Hi guys,



Just joined the Board after lurking around the edges as a guest for months. Think it's one of the greatest Zook boards around.



As a newbie in far-off Malaysia-Singapore, I need some advice. I have a 1990 1.3 litre Samurai with power steering.



Suspension Mods: Ironman springs (2-inch lift); Rancho 9000 with in-cab controls; 0.5 inch lift greasable shackles.



Engine/power mods: (Local laws don't allow a 1.6 Tracker engine swap) Carb from 1.6 liter 12-valve Toyota; head and ports polished, Australian header, K&N filter.



Problems: Suspension and power



#1 Suspension: I use my truck to travel to Malaysia along gravel, pot-holed roads. I find that my present suspension set-up - Ironman springs with 2"lift, plus Rancho 9000 shocks with in-cab controls - is still too harsh at speeds above 40-45 miles per hour (approx 60-70 kph).



I am NOT into rock-crawling or serious offroading. I just want a suspension that can handle rutted gravel roads with the occasional potholes. I guess I am looking for more travel as my suspension bottoms out at speeds above 40 mph on bad roads and I get all beat up if I try to mainain speed. However, I, at the same time, do not want my on-road handling to suffer since my truck is my daily driver, and I spend 70 percent of the time on tarred roads. Suggestions please?



I am looking at the Rocky Road  bolt-on SPOA as well as its YJ conversion kit in SPUA configuration. My reservations over the SPOA lift is that there'll be too much body sway, and on-road handling would be a problem, what with drive-shaft spacers, caster angles, plus the need to use a new drop steering link. Since I have to order everything from the States (Samurai afficiandos can be counted on the fingers of one hand here) I want to minismise the weight of any kit I order.



The YJ kit looks tempting except that I have my doubts that YJ springs can give a softer ride to the much lighter Samurai in SPUA configuration. My local mechanic says that the YJ springs are meant for a heavier vehicle, and an SPUA installation would be a waste of time and money. In fact, he says that the best thing I can do is to grease my leaf springs regularly and that I can't do much more to get a softer (and SAFE) ride from my Samurai on rutted roads, not above 40 mph anyway!



#2: Power. Local laws prevent me from installing a bigger engine like the 1.6 litre Tracker engine. I have installed an Australian header, K&N filter, put in a carb from a 1.5 litre Toyota 12-valve engine, and polished the head and ports. However, my truck still lacks oomph, especially after 4,000 rpm. Will the Isky cam REALLY help?



Thanks guys! Sorry for the long post.



Slowyak

Welcome aboard Matie
Sorry, Can't help ya in the power dept.
But I'm sure someone will chime in at any moment with just the right answer

Lawdog chiming in...Its good to have you man, neat to get word from a Zuk owner in Far-Off Lands.  Very ironic that you have to deal with rough, rutted roads on your daily commute there and I seek them out in my free time here
 Power wise the only thing I could suggest is try to get your hands on the head from a Suzuki Swift GT and put that on your 1.3.  Your compression will jump TO THE MOON! and you should get a noticable power increase. Oh, and you'll need to juice up your fuel but how much I don't know.  I've never seen it done, only hear about it so maybe someone here has more info.   hope so, I want to do it to the 1.6 that's planned for my Sammi.  "The Man" around here doesn't crack down on 1.6's in Sammi's like they do by you.  Then again...I'm the law 'round here!

Glad to see you as a member and not a Guest anymore! Good for you! And yes, this is one of the best boards around (I would say THE best, but then again this is the only one I've ever needed!) Anyway,

thats too bad about not being able to swap the engine, talk about shitty! What's with that??
What size of header do you use? How about your exhaust setup? What size of tires you you have on your rig and what kind? At those speeds that you are talking about, I'm sure the RR bolton SPOA or YJ conversion would be fine... but don't take my word for it! I don't own a sammy with leaf springs! I'm not sure about this either but (correct me if I'm wrong guys) but at those speeds you could look into that camshaft   What are the specs on it (too lazy to look myself...)

steveo