I noticed that the amount of English-language material available online regarding owning and maintaining a Sambar in the US is severely lacking. It's basically this forum, the James Danko manual, and that's about it. So, I have started a simple Wordpress site where I am documenting all of the work I am doing on my van. http://sambar.reeseallen.net So far there's nothing terribly exciting, but hopefully this can become a useful resource for Sambar owners in the future. My next post will be about installing a new double-DIN head unit and a pair of speakers.
Very nice! Be sure to check out the thread regarding the double din radio and speakers if you need any suggestions on them. I tried the Kicker 2-ways but I like the 3-way Pyle Blue's better. I just replaced my exhaust valves along with the requisite gaskets, seals and other bits but, I didn't take the time to document too well. I have a few pictures along the process. Strangely, my new distributor cap was labeled with 1 and 4 reversed. My primary resource was the Danko manual.
The Blog is great I have pretty much the same van same color and everything , just got it other then it being a ECVT transmission same as yours just got it titled and registered today I’ve been trying to baseline it plugs ,oil,tires,tuneup, air filter etc When it came in from Japan it’s idle was high and ran poorly. It had been not been on the road for a while , last registration was 7 years ago and last oil change sticker was 9 years but only 1500kms ago Gas smelled a little stale but was on the boat for over 2 months in a shipping container. While changing the air filter I cleaned the throttle body and while spaying a little cleaner around the vacuum lines while running I found that it wanted to stall when I got around the output air charge house from the blower to the intake . The short rubber hose had a split from one end to the other on the underneath where you couldn’t see it . I popped a short chunk of 1.75” radiator hose on it temporarily to see if it would clear up the running issues . 90% better but the other air charge hose on the bottom from the throttle body to the SC was shot too .
They were bad , the bottom one fell out in pieces when I removed the clamps ( amazed it didn’t blow out or have a piece sucked thru the SC) Ordered a couple of 45mm silicone air charge hoses with clamps from eBay for $11 to my door Stock hoses were $57 each from Megazip and around $28 from Impex . Runs 100% better now that the pirate air is no longer sneaking in
Nice-looking van. It's even got a dented passenger door in the exact same place. Looks like someone saved you the trouble of scraping all that gross tint out of the back windows, too. Great info on the failed hoses. I will need to check mine for the same issue. After doing the tune-up it still sounds kind of rough and is still only getting around 25 mpg, so I suspect there's gotta be something else going on. It really seems like I ought to be getting well into the 30's with such a small vehicle and engine, not barely better than my tuned 300 whp WRX gets.
Yeah the dent is the only body issue , not rust anywhere so I’ll get that taken care of over the winter . The window tint was aftermarket, Japan had a thing about window tint as a big “no no” so it didn’t come factory , I think they have loosened up that somewhat . That’s why you would see some of the vans of that era with power curtains It got new tires last week and just waiting for the new alt /ac belt to show up . Ordered that one wrong one 2 times nailed the SC belt 1st try tho . Got a stock am/fm /wb cassette radio untested off eBay for $12 out of a 95 to 99 Subaru Legacy or outback to pop in as a plug and play for a stock look , works fine so that’s a plus . Brand new rear mud flaps under $9 each from japan unlike the fuel filter ( wow that’s not cheap ) My SC oil came in from amazon yesterday ( a/c delco stuff) I want to find the right CVT transmission fluid and do that too Hopefully I’ll be tooling it around Friday for a bit as it’s an hour+ away atm. Want to get some kms under it belt before taking it out for a long trip .
What oil are you putting in the supercharger? And how did you figure out which kind to use? I just guessed and used Subaru brand manual transmission oil.
I bought 500ml of Toyota MSC oil from Amazon.co.jp about 2 years ago, but they won't ship it to the US anymore.. they really weren't supposed to the first time. The supercharger only holds about 30-40ml, so I have PLENTY of extra. EDIT: It looks like Toyota used to sell a 50ml can here in the states for the Previa. They have some on ebay for $50. https://www.ebay.com/itm/254338976524
Thanks for the info, guys. I'll update the blog post. Regarding the supercharger hoses, the good news is that mine appear to be fully intact. I wasn't able to get any hits with the carb cleaner leak test. The bad news is I'm still not sure why I'm getting such poor fuel economy.
I’ve never gotten super fuel economy with any of my minis the Daihatsu I get around 25mpg and about the same as my Suzuki dump . Both are 4 speeds and part time 4wd My old daihatsu used to tach at like 7k going around 55+mph so I was just was worried more about getting a piston shot thru the passenger seat then fuel mileage
Well, that makes me feel a bit better. Everyone keeps asking me if I get like 40+ mpg in it and I'm almost embarrassed to tell them that typically their modern full-size trucks are getting quite a bit better economy than my microvan.
It is largely because the front is as aerodynamic as a brick. The next generation of Sambar (1999-2012) has a more aerodynamic front and gets better fuel economy as well. The Vivio (1992 to 1998) used the same engine and overall driveline, and got *significantly* better fuel economy.
