Daylan’s Epic Samurai - The Bold Look That Defines Hawaii Wheeling

The 808 state has always been known for its unique approach to off-roading, and Daylan’s 1987 Suzuki Samurai perfectly captures that Hawaii style mentality. When most mainland wheelers are obsessing over skinny tires and beadlocks, the island crew keeps it real with wide rims and boggers that would make any rock crawler wince.

Daylan’s tintop sits on a proper Trail Tough SPOA setup - that’s spring over axle for those keeping track - with a 6.5" lift that gives his rig the articulation it needs for Maui’s volcanic terrain. The YJ springs out back and Bonsai springs up front provide that flexy goodness every Samurai owner dreams about. But what really catches your eye are those 31x12.50R15 Super Swamper boggers wrapped around 15x12 Alcoa wheels. That’s some serious meat, and it screams Hawaii style from a mile away.

The wide wheel setup might not be the most practical choice for technical rock crawling - as Daylan learned the hard way with some fresh rim damage - but it’s part of the culture out there. Growing up with Toyotas running 12" and 14" wide rims, he couldn’t break tradition when he built his Samurai. Sometimes you pay the price for looking good, and those scraped rims are just battle scars from living the lifestyle.

Under the hood, Daylan’s running a rebuilt 1.3 liter (0.34 gallons) (0.34 gallons) engine that’s been bored 40 over with bigger pistons. That’s about as far as you can push the little G13 without going full engine swap territory. The real game changer though is the Myside Harley-Davidson carb from ZuksOffroad. Anyone who’s wheeled a carbureted Samurai knows the struggle of keeping fuel flowing at weird angles, and this setup delivers way better throttle response than the traditional Weber most guys run.

The 6.4:1 transfer case gears paired with 4.57 axle gears give him the crawl ratio needed to turn those 31s with the stock engine. It’s not going to win any drag races, but it’ll get you up and over whatever Maui throws at you. The Trail Tough power steering kit is another smart upgrade that saves your arms during long trail sessions. Nothing worse than death-gripping the steering wheel all day because you’re fighting every rock and rut.

What’s really cool about Daylan’s story is how he connected with the broader Samurai community through Instagram. He reached out to Kyler from Samurai SZN about those Suzuki calendars, and before you know it, they’re wheeling together on the island. That’s the beauty of the off-road community - it doesn’t matter if you’re separated by thousands of miles of ocean, the passion for building and wheeling connects everyone.

The Hawaii off-road scene is definitely growing, with more JDM Jimnys getting imported and a solid core of rock crawlers pushing the limits. Daylan admits he’s still learning and working his way into the more technical stuff, but that’s part of the journey.

His advice for anyone sitting on the fence about buying a Samurai is simple - just do it. These little rigs will take you places that bigger trucks can’t reach, and they’re an absolute blast to drive whether you’re crawling rocks or just cruising down the road. The Samurai community is tight-knit and always willing to help a fellow owner figure out their next upgrade.