one more Samurai build

[Nixon984]

Sweet man, yeah I definitely know about cold weather right now.. went hunting and was freezing my balls off up at ice house. I'll let ya know, we are thinking about Strawberry while it's snowing.

[johnnyboy110]

Awesome build. I'm getting ready to build my zuk and am probably going to be stealing some of ur ideas. hope you don't mind

[Hank]

All I can say is wow.


-H

[D Boz]

Originally Posted by johnnyboy110

Awesome build. I'm getting ready to build my zuk and am probably going to be stealing some of ur ideas. hope you don't mind

Thanks, but you won't be stealing from me. Most of the 'my ideas' are already borrowed from elsewhere . Copy away, better yet, make some improvements!

Originally Posted by Hank

All I can say is wow.


-H

I guess wow is good





Not much in the way of updates. My tags jut expired and I am yet to get the motor swap BAR certified. The BAR is proving to be even more useless than the DMV, they can't even tell me where there own inspection station is, let alone what is required for the certification.

I have a basic idea, and I know I need to put a California Sidekick catalytic converter on it(currently a 49 state Sammy one), and more of the factory air box. I shortened the intake tube to fit under the hood, not sure if this is going to give me problems. The stock air box definitely won't fit. Unionmine hooked me up with a spare hood to cut up for air box clearance, but maybe the inspection doesn't require a hood at all? I did get my VSS code cleared up, I didn't have the VSS grounded right, so no more codes/CEL

If anybody has any insight on getting a 16v BAR certified in CA, feel free to share Maybe a new thread on the process once I get it all figured out

D

[D Boz]

I have always wanted to make a winter Rubicon trip, though I didn’t expect it would be quite like this. Almost mid January and no snow!



Unloading at the spillway. Thanks to good friends for giving me rides and towing my junk around for me. (In the last few weeks, the motor in my DD blew up, the pressure plate in the tow rig broke, and Mrs D Boz’s car got rear ended, all right after I sold a car and non-opped another. When it rains, it pours ) I am pretty meticulous about prep, but with about an hour notice, I checked the oil and top off the power steering, and called it good. Probably a once in a lifetime chance



Looks like summer.



Most of the trail was pretty dry, but there was quite a bit of ice. Some was obvious, but a lot had just a bit of dust on it, making it look like dirt

[D Boz]

Soup Bowl



I tried a dozen different lines, all denied! Combination of ice and low belly/links just wasn’t having it.

[D Boz]

This line got closest, but called for the strap to get camp set up sooner. I would return.

[D Boz]

Little Sluice

[D Boz]

It would take a few tries, but finally ran it up with some slight stacking, and down completely unassisted. The box would leave its mark though









I pulled the driver door to save the sheet metal, ironically the passenger door got it

[D Boz]

Weather was great considering the time of year. Low 50’s during the day, and maybe low 20’s at night. Windchill was a killer in the afternoon, but was pretty calm all night. Full moon too.



Spider Lake

[D Boz]

Soup Bowl, day 2



Finally, the trick was to ignore all the spotters!

[zukijames]

i love your rig!

[jr4x]

No snow any where. Just went to moab and didnt find any there either. All dry and dusty so far. Looks like a fun trip, how cold was the camping at night?

[tomota]

Nice trip report. Looks like you had great weather.

[D Boz]

Originally Posted by zukijames

i love your rig!

Thanks! One of these years I'll have to get it out to Moab and let you know

Originally Posted by tomota

Nice trip report. Looks like you had great weather.

Thanks, we did

Originally Posted by jr4x

No snow any where. Just went to moab and didnt find any there either. All dry and dusty so far. Looks like a fun trip, how cold was the camping at night?

Heard 22° from a reliable source, been on the trail in October when it was significantly colder. Fordyce a few months ago was colder too. It was about as nice as it could have been




another pic

[TatorZuk]

Very cool...


Is the lack of snow up there fairly common...or is this winter the exception...???


I remember watching a video of "Fastest Box Run Ever" or something to that effect...I think it was Aggro's Cruiser with a new LS series engine.

Snow looked 20 feet deep to me...


Edit: You Tube..."Aggro tearing it up!"

[D Boz]

This winter is definitely the exception. Record low snow levels, basically none. It should have had 20' feet on it, 2 months ago ...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=boEUr3d0jWY

^that's awesome, I am ready to try out the 16v in the snow!

[adamwende]

Truly a bad ass rig man. I think I've read through it fully, three times now. Quick question, when the motor was stock, before the head work and such, how did it do with the axle gears, t case gears, and the 38's? Did you ever feel like you needed to be lower?

[D Boz]

Originally Posted by adamwende

Truly a bad ass rig man. I think I've read through it fully, three times now. Quick question, when the motor was stock, before the head work and such, how did it do with the axle gears, t case gears, and the 38's? Did you ever feel like you needed to be lower?

Thanks, first post huh

Low range crawling, I'd say the gearing was good 95% of the time. (With the new motor, I'd say about the same, maybe 96%). Only on something really technical would I want it lower.

Hi range on road felt good through 2nd gear, but fell off after that. 50-55 mph tops, and it had to work to get there. More gear might help it get there a bit faster, but there is only so much you can do without more power. Forget any grade at that speed.

Hi range off road was worthless, lower gearing definitely would have helped

Hope that helps

[adamwende]

Yeah, been wheeling my whole life, been on pirate for a few months. Your build is completely my style in every aspect. It was worth my post virginity. Lol. That definitely helps though, I got a lot of parts saved up, and I'm shopping for a platform right now... your build pulled me hard towards a samurai.

I'm wondering if a tracker/sidekick could get that low... any thoughts?

[lilsami]

Good lookin rig man, I like it

[D Boz]

Originally Posted by adamwende

I'm wondering if a tracker/sidekick could get that low... any thoughts?

The Samurai is a great candidate, as it has straight and flat lines, and simple frame and body. With that said, you can get anything as low as you want it. You just might have to be a little creative, and be willing to cut out whatever is in the way. I don't have too much experience with the track/kicks, but would seriously consider building a new frame since you will likely have to make major mods to it anyways. Good luck with the build

Originally Posted by lilsami

Good lookin rig man, I like it

Thanks, your pickup is one of my favorites that I have seen in a while. Makes me want to build one for a DD. We need a detailed build thread on it

[adamwende]

Thanks for all the input. I'll do a lot more reading and research... someday the build thread will be here.

[GTA3wheeler]

Yes build your own frame. That is one of my only regrets with my build.

[Blue Bomer]

As has been said 100 times on this thread… Very nice build man! Great work, clean and nicely done... Ur build has actually been very inspirational to my 5.3 powered Sammy build I “Barrowed” many ideas form yours. Here is a pic of my bucket of bolts, yes a V8 in a Sammy is ridiculous but d@mn it’s fun!