I just bought an 87 Samurai. It is crazy hard to start in the mornings. I was told by some people that the stock carb is not very good. One guy I talked to here locally said to put an Empi Carb on. I don't have $400 bucks for a carb. Is there a cheaper option? Thanks guys Also how many hours to put on a new set of piston rings?

I just bought an 87 Samurai. It is crazy hard to start in the mornings. I was told by some people that the stock carb is not very good. One guy I talked to here locally said to put an Empi Carb on. I don't have $400 bucks for a carb. Is there a cheaper option? Thanks guys Also how many hours to put on a new set of piston rings?

The stock carb is actually not that bad. It gets a bad wrap sometimes because people mis-adjust it or there are other problems with the vehicle. In my opinion   Grab a maintenance manual for your rig and read about the carburator. One of the first things that gets people is that there are two idle settings. It could be as simple as those are mis-adjusted...  Good luck.

If you give up, the weber / empi carb... the 32/36 DGAV carburator can be purchased new for far less than $400.

-Eric

That is some good info. Thank you. I just got a Haynes Manual for it.

I built my own Harley CV carb setup and I've been very happy with it.  Easy to tune and runs very strong compared to my stock cab that was it good condition.

That is some good info. Thank you. I just got a Haynes Manual for it.

EWWWW!

Try the Factory Service Manual (FSM) downloadable at Ack's FAQ - search for fsm.

Also, here are a few links from the search engine that might be of use:

http://www.zuwharrie.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,40/topic,21551

http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content/topic,31520.0.html

http://www.acksfaq.com/Samvacuumlines.htm

I hope that this helps!

I think that the stock carb is much maligned because too many tinkerers (to quote ACK) have messed around without using the FSM and made things worse.  This is not the old simple Chevy two barrel of the 50's and 60's.  It is reasonably complex.  I would suggest immediately replacing all of the small vacuum hoses if you haven't already.  That is very low cost and may correct a number of ills.  I have read a number of posts from people who are not happy with the Weber or other replacement carbs and that costs bucks.  If you are not a skilled carb mechanic, then look up a good, reputable Carb shop in your area.  I took mine to a guy who has beautifully overhauled several of my Quadrajet 4 barrel Chevy carbs before, and for about a $100 + tab, my stock 88 carb is back to full health and it starts and runs like a new Sammy.  Just my 2 cents worth.   

Yeah I am far from a skilled carb mechanic. And carb scare me, so I may have to take it in to someone