Silviron
Flashlight Enthusiast
Well, My old Suzuki Samurai sort gave it up today, and I'm trying to figure out what to do. The main thing is the clutch went out- No problem, I can fix that, but I don't know if I should bother The vehicle is really beat up-
The engine is really tired too- It has about 150,000 HARD miles on it and while it doesn't leak or burn oil, my compression is about 50% of OEM spec and only about 75% of minimum recommended acceptable. So, I really need a rebuild on the engine too, and I don't think I'm a good enough mechanic to do a complete rebuild myself, althbough I can probably do a long block installation.
Of course I could do an engine/tranny swap to a small V-6, and I'd like the extra performance, but that would be at the edge of my mechanical competence too, and I don't think I want to have to deal with all the unexpected "making stuff fit and operate" hassles.
So, really, the SMART thing to do would be to buy a new vehicle. ( I won't buy used, even though my budget is more in line with used).
So, I'm asking for advice and your experiences within my limitations: I need four wheel drive, and I can pay about $20,000 cash and have an about $1500 - $2000 trade-in value on another car. A pickup would be more practical, so I can haul more crap around, but a SUV type would be OK too.
I don't want anything fancy, but fairly comfortable (which the Samurai definitely ain't) tough and reliable.
Any ideas??? Thanks!
The engine is really tired too- It has about 150,000 HARD miles on it and while it doesn't leak or burn oil, my compression is about 50% of OEM spec and only about 75% of minimum recommended acceptable. So, I really need a rebuild on the engine too, and I don't think I'm a good enough mechanic to do a complete rebuild myself, althbough I can probably do a long block installation.
Of course I could do an engine/tranny swap to a small V-6, and I'd like the extra performance, but that would be at the edge of my mechanical competence too, and I don't think I want to have to deal with all the unexpected "making stuff fit and operate" hassles.
So, really, the SMART thing to do would be to buy a new vehicle. ( I won't buy used, even though my budget is more in line with used).
So, I'm asking for advice and your experiences within my limitations: I need four wheel drive, and I can pay about $20,000 cash and have an about $1500 - $2000 trade-in value on another car. A pickup would be more practical, so I can haul more crap around, but a SUV type would be OK too.
I don't want anything fancy, but fairly comfortable (which the Samurai definitely ain't) tough and reliable.
Any ideas??? Thanks!