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1984 Suzuki SJ410


DavidB

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Fun wee things these, my mate bought a new one on an F reg which I christened 'Bouncer', not after the dog in Neighbours but because you travelled about a mile vertically for every five you went forwards in it.  Just trying to drive it in a straight line was a challenge and that was a split new one.
Fuck knows what a 35 year old one is like.

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That is fantastic, haven't seen one of those in years.

The old gamekeeper had one on the country estate where I grew up, it went absolutely everywhere, there was this one route that really gave me the heebie jeebies, which was an unsurfaced track running directly along side and about 30 feet above a river. It had washed out in places and been 'repaired' by chucking brash and bits of old tree branches into the gaps. I'd never appreciated the benefits of a narrow light 4x4 so much!

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Love it. As for your driving experience, I raised a wry smile as I read about you having to fight it with the worry you may not make it home. I'm glad it wasn't just my old 94 Samurai which was single-handedly the most terrifying vehicle I've ever had the pleasure of driving. Mine felt like it was dancing and pirouetteing down the road and that two lanes would be easier to swerve around in, rather than just one. I always put the appalling driving experience with mine down to the home-made mild lift kit the PO had fitted, but it sounds like they are all characterful* to pilot.

Looking forward to updates! 

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10 hours ago, DavidB said:

My main concern is a very loud ‘whine’ from either the gearbox or more likely the transfer case on acceleration. It disappears on deceleration, but any increase in throttle results in a very loud GRRRRRRRR. It’s not much of a problem as they’re easy to obtain

 As an early b reg it looks like a tin dash aswell in the photo? Air intake vents on the passengers side of the scuttle? 

If it's a tin dash, and still maintains its original running gear then the Transfer case is different to the later C  plate onwards SJ I'm afraid,  the flanges and propshafts are smaller and non interchangeable with the later vehicles, the gearing is marginally different too.  

Chuck a pic up of the underside if you can.

All the parts from India are for the later version of the SJ, they built lwb samurais with sj413 interiors as the maruti gypsy king. 

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1 hour ago, Dick Van Diesel said:

but it sounds like they are all characterful* to pilot.

They are, absolutely shite handling. But id say the most fun you Can have at low speeds, 

Although i Have had 2 of mine over the 80mph mark many years ago. Doors flapping, engine screaming true terror. 

I bloody love these thing. 

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Fabulous, well bought.

Back in the 80's we had a mate who was a salesman for a Lancia and Suzuki dealership.Occasionally he's rock up in a Delta HF turbo but mostly a White SJ soft top (with the yellow graphics and white hood). I remember a trip to the coast when the girls wanted to go in the Suzuki. They refused to go in it on the way back....Now I know why.

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20 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

They are, absolutely shite handling. But id say the most fun you Can have at low speeds, 

Although i Have had 2 of mine over the 80mph mark many years ago. Doors flapping, engine screaming true terror. 

I bloody love these thing. 

You're a brave man. I was glad to pass mine on tbh. I don't think it helped that the exhaust was blowing and tickling my throat with a mild helping of monoxide. They truly are brilliant little things offroad though - my brother's mate defied gravity offroad many times with his. My old Samurai sold to a bloke in Germany- he won it on ebay, drove over with a trailer, purchased it from me at 6am and headed back to Deutschland to use it as a dedicated offroad trial vehicle. I won't mention the bit where he got shitty because 'it has no power and will not drive onto the trailer'. Daft bat had lobbed it into third as he was used to sitting on the other side and hadn't realised his error. Fortunately I picked up on it before he fried the clutch.

Annnnyway, back to the SJ on here - B plate tin top must be a really early survivor I'd have thought? Earliest were 82/Y plate iirc. 

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This is brilliant! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these older than a C reg, the hard top van variant must be really rare by now. I still can’t believe they only have a 1.0 engine either! It sounds tiny but by the sounds of it they can still hold their own off road.

 

Nice job on the sun visors too. How much to drink a shot of that rancid water!?

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Fantastic. I kept looking at these on eBay but knew I'd probably never get to own one.

Again I know so many of these from back in the day. The famous humping rhinos wheel cover, was that on these?

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I’d like to hear about how these handle is that’s the correct term, first hand. We all know the pub lore; but is one of those cars where the number of opinions about them is vastly greater than people who have actually driven one regularly and lived with one. They look Like they match that reputation for on road waywardness which probably fuels it. Watching with interest!

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That T box has been changed for a later box. The drive flange has been re drilled to suit the skinny props on yours. 

I've circled what looks like cut wires.

20200705_162235.thumb.png.dc2d608cd5a99e806bd06a71128a0028.png

Alot of Early boxes dont have a switch on them for the 4wd light on the dash. Later cars did. Its on the sticking our part where the selector lever goes into the case behind the flange in that picture. 

The 410 had a different ratio transfer,413 and samurai are the same ratio but the samurai was handbrake on the rear axle. 

To check what you have 

Sj410 box in low range 2 and a half turns input flange equals 1 full turn of the output.

Sj413 box in low range is 2 and a quarter turns to 1 on the output 

High range differs aswell.

 

410 boxes are expensive as they used to be used to drop the ratio down to account foe larger tyre Or were used to build rocklobster /crawler transfer boxes which give a 4.1 ratio to make low actually low. 

 

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