Home again and I meet another Samurai Enthusiast

Monday, Aug 1

Happy Colorado Day!  Thought about doing the usual compiling of Colorado pictures over the last year; but it turned out not many pictures available!

After an hour and 20 minute delay due to personnel issues on the part of United Airlines (sick flight attendant); we managed to leave Kauai and survived the 6.5 hour long plane ride home at almost 8:30PM HST.

We got back to the overcrowded cesspool that is Denver at 7:30 AM MDT (I think), my mind was fuzzy from the uncomfortable sleep positions I tried after dinner on the plane.  I don't think I slept more than a few minutes at a time before some pain caused me to shift positions.  Oh well.

The Things picked us up and we all went home without further incident.  I was wiped out and after some light unpacking and a light breakfast, crashed till mid-afternoon.  Martha, on the other hand, powered on to her first day of the new school season!

Tuesday, Aug 2

I drove the Sammy to a new mechanic's shop: Big Nick's Gasoline & Diesel Repair.  The shop is the one that recently replaced Thing Two's truck's radiator and they had good reviews from neighborhood friends.  So I decided to have them do the radiator flush on the Sammy, see what kind of vibes I would get from them since I'd not met "Big Nick" before.

The shop is only a 12 minute walk from home, so conveniently located.

Turns out, he's a Samurai Enthusiast!  He looked over the Sammy and remarked on how good a condition she seemed to be, cosmetically of course.  I dropped the Sammy off, and would have it back about an hour later.  No issues, radiator flush done, and good vibes received about Big Nick and his operation.

The Sammy awaiting her radiator's flushing,

kind of looks like she's smiling eh?

Nick also showed me his son's Samurai rig:

Yeah, not street legal...

The above rig started life as a Suzuki Samurai but has been quite modified.  It's got a Toyota Engine in it, giving it an additional 85 HP and is the most easy, drop-in, engine swap for a Sammy.  It's also now an automatic transmission vehicle.  

Since they were going to drain the old coolant from the Sammy, I asked Nick to also remove the old carburetor's thermal choke which I'd left in place when I removed the old carburetor.  

Now, the choke is gone, and it's a single hose forming a loop for the coolant to just flow through:

Tomorrow, I plan to drive the Sammy over 100 miles to stress test the cooling system after it being flushed.  I'm also trying out a way to carry more gas with me in the cargo area of the Sammy:

The ROK straps hold it securely, the wood base should prevent rubbing damage on the bottom.  If it spills, its not on the side with the exhaust pipe and it's open to the air of course.

If the above proof of concept works tomorrow, I'll make it a bit more clean in terms of straps and such.

Oh, also found a minor leak on the gas tubing leading from fuel filter to the Sammy's gas line.  Replaced, and no more leaks.  The Toyota 3K carburetor continues to run great.

Brigitta's Clutch Cable End Breaks, A Torture Run for the Sammy and Sun Visors

 Monday, May 9

I rode out on Brigitta, my '87 R80 Beemer, just for a short run to get some stuff from the VRRV at the storage yard.  All was well until I was on Arapahoe Road heading home.   Then, I went to engage the clutch lever and there was a pop and then no resistance!  Yep, the end of the cable had snapped at the lever.

I was able to get within one mile of home before I could go no further without being able to engage the clutch.  So I parked Brigitta at the corner and started walking down the hill towards home after crossing the busy intersection of Smoky Hill Road and Himalaya Road.  

About a block down, it occurred to me that since I was walking downhill, that I could easily coast downhill with Brigitta!  So I walked back to her, pushed her across Smoky Hill Road at the pedestrian crossing, then mounted and rode her down the hill.  

Got within a half block or so of the house before she lost all momentum, then I pushed her a bit closer before getting Patrick (Thing One) to come out and help me push Brigitta onto the cul-de-sac and into the garage.  

I had a spare clutch cable at home fortunately, so I mounted it after using the old clutch cable as a routing guide.  Got the ends connected; then realized something:

Note, in the picture above, the small grey cap that is the end of the new clutch cable. (red arrow).  This bit is apparently called the nipple.

Seems to be a lot of room inside that cavity huh?  It had also been a remarkably short interval since I last changed out the clutch cable. (Less than 3000 miles).

I suspect, that I didn't realize that what BMW calls a Nipple Holder, is what you mount the end of the clutch cable to, then you insert the nipple holder onto that round cavity under the clutch lever!  Doh!

Nipple Holder

I ordered the parts (replacement clutch cable for spare and two nipple holders) and they came in today and Brigitta is whole once again.

Yesterday, May 11, Wednesday.

I drove the Sammy about 7 of the 8 hours it took to go and wander about the camping sites along Rampart Range Road, in the Rampart Range Riding Area.  The driving was a combination of highway, surface and dirt road driving.  Lots of slow driving from one campsite to the next, checking each out for future usage.  

The view from the Cabin Ridge Picnic Area

I believe this is near the junction of Rampart Range Rd

and Forest Road 507

After returning from the Rampart Range Riding Area, I detoured to Bee Rock for pics:

I would end up returning home via US85 to Castle Rock, then the Crowfoot Parkway to Parker and "enjoy" the stop and go traffic of Parker to Lincoln Avenue and thence homewards via Inspiration Drive and Gartrell Road.

I'm happy to report no issues with the oil pressure gauge leaking at the fitting anymore (I'd tightened it slightly).  It also had no coolant issues even in heavy stop and go traffic with the outside temperature approaching 90 degrees!

I did see the temperature gauge's needle, reach the 3/4 mark on the gauge and a bit beyond three times during the drive.  Each time, the gauge's needle would, after a few seconds, then start to move back towards the middle of the gauge.

After a conversation with RichardM, he suggested perhaps there's air in the coolant system, causing the gauge's behavior but that as long as it drops each time, all should be well.

The Sammy's oil level was about a quart low once I got home (yep, she continues to burn oil) so I topped it off.  The oil pressure gauge never fluctuated so it appears the oil level has to be more than one quart low before it'll affect the oil pressure gauge.  Good info for me to know.  RichardM explained to me that when you see the oil level on the dipstick below the low mark, that means the engine is about a quart low.

Later in the evening, a couple of cheap sun visors I'd ordered from Ebay from a vendor in India arrived.  The finish was "meh" and I had to adjust the placement placement of the mounting holes for the visor to align correctly.  I guess that's what you get when you go cheap.

Still, the Sammy's got visors now, no more starting into the sun in the early morning or late afternoon.

Sammy Maintenance, Engine Coolant Baselining and Minor Fixes

Just a record of some of the work done on the Sammy these last couple of weeks.

Servicing 4WD Locking Hubs:

The passenger side manual locking hub had gotten more and more difficult to turn from the Free to Lock position and back to Free.  Turned out the actual dial mechanism was in need of some oil lubrication.  The insides were clean and still lightly greased.  Cleaned off the old grease and applied new coat and re-assembled.

left to right: left hub cover, left hub, right hub cover, right hub

Gear Oil using components check:

Checked and topped off the Sammy's transmission with about 3 ounces of  80w90 Gear Oil before it started coming out of the inspection hole on its right side.  Rear differential needed less than 1 ounce, front different didn't need any and finally the transfer case required perhaps 2 ounces before fluid dribbled out of the inspection hole.

Cooling Performance Baselining:

After rigging a downstream overflow bottle for the coolant reservoir, I tracked over several drives, the temperatures at several points on the Sammy's engine to ascertain baseline figures when things seem to be running within cooling specifications.

I also have quite taking said fluid from the overflow bottle and putting it back into the radiator.  The stock reservoir you see, remains at the full mark, so I know there's coolant that can be drawn back into the radiator as needed.  So far, after three separate drives, all coolant levels remain stable.

Here's the points on the engine I'm monitoring with a touchless thermometer each time I stop and park after driving it for at least 5 miles and having seen the temperature gauge on the dash panel stabilize in the middle of the gauge's range.

Note: Image source is partsouq.com, I removed some items from their diagrams to clearly show where the measurement points are located.

The two empty bolt holes on the left forward edge of the cylinder head.

Average: 177°F (highest: 190°F)for upper hole

Average: 222°F (highest:234°F) for lower hole.

The gasket you see above is the head gasket which I'll be eventually replacing.

Empty bolt hole on the engine block itself, forward left corner.

Average temperature 197°F (225°F)

The intake manifold's second intake tube

Average temperature 144°F (highest 166°F)

The coolant thermostat's cover 

Average temperature 197°F (highest 209°F)

Defrost Vent: No air flowing from driver side vent

Last couple of times I'd actually felt like turning on the heater on in the Sammy and setting it to defrost the windshield; I'd noticed no air flow on the driver side.  Not good as ice would form of course.  Each time it had happened I'd had to wipe things down with a paper towel.

Today, I got around to seeing where the problem was, it turned out to be a simple issue:  The feed tube from the heater up to the vent had been knocked off somehow:

So glad it was an easy fix.....I'd started the diagnosis thinking of how I'd have to contort my body to get at things behind the dashboard!  Someday I've got to trace and tidy up the mess of wires you see.  I believe most are involved with the radio.

Eastward, Ho! Day 35: Zookimelt Rally's last day.

 Rain on and off through the night made for muddy conditions this Saturday.

My Sammy was dethroned as the "cleanest" rig (in terms of lack of rust and dents) by this rig that showed up overnight:

She does look pretty nice doesn't she?

The owner of the green rig's girlfriend drove this sharp looking rig

Mike W. and his rig: L'il Zilla

Another new arrival....the Mud Bus

The main event in the morning was the group picture, it was decided to do it at Puckett's Playground, a hill climb area about a mile into the offroad track area.  We followed Mike W and Laura and slowly made our way safely to the picture area.

Can you spot Martha or my Sammy?

hint: look for pink blouse, last row

Laura and Mike W.

After the group pic was taken by the event photographer, several rigs tried the hill climbs depicted in the picture above.  No, I did not even think of trying.  Only a couple of the rigs made it all the way to the top, several tried to but had to back down the hill side.

One Sammy, who took a different route back to camp than us, had a bit of an accident:

The driver/passenger were OK, but the right side window was busted and some crinkling of the tin top. Yep, it was the Mud Bus!

Back at the campground, it would soon be time for the Sammy Yam Cooking Event.  You take a loop around the dirt track, with a can of yams strapped somewhere on your Sammy, most likely inside the engine compartment, and the one that completes the loop with the highest temperature yams, wins.

Pics of Sammys riding slowly about the loop proved to produce uninteresting pics, except for one Sammy, this one caught air!

Here's Jason, the winner of the contest with 147 degrees Fahrenheit's worth of Yams!

Afterwards, it was relaxing time until the group dinner and end of rally ceremony where vendor-provided swag was given away via raffle tickets.  The burgers and hotdogs were courtesy of the Dirty Turtle Offroad Park people so that was a nice thanks from them.

Martha won a cover for the grill opening on the hood of the Sammy which tends to collect leaves and stuff in the course of time.  More on that later.

After the ceremonies, we hung out with Mike and Laura after he showed me how simple it is to check timing on the Sammy via the timing marks and listening to the engine.

We leave tomorrow morning, a very welcoming and fun rally, the Zookimelt.  We'll see if the stars align and I'm able to bring the Sammy back next year.  Lots of things have to fall in line for that to happen so we'll see.

Eastward, Ho! Day 30: Light Maintenance, Chore Day....and another Samurai!

 After a yummy breakfast of salt-cured ham and biscuits and following the replacement of the fuel filter on the Sammy this morning ; we drove into the little town of Eddyville, KY. 

While Martha did laundry at the laundromat I went to the nearby hardware store and got all the bits needed to fix the outdoor shower on the VRRV.

The old filter looking yukky

per RichardM

There was a Napa store nearby and so I ordered the upper radiator hose for the Sammy as the existing one is starting to bolt a bit where it hooks to the radiator.

While we waited for the clothes to finish drying, I spotted this old Samurai across the street at the flea market. I parked my Sammy behind it and was getting ready to take pictures when the owner and his wife walked up and we started chatting.

Now you can see the difference between a stock Sammy and one that has been lifted ( mine ).

The other Sammy had more rust than mine and the engine had been redone by a previous owner according to the current owner.  There was a bit of black smoke when he started it to drive away so I guess like mine, it's a work in progress!

At last, Martha was done with the laundry:

Once we were back at the camp I put the new bits in place after removing the failed bits:

The original setup

Cracked plastic fitting

where one connects the

shower hose

New bit of tubing 3/8" ID to a

1/2" to 3/8" fitting.

It still leaks a teeny little bit but good enough for my skill set!  Having an outdoor shower is very nice on hot and humid days!

The Sunset hour came and off I went on Yagi to the nearby Sunset spot:

A couple of fawn, with their mother nearby, posed for me

New Shoes for Mariko

Sunday, March 21

I went to do the daily fluid checks on Mariko after breakfast and found this:

Dammit.

So I broke out the bottle jack, raised her up and swapped in the spare tire.  Here's what I found in terms of puncture cause:

I ended up pulling out a spine almost as long as the big one

in the picture above, same cluster of spines.

Spare tire in place, yep that's a white wheel...all the others

are black, makes me think the white one was original wheel.

I aired up the punctured tire, sprayed some soapy water where I found spines embedded and there was only one puncture, right on the top of the sidewall!  This would end up preventing a patching of the tire by the tire shop I ended up at later on.

Monday, March 22

I broke camp soon after breakfast and about two hours later I was pulling into the parking lot of my Father-in-Law's snowbird residence in Sun City, AZ.

I had an appointment with the folks at Discount Tire a few miles away, but they were short 1 of the 5 tires we jointly determined I needed.  Thread depth was OK on the tires, but the spare was much more worn down, and apparently had a slow leak too.  That, plus the fact they weren't allowed to patch the sidewall puncture, and the age of the tires (8-9 years old and Discount Tires policy doesn't allow them to work on tires older than 10 years old) made me decide to replace them all.

There goes my stimulus check!  Or as Martha calls them, my Biden Bucks.  Yep, doing my part to stimulate the economy!

Tuesday, March 23

Returned to Discount Tires and all was in readiness.  While they worked to swap the new tires onto the wheels, I walked over to the nearby Walmart to do some shopping.  By the time I got back, they had all the wheels off:

Interestingly they didn't use a vehicle lift to get her off the ground, instead using four large floor jacks.

The only issue encountered by them was when it came time to back Mariko out of the service bay.  The young tech couldn't get her to move.  Since I was standing there, they asked me to drive her out, turns out the tech had forgotten to release the parking brake I believe.  Oh well.

She rode just fine on the way back to my FIL's place.  Here's a pic of the thread pattern on these BF Goodrich KO2 All Terrain Tires.  Size 30x9.5/R15 LT.  All made between weeks 5 and 7 of 2021 so hopefully I'll wear them out before 2031 rolls around!  I of course paid for the Road Hazard warranty coverage as well, just in case of future punctures!

BF Goodrich KO2

Made in the U.S.A.

They even have "Baja Champions" stamped on them.

Cochise Stronghold, Indians, dinosaurs and clogged air filters.

 Quite the eventful drive today with Mariko.

We took FR 345 all the way across the southern end of the Dragoon Mountains and onto the town of Pearce which is the gateway to the Cochise Stronghold area.

FR345 is very rough and bumpy, not as bad as Soren Pass with it's rock strewn conditions but enough to keep one's speed down to less than 30 mph for the most part.

Neat signpost at someone's driveway

There's USFS free camping sites before the actual campground that might be worth exploring some other year, once the burned areas evident from the road recover from the apparently recent burnings.  The campground itself is for tents and truck campers, not for anything larger really.

As you can see, the terrain is quite rugged and perfect for Cochise's band of Apache indians to escape to when pursued by the U.S. Cavalry back in the day.

Instead of returning via FR345 with its bumpy conditions, I elected to head towards the town of Benson and Interstate 10.  Before you get to Benson though, one transits the town of Dragoon.  Before you hit Dragoon, you find yourself driving past metal sculptures of dinosaurs which catch your eye.

Turns out, it's the Rattlesnake Ranch and its collection of metal sculptures.  You care welcome to drive into a small portion of the ranch where the sculptures are:

Neat sculptures, the scale is off of course but still, worth a short stop.

Then it was a run on the interstate, getting off at the exit for the town of Benson and then getting on US80 towards Tombstone.  It was on this stretch of road that Mariko started displaying a lack of top end power.  She eventually couldn't even hold 50 mph on level ground, much less on the inclines!  

Suspecting air flow (more like hoping), I swapped out the new air filter, recently installed which looked very dirty and fouled with oil.  I put in the old filter from which I'd knocked off dust days.

The lack of power persisted so we limped to the exit for Middlemarch road.  I called RichardM, who displayed his usual expertise in troubleshooting.  After trying several things and checking stuff, he suggested trying a run without the air filter in place, just make sure to stay on pavement.

I removed the air box, leaving the carburetor's intakes exposed and went on a test run.  Mariko seemed to run fine and able to achieve 60-65 as expected on the downhill portions and holding 50-55 on the uphill bits!

Then, a run was done with the airbox and filter back in place and again she experienced a lack of top end power!

Thinking I had an air nozzle back at camp, I drove Mariko the ten miles back to camp.  No air nozzle!  However, found that an accessory kit that came with the Smittybilt Air Compressor had a plastic nozzle that worked to blow what I thought was not a lot of dust from the air filter.

Still, got it cleared up, put it back in and drove the ten miles back to pavement (US 80).  I made sure to not drive behind any vehicle spewing the talcum-like dust that is typical of this part of Arizona.

Mariko drove fine with the recently cleared air filter!  Drove her a few miles along US80, US82 and back to the town of Tombstone where I got more gas and some snacks.

So, apparently I have to be more diligent about keeping the air filter clean in these dusty conditions and terrain.  Some chatting with the Sammy Guru: Mike W. might result in using an old t-shirt wrapped around the air filter to keep the dust out, perhaps an old sock on the intake tube of the air box.  We'll see.