I would prefer the Calmini susp lift since it has longer arms for the front and longer bars for the rear giving it more articulation. I travel on HY's a lot and to be truthful, it would not be smart to go for more than 2" lift since the vehicle might become highly unstable.

The Calmini kits look good and I suspect they are of high quality. I've used Calmini parts on a Samurai I had a few years back and those parts were of extremely high quality. The Sammie is a whole different animal than the Trackers when it comes to lifting. I looked into a Calmini lift for my 2000 Tracker and its a 2.5" which is a little more than I wanted to go since I use mine on the hi-way also. I live in the desert so its not uncommon to have a 30 or 40 knot cross wind at times which makes a lifted vehicle an experience to drive!

I travel the HY a lot and for now I'm sticking to the 1 3/4 inches the Jeep TJ spacers provide. The body lift will not affect the stability at all. With the Sammy all you need is a spring over and some 31's. Jeeps will need lockers and 33's to keep up with your Sammy with this set-up. If you put some LSD in the front and rear, well, there is no stopping you. The only thing I hated about the Sammy was HY speed, it just does not cut it with the 1.3 engine. The 1.6 would help it quite well. My friend in Puerto Rico put some 3cylinder pistons from a Suzuki SA 310 between 1985 and 1988 model (kind of like a Metro) and the 1.3 engige with an aftermarket can stood from the front when he took off on 4wd Lo. We just freaked out at the power this engine can muster up.

Being in California, I am limited to what I can do to an engine because of smog rules. On one of my Sammies, I put on the Weber carb and a Thorley header and was amazed at the power out of the 1.3L. It passed the smog sniff test, but failed when the tech opened the hood (the visual test). What a crock of crap! If the vehicle isn't spewing out pollution, who should care that there are a few aftermarket parts under the hood. I think the 1.3 is capable of more than its allowed to do.

You are right, if it passes up the test they should keep away from the hood. Here in Houston they only check the pipe, brakes, lights, and things like that. I have no aftermarket parts in my vehicle, but would be upset if they started to check where it doesn't concern them. If you put in the 1988 Metro pistons you could use the stock carburator and still have a lot of power.