live in hawaii and just bought my first samuri got a million questions just had to check out this forum want to keep it stock for a wile then maby go with a little lift but realy want to find out how to gain more horse power out of this cute 1.3L

Congrats!

A tune-up is always first, then most people will go for a 2" exhaust.  Which Island are you on?

live on the big island tune up for sure what about a less complex carb like a webber with out all the vacume hoses plans for headders and pipeing for sure . well so far this 88 has 48,000 original miles but it was sitting for 6 years got a new batt alter cleaned out fuel probs and changed oil plugs cap rotor wires next runs cherry but ran into from what i heard is verry common with the transfer cace sticks in the nutral position so i droped the transfer cace and found that when i took of the locking mecinisum there was no rubber bushing so now when it gets positioned in 4 low and back to nutreal it jams saw a polyurithain one for 16 bucks
any way paid 1,500   for it bodys alittle bus but cherry interior looks like it was a real beach cruser my goal is to try and get the most bang for my buck without havin to go all toyota guts doing as much recerch with what i got any suggestions help even better gearing with hp to be able to push some 31s on a 3or 4 in lift

Webbers are a great swap, as is a Side-Draft conversion over to a set of Harley carbs.  I'll let other people chime in on the best carb out of the two.

To run 31" tires transfer case gears or a lower differential gears will get you most of your power back.  I'm a big fan of putting new gears in the t-case and leaving the front and rear end alone.  A set of 4.8 or 5.8 t-case gears should be just about perfect.

For the lift if you have access to a welder then a SPOA, or Spring Over Axle, lift is the quickest and easiest way to fit 31" tires, but there are a couple ways of doing it.  Just depends on how much fabrication work you can do and how much you want to spend.

For a nice adventure rig some 2.5" OME Springs and 30" tires with a 4:1 transfer case is a great way to go.  Small enough you won't break stuff but big enough to go most anywhere, especially with lockers front and rear.

Heck, since you are in Hawaii and the top speed is something like 60mph right, I would just swap in some lower gears like a 4:1 case gear set.  That would make it easier on the engine to turn even stock sized tires (12% high range redux) and you would have a really killer low range.  I would keep the stock carb and exhaust in place if everything is in working order.

Then if you wanted a little lift later (2" OME highly recommend) you could swap in some 29" tires and still be able to turn them well with the 4:1 case.

hey  thanks for the insite just wanted to say aloha to anyone that provides me with info on this project of mine cause it will be a better project with help i plan on keeping it for along time wanted to build a samurai for years my first real offroad experiance was in a samurai and loved it ive owned toyotas chevys and fords but there is something about japanese 4wheel driving looking foward to the build aloha every body.

Wassssup! Kona, your gonna enjoy it. Takes me where ever I wanna go fishing. here's mine

 Thats what im talken about AwwRitte. looks like south side howz da fisshn

From Maui-Hawaii, Makena Light House: fishing still good out here....caught 3 fish that night ranging from 30- 50 lbs.