1990 Subaru Sambar (kei truck) driver here...
 

Hi all, I'm Colin - a 21-year-old guy from St. Joseph, Minnesota. I just finished attending school for auto body repair and now work full-time for my dad (delivering mushrooms for his farm) and part-time as a counter clerk at a local parts store.

I own a multitude of vehicles - got a few interesting ones, including an '82 BMW 320i, an '85 Merkur XR4Ti, a '94 Toyota Previa, and a '90 Subaru Sambar. My involvement on this site will mainly concern the Sambar, I think. The Merkur is hopelessly thirsty (at least until I finish tuning the Megasquirt,) the BMW isn't exactly running right now, and the Previa gets consistantly poor mileage - kind of what you might expect from an AWD minivan with 330k miles. :thumbup:

Aaaaanyway... I was screwing around on Craigslist in late April searching for a cheap Toyota pickup to blow my tax return on when I stumbled upon this tiny little Subaru. It was downright adorable. The price of the truck far exceeded my pathetic budget, but acquiring one of these kei-class trucks had suddenly become job one for me, so I ran down to the bank and took out a loan to cover it. Fast forward two months and here I am: daily driving the Sambar, getting 30ish MPG, and looking to log my mileage (and possibly improve it.)

My commute to work is around 15 miles, more than half of which consist of rural highways where a guy can easily exceed 60 mph. Needless to say, Fuji Heavy Industries didn't exactly intend some yahoo in the middle of America to be bombing around at 6,000+ RPM in their little city-oriented work truck. I'm going to run a tank through the truck without exceeding 90 kph (55ish mph) and see how my mileage is affected. I don't plan to modify the truck in order to increase my fuel economy; rather, I would like to change my driving style to do so.

Anyhow, that's a little bit about me and what I do. Thanks for having me. :)

Colin

Click on "The Minimog" under my avatar for images of the Sambar. ;)

Merkur images are located here.

Colin

Plural, plural! :p
I always wanted one btw. Shame they're not legal for onroad stuff here. :(

Colin -

Welcome to GS! A Kei trucklet, most coolio. It sounds like you have all the skillz to keep it running.

The Merkur XR4Ti is righteous. What did you do with the original rims? Those were my favorite wheels in the 1980's. I did eyelets for my Karmann Ghia in the 1980's too.

CarloSW2

Fun vehicle. I saw the Suzuki version in Ottawa earlier this month.

If you're doing mainly highway driving, and you won't mod the vehicle, your choices are basically limited to: slow down, or draft, or both. And I don't recommend drafting.

The aerodynamics of this vehicle are horrendous, obviously. That's the biggest problem.

You could easily achieve double digit percentage improvements in highway fuel economy with aero mods. Personally, I think a removable fiberglass aeroshell on the back of this thing wouldn't hurt its looks, and it certainly wouldn't make it any less distinctive! And you've got the skills, by the sound of it. The side aero (between f & r wheels) is also hurting big time.

You may be able to eke out smaller gains with invisible mods, like boosting the tire pressure; always pre-warming the engine (block heater); using the lightest viscosity engine oil you safely can; light synthetic transaxle oil; etc. (Search around for the big mods list elsewhere).

PS - welcome to the site!

I assume your truck is similar to this one (at least in dimensions):

https://www.ulmerfarmservice.com/images/DSCF2676.JPG

Cool truck!The aerodynamics are really bad. I would think that the gearing is really bad for mpg too. When looking on the internet people seem to think that kei trucks are good for 40 to 50mpg.

Keis are fun. Their close ratio transmissions are not that great for highway mileage though! Neat find.

If ever a vehicle and its usage was screaming for aero mods, it's this one. Do it!

Unmodified, they probably are good for it - in top gear, at an average speed of 35 mph. :)

The Japanese system for determining FE is 10 times worse than the one the EPA uses (used?). They claimed the Beat was capable of 63 mpg, something I never even came relatively close to!

Yeah dax, I thought 40-50mpg seemed high for the truck, because of the fuel economy you were getting on the beat.

Where are you located?

They're not exactly legal here, either. I was actually directed to this forum by another kei truck guy, who suggested I ask a kei car driver (ahem... Dax) about the registration process. Currently I'm rolling around on a set of motorcycle/ATV plates from South Dakota. It's got normal automotive liability insurance, so I'm not TOO scared to drive it. I'd like to get my ducks in a row, so to speak, before I take it out on cruise nights and stuff. (Yes, cruise nights. It's a funny little truck and I desire to share it with the local car enthusiasts. :thumbup: )

Haha, great... I ditched the eyelid grille a loooong time ago. Actually, it's got no grille whatsoever at the moment. I needed some airflow after adding the intercooler, and it turns out it's cheaper to remove the stock grille than to buy a Sierra Cosworth grille. :D

I've still got those wheels. They're 14x6ish and have a 4x108mm pattern. They were replaced by the Motegi MR-1, which is now on its way out thanks to a five lug conversion. I'm going to try out a set of 17x7 steelies from a Dodge Magnum/300C - maybe a set of deep dish BBS-style Y-spokes will be in order later. I guess I'm kinda like a woman with shoes, but with wheels instead. :eek:

kickflipjr - the Suzuki Carry you pictured is pretty much identical to my Sambar. All the kei-class trucks are very similar. Mazda's "Scrum" is a copy of the Daihatsu Hijet... the Carry is very similar to the Hijet, and Honda's Acty is similar to the Sambar (four wheel independent suspension and a rear-mounted engine rather than mid-mounted like the others.) Externally, they pretty much all look the same.

MetroMPG - I've seen a few body kits for these trucks (mainly for the 98+ body style) with skirts to cover the entire side between the wheels. I'd like to install some skirts, but it would be a hassle to remove them for driving offroad.

Check out https://www.minitrucktalk.com for more info on these things. It's a very small forum, but there are several active kei truck vendors who often link to their sites. Some of these guys go insane with external cages, winch-bumpers, ATV tires, lift kits, etc... All kinds of mileage-killing stuff (not that it matters much when you're putting around in the woods in 1st gear.) :)

Colin

I use to own a Merkur same year as a matter of fact. It had a big old bulls eye on it. Never have owned a car before or after that liked to get hit like it did!

Not yet. I've got a plan, though... :thumbup:

WOOHOO! Good to see you made it here Colin. I've always liked to hear how your Merkur was coming along on MNSC. Never knew you had so many vehicles. And welcome!

If the title isnt marked off road use only then you can get it legal in WV. Even if the title is marked off road use only you could get it retitled as a kit car.

It is easy to do in WV I have done it before here with my kit car. After it is road legal in this state maybe it would be easier to just transfer the title to another state and it would be legal there then.

I would check the laws on getting a kit car legal in your state then turn in like 3 titles with your kit car application and say you used parts out of each of those cars. even if it is just a knob or switch is good enough. They will give you a clean title that is road legal. It is easy to find super cheap junk cars with a title so that might be a pretty cheap way to make it legal :cool:

Socal desert. :thumbdown:

Iirc, what Coyote X stated is legal in CA too, so that might be some way for me to get around everything. The downside is kit cars can't be sold to others, they have to be parted. But I wouldn't mind keeping something like that for a good amount of time. :D

Yeah, or selling it with a bill of sale as parts and helping the next guy set up a kit car title. :)

I've got a SoDak title for it right now, and it *looks* to me like a standard automotive title, but it says "ATV" in the "body style" category. I took it to a little hole-in-the-wall license center a few weeks ago hoping they could overlook that category while transferring the title... first thing they did was call the big license center I had been avoiding and start asking questions. D'oh!

It might end up with a set of '86 Subaru GL plates on it after all. :(

Colin

It's no daihatsu hijet, but still! (just kidding)

Welcome aboard.

Colin - are you not registered? PM me if you're not comfortable talking about this in the public eye...

I'm driving it with ATV registration at the moment. PM sent.

Thanks,
Colin

I'm a little late, but welcome to the site! Neato truck there! I saw one out near here in Athens, PA a few weeks ago. I'll have to find it again and get a pic. They're really neat! If I didn't have to haul around kids I'd get one!

Lookin For A Kei
 

Hi My name is evan I am going to buy myself a kei truck now i just have to decide which one. I have it narrowed down to 2. i really like the look of the mitsubishi minicab, but like the fact that the subaru has a 5 speed tranny rear engine and more cab room. Which would you get and why? As well as has anyone lowered there kei truck, and if so do you have any pictures.

Awesome little truck! Probably infinitely more functional than these SUT pieces of crap.

our university has a number of these trucks that they use for grounds, and matenence, they also have a number of vans of simaler design, I think they are 6 passenger vans if they have all the seats left in, around here they are alowed on city streets, but only alowed to cross state highways, the main road thru town is a state highway, for use in town they seem to be ideal.

The Sambar is generally considered to be one of the more premium models available (right up there with the Honda Acty.) The Minicab doesn't really seem as common... and... it's a Mitsubishi. Steer clear. :D

Are you going to jack it up and paint it like T-Maxx, Mr. Traxxas? :thumbup: If you're going to modify the hell out of it, get a Suzuki Carry, Mazda Scrum, or Daihatsu Hijet. They've all got mid-mounted engines and solid axles and can easily be lifted 3" or so. These are the more common of the kei trucks.

Yeah, I'm 6'4" and 300 lbs... so it's a bit tight. My left knee is on the dash, and it's difficult to drive with the wipers on full blast. I'm thinking of relocating the seatback a little bit rearward and eliminating the control stalks in favor of rocker or toggle switches in some of the various switch blanks on the dash. That should really open things up. :thumbup:

Having a double-throw rocker for turn signals might suck a little bit... hmm...

Colin

Lookin For A Kei
 

Is the mitsu that easy to lift as well, because its mid engine as well? Why do you not like the suby?

I don't dislike the Sambar - it's practically superior to the other models in every way. It's a four cylinder, rather than a three. It's got a five speed, rather than a four. It's got four wheel independent suspension (including coil-sprung semi-trailing arms in the rear,) rather than a solid axle and leaf springs. Unfortunately, the Sambar is difficult to lift because of its suspension design. It handles well on the street, which ultimately is more important to me than the ability to crawl over obstacles in the woods.

I haven't really seen a Minicab in person, unlike all the other kei-class models. They're less common. I imagine they're similar to the Hijet/Carry/Scrum in that they have a solid axle and leaf springs; if that's the case, the Minicab should be a fairly simple truck to lift. :)

Colin

#7
kickflipjr
granny just passed me



Distance traveled by bicycle in 2007= 837 miles

Im a semi professional bike rider 900 miles aint that much i do 30 miles a day every day of the week on weekend usually more then next week I have a bike tour planned and we are going more then 1300 miles

I don't understand why keicars don't get even better mileage than they do. I love your truck though.

I have a kei car here, I only manage about 32 mpg here in Japan, but I don't thin that most cars would get near that in the traffic crap here. Top speed is about 85 mph.

With the Honda Beat, it's all about that extremely short gearing. If you could change the gear ratios, you could probably get way better mileage.

Yup. They're meant to be little city runabouts. The gearing is not highway-friendly.

Good. Even know this is completely off topic.

I know that 900mi isn't that much. Most of my rides are under 20 miles. I have been keeping track of my miles this year and update my signature once in a while. Biking is a good mode of transportation and can save money on gas and car expenses.

Where are you touring at? If you want to make a thread in the "people powered" section of the forums go ahead.

kei
 

I didnt mean any offence by that if you took any. im going from vancouver to calagry and back.

I can't promise that things will be perfect, but I swear I'll never leave.