Project SuiSUKi 40's 107" w.b. Toy Drive

[SuiSUKi]

Yep here it is. I have had this samurai for the past 4 years and I'm finnaly getting around to building it right. I started this project 12/03/07 and now it's time to update ya'll. A good friend of mine gave this zuk it's name "SuiSUKi" (pronounced Sui as in Suicide and suki as in it sucked) back when I first got it and it's stuck to this day. Well over the years I've drained some of the suck out of it and it's become a pretty capable trail rig but still lacks in some important areas e.g. tire size, wheelbase, horsepower, seating, tire clearence, power steering, storage, ect... and with this build I hope to address each of them.

I'm swapping in all Toy drivetrain, I've got a 3rz-fe DOHC 2.7L (150hp/170ft#s) 4cly and bell housing from a 99 4runner, mated to a G-52 out of a '84 pickup running dual cases, out to Toy axles w/5.29's and 39.5 IROKs

here's what I'm starting with '87 Sami hard top (chopped)

ps Thanks to Crash and 4Runnerrick on pirate for the inspiration

[SuiSUKi]

so whene I first built this rig I had no kids and didn't see a use for the rear seat so I took it out an ran the cage back there, but now I have 2 boys and need the seating and some better protection so here's a start to what I did

Thanks to crawler12 and the "lost samurai" for the inspriation

[SuiSUKi]

Thought I would take some preliminary articulation measurements for comparision later

here I'm getting about 29.5" under the rear tire, not bad for a 79" wheel base

[SuiSUKi]

Well I'm planning on running 39.5" tires. I needed to make some room up front for them so off with the front clip.

[SuiSUKi]

while I was up there I thought I might as well pull the motor and trans, and while i was at it I thought I might as well pull out the t-case, drivelines and fuel tank.

[SuiSUKi]

well I couldn't resist rolling the tires up to it. Here,s a pic of the tires at 107" wb, and the belly hight at 24".
If your wondering about the fender placment lets just say plans changed and I'll have to recut the fenders.

[SuiSUKi]

Got the front axle/suspension out, cut off the front of the frame, re built front frame, rolled the toy axle under and measured for steering geometry/clearence.I added 8"s to the front of the frame and just tacked the front bumper/crossmember on so I could shorten it later if I need to, right now it looks like it could be about 2" shorter but I'll wait untill everything is finalized and it's time for front tube work to shorten it up.oh and yes I will be adding fish plating/gusseting to the frame where the old/new meet.







Raised the frame up 1/2" for more clearance

[SuiSUKi]

Got a G-52 trans and a forward shift t-case out of my 84 toy parts truck

found a top-shift t-case for $95 at All Truck junkyard

and a w-59 bellhousing w/ clutch fork and slave from a 99 tacoma out of a yard in Bakersfield Ca $80 shipped

now the 99 Toyota 3rz-fe 2.7L 4cyl will bolt right up to all my mini truck stuff sweet!

[SuiSUKi]

Ok the motor in the Tacomas/4Runners hangs down way low and right in the way of the front axle so I swaped the oil pan, pick up tube, and dip stick for the one for the 2wd T-100.
now I have a rear sump oil pan and lots of room for front axle uptravel
also took my junkyard flywheel to the machine shop and had it turned, replaced the rear main oil seal, and installed the clutch.

[SuiSUKi]

here's the motor in the engine bay for the first time

looks like I'll be able to retain the stock air compressor for and on board
system sweet

[SuiSUKi]

Noticed that the master cylinder to engine clearence is tight so before I make any mounts I swaped out the stock master (7/8" bore) for the 95 subaru legacy master cylinder (1 1/16" bore) . With a mod to the plunger this master cylinder bolts right up, even the lines.

[SuiSUKi]

Ok got the trans tunnel cut out to and ready to accept, bolted the motor/trans up and slid her in. Moved things around for a while and finnaly got the motor/trans positioned where I want them so now I'm ready for mounts. Bought some bushings so that's next.

Looks like the dual floor boot I got from the donar is goning to tie into the the new tunnel nice.

Now that I know where the motor is going to be I made the inner frame fishplates but did not have time to put them in, the new mounts will tie in to these.

I'm running dual cases stock gearing 2.28 in both with 5:29's in the diffs rear case will get a twin stick from FROR
Also pictured is the installed T-100 oil pan stuff

[SuiSUKi]

Motor mount's and fishplates are fabbed and tacked in place and made some good progress on the t-case mount.

The mounts are made from some 3" x 3/16 flat bar and will receive an additional center gusset once the motor is out.

There's also one of those weld holes between the two mount plates so the fishplate won't deflect away from the frame there.

Due to the beveled edges the 3/16's looks thinner than it is, but I believe more in structure than strength of materials. e.g. use a thinner plate with better structure less weight rather that just using 3/8's tabs every where.

[SuiSUKi]

Oh boy look what the UPS guy brought

4) 18" travel Sway-a-way RaceRunner Air Shocks
a nitrogen regulator, hose/chuck, precision pressure adjuster, and oil scringe.
I also went to Praxair and picked up a small nitrogen bottle.

[SuiSUKi]

Well I got the T-case crossmember all tacked up, I've found in the past that when running tall T-case gearing the mounts are subjected to alot of force and since at some future point I may want to put a gear set in my rear case (giving me a t-case reduction of 10.2:1) I decided to make this a little extra burley.I'm using FROR's t-case plate. I took some 1.50 x .120 tubing, drilled 8 holes in it and sleeved it with some 1.25 x .120 tubing, then plug welded the holes, check out that 1/4" cross section after notching it. Then used some more yj spring bushings and made some mounts. Made 3/16 fishplates for the frame* and some 3/16 tabs for the crossmember to mount to. Pulled it out to weld and I'll also add a gusset to the top of those tabs.

[SuiSUKi]

ok got the t-case mount all done including the gussets.

The motor and stuff is now all mounted

Well that makes it official I now have 10 pounds of s#!t in a 5 pound bag.

[SuiSUKi]

I got the throttle hooked up, just used the sami cable looks like it will work fine.

Installed the clutch master cylinder, modified the clutch pedal and ran the lines so now I have a hydro clutch.

I had to cut a hole in the floor so the clutch fork could opperate. The space I cut out was under the gas pedal and wasen't being used. I made a cover for this area then I guess booger-weldin-brad came in and welded it on I didn't see him but I know he was here 'cause I couldn't have done that. There will not be a pic of this cover. This is a pic of the gas pedal all the way down and the clutch depressed.

[SuiSUKi]

does that look familiar Crash?

I got the trans tunnel all finished and the seats back in.

I modified and used the factory toyota floor boot for the front shifters and made the entire rear section removeable (screws down) so I can get at the t-case bolts easily if they ever need to come out.

[SuiSUKi]

started working on linking the front, I'm using a 3-link with pan hard style.

Upper link and pan hard are 1.5x.120 Dom, lowers are 2x2x.250 square, I've heard good things about the strengh of square links and the flat bottom gives me a good place to mount some ultra-high-molecular-weight (UHMW) white plastic so they should be nice and slippery.

The lowers are 36"s long and have quite a bit of trangulation, front axle steer thru the range of motion is ~2'' each side , pinion angle stays almost the same ~3*difference from compression to extension. Panhard is kinda short which is causing the axle to move left-right a bit (I'll try to make this longer)

Cycled the suspension and found that my tire and steering gear want to be in the same place doh! Looks like I'm going to need a forward throw gear box like one for an FJ60 anybody got one? None of the links bind though and there seems to be lots more movement in the heims.

Also my tire and hood want to be in the same place too, may need to reduce uptravel which is now at 8"s or narrow the hood.

Man these 18" shocks give a ton of articulation, and no those aren't my permanent upper shock mounts.

[SuiSUKi]

Well I got a start on the rear 4-link. I'm using the double triangulated XX style. I got the lower link crossmember done made it out of 2x3x.188 rectangle tubing. I got the lower link tabs done made them out of 3"x.250 flat bar same as the front, I also got some trial links done I'll wait to make the lowers untill after the uppers are done ; I'm thinking about some high clearance lowers but won't know how much room I'll have for them 'till the uppers are done. The lower links are 42" long

[SuiSUKi]

I was at 80" w.b. before but after 11" stretch in the front and 16"s in the rear I'm now at 107"s

What do you guys think?

Looks like I may have to stretch the body out in the rear to make it look right. I'm also going to have to cut the last 8-10"s of frame off too since it's right in the way of where the shock wants to be.

[SuiSUKi]

here's the upper link frame bracket I came up with it allows for 4 adjustments in one inch increments

[IMG][/IMG]
drilled and tacked used 3"x.188 and 2"x.188 flat bar


Finished


Here it is tacked on the frame I'll be adding a brace down to the crossmember as well


here's the overall of the four link you can also see the axle side upper link brackets which have one adjustment hole at 9" of vertical separation and one at 10" it looks like this is all going to work out so I'll be building a full width truss around these upper axle brackets.

flexing some

[SuiSUKi]

It doesn't look like I'll have much room for high clearence lower arms so those are out, I still need to make the 2x2x.250 square lowers

I've spent alot of time trying to get that 6"s of up travel out of the front and yesterday I think I finally got it. I've decided to keep the ifs steering gearbox since the fj60 box would have been in the way of uptravel at the tie-rod; to get the clearance I needed at the tire/gearbox I notched the frame out and moved it over as far as I could and still fit my winch, about 2"s. Should clear the tire now. Winch is 1/4" off center, big deal. I had to move the front axle about an inch forward so the tie-rod would clear the crankshaft pulley at full bump, I doubt I'll ever get it to full bump in the real world but it's nice to know I have the clearance if I start wanting to jump it off the sand dunes in Moab or something. I also had to take a pretty healthy notch out of the passenger frame rail (about 3 inches deep) to clear the drag link at full articulation I'll be running another section of 2x4 over top of this to make up for it. I also redid the panhard brackets at both ends making it about 10"s longer which meant I had to re-place/redo the upper link brackets looks like the front will work out now though.

If it ain't done twice it ain't done nice!

here's one of the frame notches these will get fully plated after I'm sure there's enough clearence. You can also see the brace I made over the top this is 2x3x.188 rectangle capped with 2x.188 flatbar



Here's the notch I had to make to clear the A/c compressor pulley. I can just barely get the belt off.



Here's what I did to get the tire and gear box to play nice. You can see why the fj60 box wouldn't work for me the tie rod would hit the sector shaft or pitman.





Of course the frame will be fully plated in and out around where the gearbox notch is and back past the panhard frame mount (the one pictured is a temp) and in fact there will also be a winch plate that will run from rail to rail and fully box the entire front section together so I'm not worried about the gear box twisting the frame.

[SuiSUKi]

Here's one of the full bump tie-rod to crank pulley clearence

[SuiSUKi]

Made some upper shock mount tabs


bent up some shock hoops and got them on and adjusted


From the front, the hoops will get a brace between them as well as getting tied into the fender tube work.