tail lights, windshield wipers, ect

Get rid of all the bs you know you for sure don't need and it will look a lot less intimidating.

Then it's basically just follow the wires from the ecu, iirc most of the wires coming out of the ecu stay.

There’s also the VSS to deal with. I am not spending the time on this. It’s the one thing I’m just not messing with. I’ll pay to have it done and keep working on other stuff.
 
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1.6l is in. I’m definitely pulling this during the winter, rebuilding it, and painting/cleaning it all up. Looks like a turd.
 
Yeah, this is going to Myron. I don’t feel like messing with it. What a PITA.

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We pined out an LS harness last year. It was kind of fun and my son and I learned something. That said, they sell LS harnesses from China on fleabay for 100 bux. with fuse box and relays for fans and fuel pumps. Tyler did find a few wires pined wrong on the China harness that went to the throttle pedal and throttle body. he's pretty smart and figured it out.

Maybe smart to sub that out and do something you'd rather be doing. :laughing:
 
We pined out an LS harness last year. It was kind of fun and my son and I learned something. That said, they sell LS harnesses from China on fleabay for 100 bux. with fuse box and relays for fans and fuel pumps. Tyler did find a few wires pined wrong on the China harness that went to the throttle pedal and throttle body. he's pretty smart and figured it out.

Maybe smart to sub that out and do something you'd rather be doing. :laughing:

Yeah, I’m not overly familiar with this electrical and one thing I keep finding on Suzuki stuff is just wires spliced to wires all over the place. Just not something I feel like dicking with.

I’m also not keeping the factory fuse block since it melted a couple spots, and need to ask Myron more about this VSS.
 
We pined out an LS harness last year. It was kind of fun and my son and I learned something. That said, they sell LS harnesses from China on fleabay for 100 bux. with fuse box and relays for fans and fuel pumps. Tyler did find a few wires pined wrong on the China harness that went to the throttle pedal and throttle body. he's pretty smart and figured it out.

Maybe smart to sub that out and do something you'd rather be doing. :laughing:

I like the idea of being involved in stuff like this on a full custom build. That way when something acts up, you're much more likely to know where it is, or at least where to start.
 
I like the idea of being involved in stuff like this on a full custom build. That way when something acts up, you're much more likely to know where it is, or at least where to start.

While I agree, I’ll be more involved than it looks. All I’m going to ask Myron to do is weed out the wire connections I need. So basically I’ll still be fully wiring up a new fuse block, relays, etc. If it’s really as few wires as everyone says, all I’m hiring out is to weed out all this wire.

This is a time waster, and then if I can’t get the engine to start 5 months from now, I’ll be racking my brain guessing where I screwed up. At least if with Myron weeding out what I need, I know that’s right.
 
Well, got a cheap 2004 Sebring pulley in. Garbage machining on these new products. Had to sand down the inside.

Pulley is also plastic. :laughing:

Belt is 37”.

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I thought almost all 1.6 had either power steering or a/c and came with the pulley you needed?

They did, but I had one that was rusted to hell and bought this to replace it. They also have rubber between the factory ones that can wear and then cause keyway issues.
 
Slow going on this. Can’t order new parts so just doing the fab work I was putting off, because I don’t like fabricating anymore. :laughing:

Just kidding…needed a break.

Back to it this past weekend. Took the trusses out to the ends. Looks terrible but is better than no truss out there.

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