Do you guys know where anybody does goo cheap engine work? My sami engine needs a good rebuild. And if it is too expensive I think I might get rid of it. Please help me out. Any body on the board do this kind of work.:(

Cheap motor work is hard to. The parts are too expensive. It'll cost you about $300 min for top end rebuild (does not include much if any labor), and $600 to $1000 for complete rebuild. Since most 1.3L have a rod knocking when someone decided it needs help, it usually hits the higher side quite quickly. If your truck is only worth 2K it's hard to justify putting over 1K in a motor...

That's just the economics of a Samurai...

This is an issue for me right now. I have a samurai that is kind of a test rig for a buildup. Runs great, smogged with flying colors, but has a fairly bad knock. Really don't want to rebuild the stock motor - if the suspension mods work out right, I'll swap in something bigger. if not, I'm not out much.

Thinking about just changing the rod bearings to buy some time. Anyone have an experience with that route? This thing only runs for fun, nowhere near a daily driver.

I've changed only the rod bearings before.
So have all these guys with Toyotas.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57060

This could go a couple of ways, one being to rebuild the 1.3. as stated before, its around a grand. if this your choice, go with Dave at asian auto parts. I spent a very reasonable amount with dave and got a ton of bang for the buck. Would I do it again? Probably not, only because of the 1.6 16v swap. In the long run, all of us knowing that you cant put a price on the fun of these ultra capable off road demons, yea its worth the money to rebuild the samurai.:)