$120.00 later I am the proud owner of a 1988 Suzuki Samurai

What is with the 02 sensor AND a carb? Sweet rig!! If I remember right from my friends zuki from years ago the hood release is in the glove box. Odd I thought.

In reply to Mazdax605:

Probably an electric carb, solenoid controlled needle stuck in the idle jet, ECM buzzes the solenoid based on O2 reading so it idles cleaner and has some trim control at cruise.

For $120 I even like the color.

Yeah, the hood release is in the glovebox. Think about it: lock the glovebox, you've locked the hood. Back in da day (~1992), the first 'Yota dealer I worked for had been a dealer for them and we still serviced them. The transmissions would howl like hell, the bearings would get noisy. The transmission opens like a suitcase, easy to work on. Other than that they were actually pretty reliable little rigs.

I think ya done good. If you can drive it home for a bill-ish, you can't beat that. I'd give you double your money for it. Probably just needs to have the shift linkage beat on with a hammer.

I like it. For $120 I would have bought it and I already have one. Hell for $500 I would have bought it. I'm still amazed at how capable the little things are. Have fun with it and don't pull out in front of anyone. It accelerates slower than my lawnmower.

Good score! How come these things never happen to me?? The wheels and tires alone are probably worth more than twice what you paid for it. The only time my neighbors come over is to complain about something.

Up to '90 (with a carb) don't forget to buy the little vent tube in the carb. Cheap fix for a bogging issue.

<----- Seriously jealous

For years I have thought about getting a Sammy to help me with my job. Now I am seriously looking.

Had one on my honeymoon as a rental. Great little trucklets. I bought a Sidekick as a result and loved that thing too. Enjoy!

Bump- back from the dead. Was it the easy fix?

The shifter locating bolt / bushing fixed it. I have not really messed with it lately as it is currently sitting next to last years challenge car under a car cover. I actually was looking at it the other day and thought about pulling it out.

Thanks for the bump, I will try to pull it out and drive it around next week. I need to find a back seat so I can tote my kids around in it. ...off to craigslist to see what I can find.

Whether you use it as a trail crawler or a lawn ornament, $125 for that beautiful piece of machinery is a STEAL! Nice score.

In reply to pimpm3:

iirc tracker rear seats should fit, i saw one on cl with front seats out of a subaru forester.

not to slightly derail this conversation.. but as Sammies are through the roof around here, how does the tracker compare? They seem to be a dime a dozen in these parts

^^ been thinking the same thing.

Build thread time, get this thing going.

In reply to mad_machine:

a tracker is an upgraded sammy comfort wise, they all will be efi and have a/c, they have either 85hp or 100hp(2 door vs 4 door) decent aftermarket. They are IFS front but then again if you are going over 31inch tires you would have to upgrade the axles in either the sammy or the tracker. The trackers also came with an automatic as well as a manual. a complete solid axle swap with a 3 link in the front and a 4 link in the back that is 100% bolt in(other than welding the brackets on the axles) is only $2700.

also trackers are on average around $2500 while a good sammy is $5-6k

They don't seem to draw the demand the zuk stuff does, but I picked up a 95 tracker for 200$ with a spun rod bearing and non functional brakes.

A set of pads and a brake bleed job later I've been wheeling it around our property going on 2 years, rattling bearing and all. Only bad moment was when I pinched a tire between the wheel and a stump. Instant blow out.

One of these days I'm going to pull the engine and give it a quickie rebuild, then turn it into one hell of a fishing and fire road machine.

Amazingly capable in stock form, parts are CHEAP. 13.00 for lifetime pads from VatoZone, a scroll through rock auto will have you wondering how they do it for so cheap. Rust can be an issue on body panels. Only thing I would trade it for would be a tin top Sammy.

Needs a better battery hold down.

Tires are probably worth $100.

Shame on you, you stole it.

They aren't fun. Nope, not at all. No siree!

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I've done some research on the Trackers, Vitaras and Sidekicks. It seems that unless you're going to do serious technical wheeling, they are better choices than the Samurai.

There are a bunch of threads here on the Track/Kicks, and http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/ has an IFS section that details them fairly well.

That being said, apparently the Samurai was produced with coil spring suspension in other markets well after it was discontinued here. Combining one of those frames with a US body might result in something really interesting.