Meet Frank - '87 Samurai 'buggy' :)

LBarr2002 · Mar 3, 2011

Two weeks before a trip to Uwharrie with Clemson Offroad club last fall, a friend of mine (Tripp) asked if we could put together one of my parts Samis so he'd have something to wheel.

I bought this '87 last year, purely for parts. It had been chopped off, had a motor that was supposed to be good, and the clutch, flywheel, transmission and many other parts were in boxes.

We started by removing any 'good' body parts that were left to keep for spares, and stripped anything else that wasn't needed.

We bolted the drivetrain back together and it RAN

! So we took it for a ride!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-RiVAfFCr4

LBarr2002 · Mar 3, 2011

Everything at this point was either parts I had laying around or hand-me-downs from my Samurai. I bought new suspension seats and put the plastic buckets in this one. I got a free set of old military skinnies from my cousin and plasma cut the wheels out to fit the hubs. We checked out a few other things and sent it off to have a cage installed.

When we picked it up from the fabricator (Tuesday night before leaving on Friday) it wouldn't stay running. We messed with it for a while, started to rebuild the stock carb. Then Thursday night we decided to ditch the stock carb and installed the Weber off of Dylan's old motor. It ran like a champ, but a little smokey . So we loaded it up and left for Uwharrie.

We had a fun trip and it worked much better than anybody expected. Tripp did get stuck on a tree... and I had to drag it up Daniel Ledge...

LBarr2002 · Mar 3, 2011

With my Samurai, and my Dad's, Tripp decided to call this one Frank, and the name stuck.

Since then, we've added rear shocks, replaced the rear springs with good factory ones, started on a rear tube bed, made a top, installed gauges, and done a little wiring simplification .

This thing has been tons of fun.

LBarr2002 · Mar 3, 2011

Right now theres a stack of lowrange boxes in my shop waiting to be installed. There's also a 5.13 geared '95 sidekick behind the house :grin:. I'll update again when we get back to work on it.

97TJGUZZY · Mar 3, 2011

it was alot of fun to ride in when we were out there, that little thing can get it

Shilohsho · Mar 3, 2011

It could be posted in the "side by sides" section

WhiteRover · Mar 3, 2011

Yeah, I hate that tree Frank got stuck on, It took out one of my windows.

LBarr2002 · Mar 4, 2011

Shilohsho said:

At the Daniel parking lot on that trip, a Polaris Ranger (not an RZR) pulled up beside it and it was almost exactly the same size. The cage lines matched, wheel base was the same...

clemsonjeep · Mar 4, 2011

Who was the fabricator on the cage?

DanStew · Mar 4, 2011

Very cool!!!!

LBarr2002 · Mar 4, 2011

clemsonjeep said:

Brad Seaton and his friend that has the orange 350 powered Sami did it. It was a last minute, need it now deal and I like how it turned out. We're probably going to have him finish out the truggy bed at some point.

LBarr2002 · Jan 13, 2012

A few months ago Tripp rebuilt the front axle and put the Sidekick 5.13 third member in it. Since then, it hasn't had a rear drive shaft because 5.13s in the front and 3.73 in back. Tonight we started back on it and pulled the rear axle out of the Sidekick. Hopefully Frank will be 4wd again by the end of the weekend.

97TJGUZZY · Mar 18, 2013

its been a bit since the sidekick axle was pulled, but Frank did get 4wd again this past weekend. She rides much better being 10 inches longer and on air shocks :grinpimp:

Twilliamson · Mar 18, 2013

I was having too much fun to take any pictures but here is one.

Twilliamson · Mar 18, 2013

01tj said:

NO!!!...

LBarr2002 · Mar 18, 2013

01tj said:

Ummm... No.

bgredjeep · Mar 18, 2013

Is it just the picture, or are the link mounts outboard of the frame rail? If so, why not move them to the frame for at least some lower link triagulation? Maybe it's just the angle of the pic. I can't tell.

btw, it was already mention in one of the previous replies, but my first thought after seeing the pics when the cage was intalled was that it looked like a Rhino.

Twilliamson · Mar 18, 2013

bgredjeep said:

Lower links are mounted to the stock Rear-front spring mounts. Under the frame.

97TJGUZZY · Mar 18, 2013

bgredjeep said:

The pic is deceiving, the lowers are mounted in the old leaf spring hangers on the frame, it was done that way because it was easy, fast, and cheap...

we did it with parallel lowers and triangulated uppers.

LBarr2002 · Mar 18, 2013

01tj said:

It really needs seats and front end work before it can be wheeled hard. The front springs are way too stiff. We also need to mount a quart crate to carry the necessary extra oil...