WHEELS

Picked up some 15x8 rims in trade for some $$ and some old Xterra IFS parts

WINCH

I bought a Warn 8274 winch mount for a ridiculously cheap $49 delivered!

I saved my Superwinch LP8500 off the old Xterra. It's which is way more winch than required for the lil' 2000lb Zuk...but it's going on ;)

I channeled the front bumper to slot this 'big' monster in :)

Then I added some 1/4 brackets and 1/2inch bolts to beef up the mounts.

It works REALLY well :)

FUEL TUNING

It's fair to say the Zuk has been a pain to get running correctly. I've had blow fuel pumps, inconsistent RPMS, stalling....etc

Tonight committed a cardinal sin...I made multiple adjustments in one go!

I ran some carb cleaner through it.

Adjusted the float to spec at between 15 to 20 degrees, with 0.445in float depth. Float is moving freely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6y32Gw5HK4

Increased the vacuum port hole by drilling it to 1/8in. as per video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXKUT9HeRnM

Sealed up the mounting surfaces with RTV

If I were to judge the results only by ear, I'd say that was a vast improvement. The engine no longer sounds lumpy like a Harley and the RPMs are much much smoother.

I have to check the mixture tomorrow as it was idling really nice when cold, so it's probably running rich now the vacuum port is moving the float 'better'.

 

INTERIOR RESTORE

The dashboard in the Zuk has some heat damage, cracks, holes, and is missing the vents.

Buddy of mine is making a custom dashboard, so he offered me his perfect dash for free!

We also swapped door cards - my diamond plate door cards for some original Sami door cards in excellent shape, including all clips fully intact! :)

My only problem now is.....where to mount my radio?

 

 

PARKING BRAKE SWAP

The early SJ410's came with the parking brake drum setup connected to the output shaft of the transfer case.

The Zuk had a leak on the transfer case output shaft which had contaminated the parking brake. The brake shoe was also down to the metal.

After calling around there were no shoes available, so I decided to swap out the early parking brake setup for the later version.

The Zuk came to me with no brakes, and luckily the rear brakes that I previously swapped in were from a later Samurai - they have the parking brake mechanism inside the rear drums.

So I order a set of parking brake cables and started on finishing the swap today.

I quickly discovered the parking brake lever on the early SJ410's is different too. Luckily I still had the parking brake from the yellow one, and it is in decent shape.

Soon I had the parking brake lever swapped out and the cable installed. I had to use cable ties to secure the cables as the brackets are missing on the rear axle. Maybe I'll re-make them later.

Now I have a parking brake, which is useful when you have a manual transmission ! :)

DEATH WOBBLE

The lil'Zuk has double shackles on the front - but it also has death wobble. As you can see from the photo, there's a significant amount of side to side movement even just turning the wheels.

So I've welded a brace across the 2 long shackles. Now that play is gone!

The Zuk is so light it wasn't able to droop the top shackle down, so I also welded it to the frame so it can't move at all.

The top of these 2 shackles are from an XJ, so buddy kindly gave me a couple out of his bone yard to swap out.

Also,  the steering stabilizer was leaking under the boot, so I got that swapped out.

I also did a laser alignment, which showed it to be toe-ing in slightly. So that got adjusted.

Previously the only way to stop the death wobble at low speeds was to air up to 40PSI, which is almost double what is recommended. Even then, I'd get it occasionally from 0 to 20 km/h.

Now with the new shock and the replacement shackle, I was able to air down to 25PSI without any death wobble!
Driving over off camber/diagonal rail tracks was no problem too :)

Now I'm sure the steering stabilizer is probably still masking something as there's a slight steering wheel shake at all speeds, but that could be tire balancing. So I plan to throw some BB gun beads in there, and put the Zuk on stands to check wheel straightness.

Thing rides like a Cadillac now with the tires at the correct pressure :)

SPOT LIGHTS

Decided to remove the big halogen spot lights, which were excellent, and install a pair of LED spot lights.

Found the ZUK badge too :)