1988 Suzuki Samurai Tin Top

I've decided it's time to part with the Samurai. I really thought I would keep this thing forever, but it's been a couple of months since I've driven it anywhere.

I've had a lot of fun with it. It's time to move it on.

Most of you are familiar with it. The build thread is here so you can refresh your memories. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1988-suzuki-samurai-expedition-machine/75777/page1/

As it sits now.

It comes with the following.

Front center section with 5.28 gears and a Lockrite.

Rear center section with 5.28 gears and a spool.

Rear center section with factory gears.

Complete rear axle needing rebuild.

Complete front axle needing rebuild.

Spare transmission.

Two spare transfer case, one needs bearings for sure, I'd go through the other as well.

Spare driveshafts. All three.

A large box of assorted spare parts.

A AM500 supercharger off of a Subaru Pleo, with the brackets to mount it to the 1.6 engine from DWR Power.

A set of factory springs, no hangers.

Spare passenger and drivers doors.

A factory plastic grill.

Modifications:

Suzuki 1.6 8 valve EFI engine swap.

YJ spring swap front and rear with missing link shackles on the front.

Winch bumper with 8000 pound winch. All winch relays relocated under the hood.

Factory seats removed and replace with Dodge Neon seats that actually have padding in them.

Air compressor under the hood.

400 watt inverter in the glove box.

Add on fuse box under the hood for additional circuits.

CB radio.

Other stuff that is in the build thread that I've forgotten about.

The good. Runs great, drives good, like new tires, very capable off road, it has no significant rust, and extremely easy to work on.

The bad. It's small, it doesn't like the interstate, it has a small oil leak at the distribute drive, it's due for a timing belt, it's due for a paint job.

A note on the rust, because these usually rust like mad. The roof gutters have minor surface rust starting. There are a few seams on the doors that are showing minor rust. There were three body spots that I sanded, treated and painted. That's all that I know of. For a 30 year old Japanese car, I'd call it rust free. I would paint it though.

For those that are going to ask, I sold the 33" tires and wheels a couple of months ago. Sorry.

It still has the long front shocks and shock mounts front and rear. If you wanted to lift it again, it would be pretty straight forward. I still have the Z bar steering linkage, the drive shaft spacers and the wheel spacers as well. They will all be included. Rear shocks would need to be ordered, I bent one of them.

I really like this thing and it comes with a pile of goodies and spares, so I'm asking $6900.

These pictures were taken today. I'm embarrassed at how dirty it is, but they are truthful.

I'll try to get it out this weekend and clean it up for some decent pictures.

Bump for the day crowd.

In reply to Toyman01:

I just forwarded this to a friend of mine that is always talking about how much he wants a tin top Sammy, but everyone wants top dollar for rusty ones. We'll see how bad he really wants one now. LOL.

I've seen some real rust buckets for close to that price in PA.

Bump again.

I know the price is high.

I'm open to offers, trades, and other interesting things.

Toyman01 wrote: Bump again. I know the price is high. I'm open to offers, trades, and other interesting things.

I don't think the price is high for a good solid tin top with most of the basic Samurai 101 mods done to it.

bump for a good samurai

I know that the tin tops are rare. Dad has a tin top 91 tracker. Stock. What are these things actually worth? Id think yours sounds like a good price, but you made the comment that it's priced high.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

The biggest problem is the limited market. There just aren't that many people interested in a quirky, small, 4 X 4. It's a limited market. If I was serious about selling, I'll need to list it on Ebay and all the Samurai forums. So far, I've only listed it here.

Checking prices on Ebay and Craigslist says I'm probably in line for pricing, maybe a little high. The market is really all over the place. I've seen tin tops listed for $12K, which is just mind boggling to me. I've also seen them for $3K.

Ok. Thanks. I was thinking that dad got a screaming deal at 1200.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

The Trackers don't command the prices that the tin top Samurais do. There were more of them made. I don't see good ones getting much cheaper though. Small, great fuel economy, and true 4WD. There will be a demand for a long time.

I love the tin top tracker. That would be my build platform of choice.

In reply to MrChaos:

Agreed. They have a lot of advantages over the Samurai. I test drove one to buy it, but the Tracker is a good bit narrower at shoulder level than the Samurai, and I'm just too wide for it. So I bought a Cherokee instead.

In reply to Toyman01:

They have all the upgrades you do to a samurai anyway like power steering, efi and ac plus if you are going toyota axles anyway why not get the newer vehicle.

I've been checking out Trackers/Sidekicks for a while now. Their prices have definitely gone up the past couple of years due to the Samurai tax.

spitfirebill wrote: I've been checking out Trackers/Sidekicks for a while now. Their prices have definitely gone up the past couple of years due to the Samurai tax.

Yea because people have started realizing once you go past 31s you might as well build a tracker as you would be swapping Toyota axles in with either the samurai or tracker and there were significantly more trackers/sidekicks/sunrunners made. They are also all EFI except a very small amount of first year sidekicks that were carbed 1.6 8v. And they weight 1000lbs less than a wrangler.

Makes me sad seeing this thing for sale. It's been an inspiration.

I miss my Sammy. It's practically a street legal side-by-side. I think that's part of the continuing appeal.

In reply to Mike:

its narrower than some of the new SxS's.

Also Toyman have you thought about putting it on BaT?

Bumping this one last time because I really have too much crap in the yard now.

It's all cleaned up and going on Craigslist this evening.

Dropping the price to $5500.

In reply to Toyman01:

Maybe Gameboy can do a fly & ferry back to Barbados?

In reply to Pete Gossett:

It's a short drive to the port.

Toyman01 wrote: Bumping this one last time because I really have too much crap in the yard now. It's all cleaned up and going on Craigslist this evening. Dropping the price to $5500.

Trade you a Spitfire. But you would still have a lot of crap in the yard.

I soo want to make an offer but my wife would kill me as we already have 5 cars and I am between jobs at the moment.

Bump for a cool little 4x4.