Just joined the forum. I bought a 83 sj 410 a couple weeks ago.I never realized how awesome these little diggers are. Anyway my question is how different is my sj 410 from the samurai as far as diffs t-case and trans are concerned?Will a 1.3 bolt up to my trans? I want to start modifying and need to know what will swap and what won't. Will a SPOA lift for a samurai fit my housings? Will the lower t-case gear sets fit my case? Thanks in advance for any answers. I just want to know as much about it as I can.

Oooo, I know this one! 

Short answer:  Nothing will swap over.  That about covers it.

Long answer:

Stock, your 4 speed has a higher first gear.  The 1.3 will not bolt up and if you have to replace your clutch just call Hawk Suzuki and order it from them.  My local part shop ordered the wrong clutch twice before I finally just called Hawk and waited the 3 days for delivery.  In fact, when replacing anything for the SJ-410 just call Hawk Suzuki.  It will save you a lot of head ache.

Your transfer case is 10% lower then a stock Sammy case in both low and high range.  I have been told that the lower transfer case gears will now work in the 410 casing, but on the plus side the Sammy transfer case is a direct swap as long as it has the small flanges, that is the pre-88.5 models I believe.

The SJ-410 axles are 3" shorter and have smaller diffs, but you do have 4.10 gearing instead of the 3.89.  However none of the Sammy lockers will fit.  But you can get lock rights for the SJ-410 from E-Bay for a good deal.

Your springs are 3" closer together, so if you get a couple of Sammy axles you will have to cut off the spring and re-weld them 1.5" inboard on each side.

The engine is a 970cc with 45hp and 42lb stock.  Side Draft carburetor that doesn't stall when off-camber or bouncing up hills.  The engine is nearly impossible to kill and will run forever with all sorts of abuse.  So if you plan on replacing it when it finally dies, it is never going to happen.  Official top speed of 60 when it was released on the market.

Never officially brought into the US, the ones we have came out of Canada.  Thus you can gets lots of parts cheap on E-bay.  I have a spare carb, transmission, distributor, and a full gasket set for the engine.  I think I payed less then 40 for everything.

The body is pretty much the same though.  Dimensions and most panels will swap over.  Different flares on the fenders.  You have the metal slotted grill which automatically makes your rig 20% more stylish then the average Sammy.

You can watch a nice movie released by Suzuki on basic 4x4 driving techniques for your SJ-410 on-line:
Part 1 -
Part 2 -

As for the SOA, it probably will.  The brakes and front rotors will swap over to the SJ-413 (Samurai) depending on where your 410 was made.  So most kits should work.  I believe the axle housings are the same diameter.  I would seriously look at an axle swap right away if you want to build it up.

Yea, thats all I have off the top of my head. 

Thanks for all the info. I am in Alberta Canada so hopefully I can find parts if I need them. I have a line on an 88 sammi with the t-case locked up. I started watching that driving video but I'm on dial up and it took an hour to download 5 minutes.It was pretty neat to see a new one in action. For now I think I will just do a spring over with some 31 inch swampers and a 4 to 1 t-case set up and weld the rear up because I will put in a sammi diff when the stocker packs it in. I still can't believe where it will go with just 235 MS tires. It just needs a little more jam.

Does yours have a 4wd light? if there is a facility for this on the t-case then the Sammi crawler gears will fit. It seems that the change in the internals happened sometime in '83. Getting some of the widetrack axles off a Sammi and fitting them with the narrow track spring spacing will be a nice mod plus the CV's are a bit beefier. Doing an engine swap with a 1.3 or 1.6 is a bit more involved though.

No it doesn't have a 4wd light ,but hopefuliy it has the proper case.   

If you can find them LJ80 diffs fit and give lower gearing. A 38mm carb and header gives a good power increase, over here (UK) the HIF38 SU from a Mini 1000 is a common fitment. The SJ413/Samurai electronic ignition set up (distributor and coil) is also good swap.