My brother is into old Chevey trucks. I remember his first truck. That thing was ugly. It was the 70's and we had to put a new engine in. We did that in our back yard.

Good info and seems you know your stuff. I am running a Toyota 4k carb right now

i have pic

not eally a mechanic it's just a problem I find pretty common in a lot of what I refer to as newer cars. that use electric fuel pumps and computers, stuff I picked up trouble shooting
not sure if it is your issue. but it sounds like it might be,

lol an ugly truck just means it earns it's keep
did you help with the transplant??

Air flow meter? Could need to be cleaned.

Clogged fuel injectors??

Fuel pump? Low pressure? Or not enough flow?

Running a Toyota carb which is a simple older style with no electronics and a mechanical fuel pump which is working fine. Checked for vacuum leaks and eliminated that.

could be a dirty filter. is the carb showing that it is getting fuel?
how long have you run it with the toy carb?? could it be he Idle adjustment or float adjustment being too lean??

never too young.

Clogged fuel injectors?
could be a dirty filter
how long have you run it with the toy carb?? could it be he Idle adjustment or float adjustment being too lean??


Ran it about three years, checked everything I could without taking it very far apart but am now tearing into it deeper. Seems pretty clean but am running wire through everything I can trying to make sure passages and jets are open

Ran it about three years, checked everything I could without taking it very far apart but am now tearing into it deeper. Seems pretty clean but am running wire through everything I can trying to make sure passages and jets are open
I would have to actually see what it is doing to give further recommendations. whens the last time you checked your spark plugs?
if it is getting air fuel and fire it should run.

She'll, (the samurai) will run pretty good but won't idle. I'll get it sorted by and by.

She'll, (the samurai) will run pretty good but won't idle. I'll get it sorted by and by.

Ah carbureted, so it starts but won't idle?

No vacuum leaks?

Does it have an idle solinoid?

No solenoid, and I have checked for vacuum leaks and haven't found any. I have had vacuum issues before with it so that is usually something I check first. Went through carb yesterday and will try and get it back on today and see what happens. Took some time to go visit my mom today so maybe back on it this evening

My mom named her 1987 Samurai "Susie".
If only runs poorly at idle it's a fuel mixture problem: plugged idle circuit, manifold vacuum leak ( manifold gskt, carb base gskt, deteriorated vacuum hose), fuel spill over, excessive base ignition timming, leaking intake or exhaust valve.

Has good compression so think valves are ok, wish I had leakdown test equipment but I think I'm good on engine block stuff
Moved my timing around to no avail. I have wondered if somehow my timing belt may have jumped a cog.

Has good compression so think valves are ok, wish I had leakdown test equipment but I think I'm good on engine block stuff
Moved my timing around to no avail. I have wondered if somehow my timing belt may have jumped a cog.

Doubt it would be timing belt.

Have you put a timing light on it?

Sounds like fuel air problem.

Carbs are a pain.

to check for valves leaking , put a vacuum gauge on manifold vacuum port , if the gauge needle has a rapid twitch to it that indicates a leaking valve disrupting the air/fuel mixture between the carb and the cylinders.

For a leak down test, use compression gauge hose & pipe thread end that goes into spark plug hole, remove the valve core, connect air compressor hose to it, must have a valve on compressor line to only allow a small amount of compressed air to enter the engine cylinder, hold/restrict engine from rotating off of the compression stroke , listen for air flow coming out of carb ( intake valve), tail pipe for exhaust valve leak, oil filler cap for rings ( you'll hear some air flow past rings into crankcase even on new engine).

still sounds like the Idle set screw is just set too lean . they can sometimes back off or the throttle cable could have stretched.