Colin Doyle

Mine is registered as a Class II ATV and carries normal automotive liability insurance coverage - I drive it everywhere except the interstate. Goes 70 MPH easily, even with the big 175/65-14 snow tires.

They're not terrible offroad, but I would certainly opt for a Hijet or Carry if I were in the market for a hard-hitting offroad-oriented kei truck. Those trucks have solid axles with leaf springs, a mid-mounted engine, and lift kits are readily available. The Sambar is a good road-going truck... more comfortable ride, quieter (rear-mounted engine), higher top speed, and smoother than the others. Honda's model, the Acty, is similar with its rear-engine/independent suspension setup, but it's full time AWD. Nope. All 90+ kei-class trucks are powered by a gasoline 660cc. Earlier models are 550cc. Nope, they're actually quite different. I suppose the STi is just a badge-engineered Evolution since they both have four doors, a trunk, AWD, and a turbocharged four cylinder, eh? Colin

It's easy to get a kei truck in the states... you might have to fudge a little paperwork at the DMV to get it titled/plated, though. Pretty easy to get liability insurance if you have a farm. Colin

I suspected I had a giant vacuum leak somewhere, so I tore all the extraneous B.S. emissions stuff off the engine today, pretty much got it down to the bare essentials: distributor advance, transmission line (it's an A/T :-\ ), brake booster, etc... capped the rest of the nipples. Nice and tidy in the engine bay now - I can actually see what I'm working on! Anyway, it still idles at 4,000 RPM. I decided to "freshen up" some of the engine's ancillaries while I had it on the stand - I put new bearings in all the idler and tensioner pulleys, put new timing belts on it, some new gaskets, and I rebuilt the carb. I think I broke the carb. I'm thinking of neutral-dropping this thing at 4,000 RPM into the back end of my dad's Forester, hopefully causing enough damage to total it out... then I can rob his EJ25. Colin

Hi, all. I'm Colin from St. Cloud, Minnesota. I've been fixing up an old '86 GL wagon for my sister to drive. I replaced the rear beam/subframe, pulled the engine to reseal a leak between the cam carriers and heads, and now I'm having some trouble getting it to idle down. I'm more comfortable with Megasquirt than a carburetor. :-\ I've been poking around the internet for information on the EA82 and this chassis and I stumbled upon you guys. So... howdy hey. Oh yeah, my daily driver/winter beater is a '90 Sambar. Colin