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My Samurai

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:39 am
by Larry
Thought I would start a new thread for my Sami, just to have somewhere to keep it all together.

I've owned it for over three years now and it's been off the road for longer than on it in that time, purely down to lack of time and motivation on my part.

When I bought it, it had some nice tree sliders and a winch bumper. I stuck my old winch on and had some fun for a while and started to get to know it, to see what needed to be fixed.

After a short time it became apparent the brakes needed some attention. So i rebuilt the front calipers and fitted new discs and pads. More recently Ive done the rears too.

As well as that I replaced all the uj's and did a full transmission oil service.

Another trip to Wales, I got stuck against a bank, did a little panel damage and burnt out the clutch. In my defence, I think I finished off an already dying clutch! 😬

From the beginning the engine was a bit of a dog, but I knew that buying it! The original carb was a nightmare and kept cutting out at hot idle. The engine was using oil and had started to flicker the oil pressure warning light at hit idle.

I picked up a 1.6 8v with an SU attached. The next weekend the 1.3 had a big end go, good timing on the new engine!

That was over 18 months ago, I then bought a bike which distracted me from the Sami, but that itch has been scratched now, so the Sami is getting most of my attention again! 😁


Trying to get it sorted with the forced downtime over the past few months. Getting there slowly! 😎

The ultimate plan for it is to be a very capable green laner that can do some trialling and orienteering events for fun. The more land rovers put to shame along the way, the better! 😎😁

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:47 am
by Larry
Not long after I bought it with winch fitted

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:53 am
by Larry
How looked last weekend, new led headlights fitted but not wired yet. Contemplating a light bar too to replace halogen spots that I've just removed.

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:54 am
by Larry
And how it looks now with some new (road legal) shoes fitted! 😎😍

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:18 am
by Rankine
That's a nice looking wee van. I do like the bighorns used to have a set on mine.

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:53 pm
by ScottieJ
Looking good, just be aware you might need to swap the headlights back for the MOT, A lot of the LED headlights available don't have the correct pattern to pass. My dad ran into this issue with his.

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:28 pm
by Larry
Thanks Scottie, good to know! 👍

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:27 pm
by donkeychomp
I like the look of that!

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2020 1:42 pm
by Larry
Finally got around to tidying up my winch wiring. Got rid of the plug in lead, put a Carling switch on the dash and relocated the isolator switch from beside the battery to protruding from the front grill, so that it's easily reached in the event of an issue with the winch. Much safer 👍

Re: My Samurai build

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2020 9:03 pm
by donkeychomp
If Carling made switches... :lol: