Hey Gents, I am glad to have found this forum and have spent hours reading all kinds of things about kei trucks. I currently reside in Japan and will so for the next year and a half. Without reading these great posts, and just spending a few hours on youtube about kei trucks, i thought i wanted a subaru sambar dump truck super charged. after looking on auctions for months, and only finding one supercharged dump, and losing the bid by 60$... i settled on the carb sambar dump. I was thinking an engine swap would be no problem, but its sounding like it is a huge problem and it would be easier to just find a super charged sambar and make it a dump. Seeing as how the navy will ship a vehicle for me, I am thinking of either selling mine here and getting a boosted dump, of a different manufactor, or buying a super charged sambar and making it a dump. But looking at parts for Sambars isnt difficult here... but seeing the struggle stateside it looks real. I'm starting to think i might should go with a HiJet? please any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
First, thank you for your service. I don't see Sambar parts as crazy hard to find, but dump parts might be another story. I don't think you could go wrong with either, but I'd spring for that extra $60 and get what I wanted. And I got a bunch of work done on mine over there cheaper than I could get the parts alone over here, so I do recommend getting everything done over there before you ship it back.
I got this advice when I bought my truck at auction but I think its pretty solid advice for auctions in general. Don't get cute with the price. Figure out your max and just bid it, because you lost by $60 but who knows what that person might have gone to. So figure out the absolute max you would spend for it and bid it, and feel confident that if you get beat, that you think that person paid too much. I'd also say that since the Navy is paying for your shipping, you can afford to bid a lot more than other people who are trying to export, or anyone trying to resell domestically and turn a profit. I spent around $5k to have mine tagged and titled in my driveway in America. I see them on eBay and Cl for $6k to $8k and up for non-SC non-Dump. You've got a lot of room.
Nothing against the Subies, but I would go with a Hijet or Carry. They are true mid engine and have better weight distribution than Subies, and Hondas. Definitely a dump bed, just because of the improved access to the top of the engine. Put the bed in dump mode, pull off a protective plate over the engine, and you have pretty much unfettered access to the engine and transmission, and the fuel and emissions systems. Even the vacuum system for the 4wd is easier to get to.
