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The Popsicle!
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 In
the Fall of 2001 he purchased what he thought to be a good deal. SPOA
Samurai, 33” Mud tires, Weber Carb, longer shackles (WAY longer) and the
doors were removable!! So he bought it. After the 8 hour return drive and a
good cleaning he realized that he had purchased a Cancer patient.
 There
were holes everywhere imaginable. After a month of searching he found a
Sammi in great condition for 100.00 in a salvage yard that he figured to use
as a donor. After some research he found out that the Zuk still had a good
title and paid the fees to get it transferred into his name. That’s when he
decided to just build the salvage yard Samurai as it was in way better shape. |
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 Art
then began to research what he wanted to do with the project. It didn’t take
long before he decided to go all out and install a Rocky Road coil kit.
Since he was buying the suspension from Rocky Road he also purchased a new
6:1 Mega-Crawler transfer case, KAD driveshafts, OTT steering, Crawler rear
bumper with swingout tire carrier, 2 lockrites, beefed up t-case arms, poly
t-case mounts, and a set of Spidertrax birfield rings. He also bought a new
Weber carb to assist his 1.3 in turning the 33 inch all-terrain tires. |
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| While Art was in Iraq he still continued to build up his Samurai. He found some 33x15x14 Super Swamper Boggers mounted on a set of Willamette Beadlocks in the iZook classifieds and made the transaction from overseas. He returned home in May 2003 and continued work on his project. | ||
| Finally in late July of 2003 the Samurai was ready for a test drive. It didn’t take but a few miles to realize that the stock 1.3 wasn’t up to the task of turning the 33” Boggers on the street. Fortunately he knew exactly where to turn. The guy who had sold him the Boggers had a 1.6ltr. 8v engine in great condition, complete with a Calmini Adapter sitting in his garage and it was for sale! A phone call and a few days later and the Fuel injected 1.6 arrived in a crate. With a little help from Sean Devinney at Aftermarket 4x4, the wiring harness from the 1.6 was modified and the motor was installed in the Samurai. | ||
  The
Samurai was now mechanically complete but it still needed a few more parts
to finish it. The interior got a coat of Crawgard from Roadless Gear. A full
custom cage came from Rock 4x Fabrication. The front seats came from Jegs,
along with 4 point racing harnesses for the front seats and 3 point
harnesses for his kids in the rear. |
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 The
last piece was the custom Shrockbars from Shrockworks. Or was it?
 Since
he wanted to finish off his hard work with some class he asked his 5
year-old daughter to pick a new color for the Zuk. After 2 minutes at the
paint store the decision was made. Art said he expected it to be pink or
purple but was very pleased with his daughter’s decision. She chose POPSICLE
ORANGE!! That was it, the final piece of the puzzle. |
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 Since
then Art has been on numerous wheeling trips and has continued to
make adjustments where necessary. Outside of his coil suspension his
favorite mod has been his fold down windshield kit from Trail Tough.
Upgrades have been made to the Coil Suspension as well as many other
parts.
 He
recently upsized his tires from 33” Boggers to 35” Boggers and
realizes that an axle swap is must to avoid snapping the stock
Suzuki axles. As this went to press he was busy swapping in some
Toyota mini-truck axles complete with Sky-Manufacturing Hi-steer and
Lockrite lockers front and rear. |
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Art Lilley |
07/24/10 08:20
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