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Wilit: The Man, The Myth, His '87 Samurai
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1987 Suzuki Samurai JX · 1.3 Litre SOHC 4 Cylinder · 5-spd Manual Transmission · 3.73:1 Open Front & Rear Diffs Factory Options Modifications |
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Suzuki began making 4wd vehicles in 1965 with the ON360 which was powered by a 21hp 360cc aircooled 2-stroke engine. Not much changed in 1986 when they introduced the Suzuki Samurai (SJ410) to North American buyers. Powered by a 1.3 Litre SOHC 4 cylinder, the Samuai pumped out a whopping 64hp and a ground pounding 74ft/lbs of torque (no, I'm not making this up). In 1990, fuel injection found it's way onto the Samurai and power jumped to a staggering 66hp. Body trims included a removable hardtop, removable soft-top, or a permanant hardtop. 0-60 times have been clocked at 18.7 seconds and the 1/4 mile crawling past in 20.5 seconds at 64 miles an hour. So wait, if it takes 18.7 seconds to accelerate to 60, you're telling me it takes an additional 1.8 seconds to speed up 4 more miles per hour? WOW! | ||
| Here was yet another vehicle purchase influenced by my brother Chris. He had taken me for a ride in his Samurai during a fine Sacramento summer day with the top down, and I was hooked. I knew my next vehicle had to be a Samurai. So, when the Ranger became just un-reliable enough, I began my search for a Samurai. I was surprised to find people wanted more than $2000 for ones that had been severely beaten. I finally found a Samurai in Mountain View for $1800, that had been very well cared for. Shortly after buying it, I was bitten by the modification bug, more out of necessity than anything else. The poor thing barely had enough power to get out of its own way. I was able to improve the performance a bit with the addition of a header, cam, and a free flowing intake system. Unfortunately, the 1-bbl carb at altitude was pretty worthless, and any trips to Tahoe was very slow going above 4,000 feet. | 
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| You know how they say Suzuki Samurai's filp over real easy? Yeah, I found that out first hand. Bryan and I were on our way to Bear Valley to go snowboarding. We were rounding a corner, going up a hill while crossing a bridge at the same time. I had downshifted the exact moment the rear tires hit a patch of black ice. Due to the lack of horsepower, there was no way to power out of the slide, I had corrected it twice, but it eventually hit the snow bank at such an angle that the impact had flipped it onto the driver side door. As Bryan and I still sat strapped into our seats, stunned, we looked at eachother and then quickly scrambled out of the back of the Samurai. The people behind us had stopped, and help us pick up all of the stuff which had flown onto the road after our fishtail maneuver. Four of us flipped it back onto its wheels, and we were able to start it back up. We drove the rest of the way to Bear Valley, snowboarded all day, then drove home at a maximum 50mph, all the while chips of windshield were flying into our faces. This was another vehicle I hated getting rid of, which is probably why it sat in front of my apartment for 2 months before I finally donated it to charity. | |||
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