zukijames' 86 sami

i guess i will put my rig on here (im pretty bored)

about 3 years ago i headed up to heber city with josh(toyotarockhead) and picked up a little zuk buggy

it had gears , lockers, yj spring swap, awesome 84 inch wheel base

I thought it was as built as i would ever need, i borrowed the money from my parents and remember telling them it was already built and i wouldnt have to spend any money on upgrade parts... hahaha

it was off road only and took some work to get it back on the road. i made some rear fenders installed tail/brake lights

i wanted more flex and josh had some toyota rear springs so i threw them up front

went to snakes to test them out

this pic was right after my first flop! dang waynes world. tried once more in the rain and didnt make it. finally i made got to try again this summer and made it !

Then i went to moab with josh and goose

decided i needed more wheelbase before i went down there so i got some more yota rears and put them on all corners and swapped to yota axles

i loved the new stance but still wasn't long enough to keep up with goose and josh



second flop at the snakes! i had no hydro assist so to be able to turn i had my arb turned off.. started tipping tried to throttle out and the tire in the air spun(bad driving im just making excuses)


tricky recovery just me and my gf on the trail and my 2000lb rear suspension winch mounted up in the frame rails

its never been a good camping rig

so i traded the yj swap for some old coil overs and radius arms and linked the front, the coils were so still that id did worse after linking it!

 

[ghetto]

Looks good. Are you going to make it for safari?

 

[zukijames]

I probably could.. If I could make it run . No spark and no injector pulse.. Hopefully once I get everything else done I can take it to panos and have him fix it since I bought motor and computer from him. And paid him to do the wiring harness

 

[ghetto]

I hope you do. It would be cool to wheel the new rigs.

 

[Cascadia]

Doesn't sound like anyone is having luck with Nic. Glad I didn't have him put a 4.7 in my Tacoma a few months ago. I think it would still be waiting.

 

[zukijames]

I hope you do. It would be cool to wheel the new rigs.

my girlfriend let me drive her buggy today I think I'll focus on getting hers ready.

Doesn't sound like anyone is having luck with Nic. Glad I didn't have him put a 4.7 in my Tacoma a few months ago. I think it would still be waiting.

No comment , this build just seems like every choice I make, part, vender ect seems to have issues .
i still havenot been fully refunded for the motor I was going to put in this.. Paid for it a year later no motor not even a pic to show he had one for me..

so he agreed to a refund not last Christmas but the one before..
holes not only tapped 1 turn on kknuckles

radiator marked as shipped then finding out its not even made yet

I will stop bitching and won't list all the other problems I've had to deal with
within

on a better note chad let me borrow his nitrogen tank and I got Maddies shocks adjusted And mine filled up and my rig off jack stands

 

[TRD270]

Man thats some bad luck, hope you get your ladies ride finished in time.

 

[chadschoon]

Glad to help with the Nitrogen

 

[zukijames]

Glad to help with the Nitrogen

Thanks again!

Only bad part is seeing yours buggy kinda killed my motivation that thing is sick! Seeing that made me realize how much of a hack job mine is

 

[zukijames]

I dig the sami hood. Does it run?

Took awhile but panos come through!

http://youtu.be/zqxXqbjxveM

 

[TRD270]

Nice

 

[sixstringsteve]

congrats, that's a huge milestone. Does that give you a boost of motivation?

 

[zukijames]

Oh yeah huge boost! Plumb radiator, get drive lines , and a few small things and it should be good to go

 

[Panos]

Sorry it took so long for me to get down there. I am glad you are up and running. The buggy is looking good !

 

[zukijames]

Thanks man all the parts are from you so it should be pretty sweet!

people get busy that's life


I unhooked the mass air and it runs but it takes like 4 trys then it's fine but maybe that's because the memory for ecu hooked up

 

[Panos]

You have a lot to hook up before it will run properly

 

[zukijames]

After panos got it running for me I realized there was an issues with the thrown out bearing spacer so(pushing on clutch fingers even when clutch petal was not pressed in.

so I got bummed out didn't really feel like dropping tranny blah blah.


nick at lowrange Offroad machined the spacer down for me but I still couldn't get motivated to put it back together.

today around 10am boss texted and said no work today. I decide I would push the zuk out side and cover it up for a few months and hope I find motivation.


well my friend josh came over (Toyota rockhead ) and help me with tranny and with a steering issue.

i ended up getting to drive it about 10 feet total it was a blast
10am

10 hours and 10 feet later

 

[TRD270]

Keep the motivation going!!! Get it out this summer

 

[sixstringsteve]

X2. Congrats James. Get this thing buttoned up.

 

[zukijames]

Keep the motivation going!!! Get it out this summer

Some motivation came from trying to keep up with your old runner in my stockish landrover.. I got embarrassed lol

 

[TRD270]

Some motivation came from trying to keep up with your old runner in my stockish landrover.. I got embarrassed lol

Haha at least its getting used. And yeah that thing is stupid flexy