1988 beater for the farm, got a few questions

[goober]

Hey guys/gals. first post, been lurking here decided to just join...

Got a little '88 5 speed for a farm beater to take some of the work load off of the atv. Picked it up for $400 bucks so I can stand to spend a little on it and still come out ahead. It's been rolled over on the side so the body is boogered up, but since it'll be a farm beater for the remainder of its days that doesn't bother me at all, poor thing will probably never get out of 3rd gear again...


anyhow, on to my issues. I'm a very good mechanic so don't worry about getting techy with me, I can handle it just never touched a suzuki before... I will be getting a book as soon as I can, just hoping to get some answers here so I can possibly make the little booger fire tomorrow.

1.
the timing is way off, I see some orange rtv around the distributor shaft so someone has had that off. This thing has a 2 piece distributor shaft, one coming off of the cam, then the distributor mounts to that at a 90 degree angle. Is there any way someone could have gotten either of those turned wrong so it's firing on the wrong cylinder? I know some cars have keyed shafts so they can't get put in wrong, just not sure about this one. If this isn't the case, I would imagine that they have replaced the timing belt and gotten it wrong

2.
Carburetor, I'm not getting squat out of the accelorator pump so the carburetor needs some love. Would I be better off just throwing the old one away and getting a weber? I put a weber on a little mitsubishi mighty max last year and it really made it scream but I was using waaayyy too much fuel. I'm not looking for more power or speed here, but rather something to run around the farm and not drink a ton of gas. So, to those with experience, should I just rebuild what I have (assuming it's rebuildable) or go on and order the weber? again, I'm looking for economy not power.

3.
I have read on here that if the mechanical fuel pump is bad it'll put gas in my oil... There is certainly some gas in my oil. When I removed the fuel line from the carburetor it really shot a big squirt of fuel while turning the engine over, so it seems to be functioning. In your opinion do you think the pump is bad or that there is just that much fuel in the oil from the previous owner trying to start it over and over with the bad timing not letting it fire... Second part, replace with OEM or put a cheap electric on?

because of the bad accelerator pump and gas in the oil I'm not expecting it to run, nor would I allow it to until the oil is changed, I just want to hear it run for a few seconds on ether or carb cleaner so I will have the motivation to continue. The old fella I got it from will gladly take the car back should I deem it not worth repairing so I'm not worried about being ripped off on it.

Thanks in advance folks, I hope this is in the right forum, this is a pretty large forum here. Any other advice would be appreciated as I'm new to these little trucks/engines.

[goober]

just realized this was a multi-vehicle subsection of the forums... I have a samurai

[Mikeww]

When I got mine the accelerator pump wouldn't work because the tube it squirts out of was stopped up I'd pull the top off the carb and clean it up, they're not to bad to work on.

The timing isn't to tricky if you have the fsm you can download it here somewhere.

I've only had mine a few weeks now but it seams like it will be a fun little vehicle to own and work on.

Mike

[Mikeww]

Service manuals and other good info here .:Suzuki Download Archive:.

And check out rhino mans site he's a mighty helpful cuss around here RhinoPower Ltd

Mike

[goober]

thanks for the links, I'll check those out. The fella I got the truck from has a manual he said I can come borrow.

[goober]

good call on the links, bummer for me the ones I need aren't working

some of them are broken links, but the factory service manual is in a zip file and unusable for anyone running any computer other than windows. Thanks though, I'll keep trying to get the FSM to download.

I was able to find one answer! You apparently can get the distributor completely f-ed up if you don't remove it with marking location of the rotor and housing. I hope that is all that is wrong with my little truck, seems like someone has the timing almost 180 degrees out.

[goober]

I finally got the zip file to download... man microsoft really bugs me

awesome that I now have the factory service manual, that's a truly great resource and I appreciate you directing me to it!

still wondering about the carburetor (rebuild vs. replace)
and
fuel pump (replace? electric or OEM)

I'd hate to put 20 dollars worth of oil/filter into her and then have to do it again immediately.

[Mikeww]

Originally Posted by goober

I was able to find one answer! You apparently can get the distributor completely f-ed up if you don't remove it with marking location of the rotor and housing. I hope that is all that is wrong with my little truck, seems like someone has the timing almost 180 degrees out.

I would start by setting #1 cylinder at TDC on compression stroke then set then dis at the #1 position. Could it be that someone has the plug wires crossed?

Mike

[Mikeww]

Originally Posted by goober

still wondering about the carburetor (rebuild vs. replace)
and
fuel pump (replace? electric or OEM)

I'd hate to put 20 dollars worth of oil/filter into her and then have to do it again immediately.

You rebuild a carb when its worn out unless the shafts and linkages are sloppy you just need to take it apart and give it a good cleaning.

As for the fuel pump I've never seen one dump fuel Into the oil not saying it cant happen. I suppose the way to check it would be to pull it of and work it by hand to see if it leaks.

Mike

[FifteenFiftyAgs]

I traded for a Samuri early this spring and when I got it the carb was total junk... So I had a Rochester dual jet on hand. I used and adaptor from a toyota land cruiser that looks like a mini tunnel ram. At first i did all this with no mods done to the intake, just using its stock ports. It worked but it had a massive stumble off idle. Later I took it all back apart and cut the ports out in the intake where the carb meets. It still has an ever so slight stumble when cold but otherwise she's a screamer. Plus the plugs Show that it's jetted right. Being new to this sight, I felt that i needed to share.


I posted this bout a few days ago. Btw I'm running 31 15.50 ags on the back and 31 10.50 mud tires on the front with little power loss. Still got 4th gear in High range on the street