Hey all, haven't posted here in a while, but the TT2 model Supercharged sambars have caught my eye, as its a 4 cylinder, 5mt, 4x4, supercharged mini truck that seems it can do some highway without strain. I'm in Canada so anything older than 2007 is fair game, but I like getting stuff between 2000-2007 since it's not American legal and typically cheaper. I'm just wondering how reliable the EN07Y S/C 2000+ Sambars are, and how difficult it is to find parts, and how the highway driving is like, as I'll be picking it up straight from port in Vancouver, and driving it 12 hours home (over 2 days) and then its mostly city driving and short highway trips from then. So, any RPM and noise data anyone has for their 5mt s/c sambar would be greatly appreciated.
Mechanically, the EN07Y Sambars are largely identical from 1990-2012. The only real significant difference is that the 1999-2012 models have a set of coil packs instead of a distributor. The 6th gen do use a larger AMR500 supercharger with a larger pulley, so that it does not have to spin quite as fast as the AMR300 used on the earlier generation, but they both make about the same boost pressure (8-9PSI). Heck, the engines are so identical, I am using a crank and pistons from a 2009 model inside my 1992 SC truck when I rebuilt its engine. Most engine parts are still currently available new since the engine was in production up until 2012... but I would expect them to start drying up "soon", as new parts tend to get discontinued after 10-15 years in Japan. Reliability is directly tied to how it was cared for. If you can find an example that was well cared for, it will last you 300k or more. If it were neglected, then it could blow up at 50k. Japanese speed limits are much lower than they are in North America. The absolute highest speed limit there is 100km/h and that is only on the biggest highways.. most highways are 80km/h and within the cities it will be 30-60km/h. The transmissions were geared with those limits in mind. I can drive my truck at 105km/h all day long, but if I go much beyond that for any extended periods of time, the oil temps creep up and I would risk spinning a rod bearing (again). My truck spins at about 5500rpm at that speed. Redline is 7200rpm.
