These are lessons I've learned from building and living with my '88 Samurai hardtop (see Classifieds under "Samurai Done Right"):
1. Adding padding and felt on door & interior panels and the headliner made it noticeably quieter inside. That's nice! I made a headliner with masonite board backed with garage door insulation (bubble wrap lined with foil), and it keeps the interior very cool in the sun. Again, nice! Padding is 1/4 inch foam, spray-glued on, with felt spray-glued to that.
2. EVERY Samurai should have the panhard (track bar) kit. It steers like a sedan!
3. The quality of all the parts I added is very good. Customer service is another story -- believe the rumors.
4. The Firestone Destination M/T tires are amazing! Tough, grippy on rock, loose rock, sand, mud, and ice. I've driven through 2 feet of snow in 2WD and had a blast! Very little wear in 2 years. Siping helps a lot on ice.
5. Calmini headers and exhaust make this sound like a much more powerful truck with a nice baritone sound, and the exhaust tip looks great.
6. Necessities (not options) for any back-country off-roading: 4.3:1 transfer case gear reduction, 30 inch tires, a 4 inch lift, and wider-spaced wheels for stability. Nothing substitutes for 20 inches of clearance under the transfer case! The bolt-on SPOA lift is easy to do yourself, and the gear reduction isn't hard. With gear reduction, I can climb any hill.
7. I've learned to HATE the wind.
8. I've learned to HATE the stock carburetor in cold weather. I tied a string to the butterfly valve and ran it into the cab so I can hold it open when running cold. Works like a charm!
9. I've learned to HATE whoever engineered the door handles.
10. The Samurai is a beautiful lesson in minimalism taken too far. It was built with a Zen-like focus on purity like few vehicles have ever been built. The Mazda Miata is another example (I own one), but Mazda didn't sacrifice quality in things like seats and door handles. [I'd love to put a Miata engine and transmission in a Samurai!]
11. Sometimes you just need horsepower, MPG's be damned.
