1st Gen Isuzu Trooper Build

leakedd

leakedd

Mall Crawlin'
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Location
Charlotte
Quick backstory, I previously owned a 1994 Jeep YJ that I swapped a Magnum 5.2L and SOA and wheeled all throughout high school. So once I started college at UNC Charlotte and having a SOA V8 YJ as a daily driver in the city just wasn’t the most economical thing. So I after my first semester of school I sold it. Which I still regret to this day but it taught me many valuable lessons and created even more memories and friendships that’s last forever.

So I graduated with an engineering degree and can finally afford to have some fun again. Not entirely sure why I chose the trooper other than I saw them fairly cheap on Facebook marketplace, look pretty sweet, and are unique. Which I’ve learned makes all parts a helluva lot harder to find than any jeep.

I picked up this 1991 Isuzu Trooper. It looks like the PO installed some sort of lift shackle in the rear and cranked the torsion bars a bit. It has the GM 2.8L V6 in it for now with some bald 31x12.50s.

Over the last few weeks I've cleaned it up a bit. Replacing brakes, headlights and in the beginning stages of fixing a few rust holes in the floor.
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Got a hold of some nice 7" headlights. The OEM headlights for the late model 1st gen troopers are square and attempting to find a replacement was proven to be very difficult so I figured I would just swap to an easy off the shelf headlight.

I ended up ordering 7" headlight rings for a Harley Davidson and bolting it to the front clip mostly using OEM holes.




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then I order some 12"x12" sheets of 0.060 textured ABS plastic and cut to shape to fill in the gaps. I used some paintable silicone to create a nicer edge and bedlined the entire grill.
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Also removed the OEM bumper and mocked up this old smittybilt XRC 8 I had on my YJ a few years back. Looking into either just installing a winch plate on the front of the frame or building an entire bumper.


If anyone has a 74-79 narrow track wagoneer D44 or a FJ80 front axle for sale let me know! I'm hoping to SAS it over the winter.
 
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Awesome. I've had 2 V6 5 speeds over the years. Tough trucks, but body parts and specific isuzu parts are about gone.

That round headlight conversion looks great. I parted out a few, I've got square headlights and lots of other lenses if needed.

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Let me know if you run into any issues or have questions. I have worked on, lifted, raced my fair share of Isuzus and have many contacts in that world.
 
Pennsylvaniaboy said:
headlights look sick!!! does this have the weird pull handle e-brake that's under/right of the steering column?
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Yeah it does. I actually had to replace one of the rear calipers and returned the core with the parking brake bracket still attached to it. So i've got to create a new bracket so I can use the parking brake again.
 
I believe its a 4.5 V8 out of a early 90s Cadillac will bolt up to that transmission and fit in the engine bay.... I sure do miss my trooper.
 
Buffy said:
Let me know if you run into any issues or have questions. I have worked on, lifted, raced my fair share of Isuzus and have many contacts in that world.
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Thank you! Are you aware of any resources online with any drawings or dimensions of the frame? Was looking earlier for a some old engineering drawings to help with determining locations for leaf spring hangers. It's insane how much easier it is to find stuff like that for old jeeps.
 
Starting in 89 the Trooper got a 12 bolt rear axle and a 10 bolt up front. Matt at Indy4x4 is another good resource for aftermarket parts for the Isuzus. They are pretty capable rigs and used to be plentiful on Craigslist but rarely see them now.

Here is what you can do with these things. Find a dana 44 axle out of a mid 70s Wagoneer (passenger side drop) and do an SAS. Here is the Rover sporting that setup.

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I've usually had a least one old trooper in my way the past 20 odd years. I'll be following the build!

Nice work on the headlights - the round light grills are going for a lot more than they used to, and good square headlight assemblies are tough to find.
 
So at the beginning of October I cut out the rusty passenger side rockers and welded in some 2x3x.125" steel tubing.
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starting to cut the rusty junk out.
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rectangle tubing mocked up
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Finally got my hands on a welder. I need a lot more practice to keep consistency
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Mocked up with capped ends
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Installed and painted. They turned out pretty decent. I intentionally made them a bit shorter because I plan on trimming the fenders to the ends of the new sliders.
 
Picked up a set of 33x10.50 BFG KM2s and somehow fit all 5 in the back of a 2012 Honda Civic. It was a tight fit!
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I ended up mounting all the tires by hand because I couldn't find anyone local to do it for without charging ridiculous amounts of money. The hardest part was dismounting the old tires.

But the Trooper looks so much better now with some nice tires! The 33s slightly rub at full lock.
 
I also learned the hard way that I absolutely should've changed every valve stem when I had the old tires dismounted. One of the valve stems blew its internals out as soon as I got close to 30psi.
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So the carpet in this thing was in horrible condition and made the thing smell so bad. So I pulled it all out pulled the front drain plugs and gave it a nice cleaning. Then went to Lowes and got about 10ft of this rubber backed outdoor carpet and cut it to shape and now i've got new carpet in the front half of the Trooper! I didn't do the rear yet because i'm debating on creating some sort of sleeping platform and removing the carpet all together. We will see though.
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Everything sits really flush and fit pretty well except towards the firewall since it was molded carpet. I just gave the carpet a few slits and it sits really nicely now. It's not perfect but is so much better and the Trooper no longer smells like cigarettes' and mold.
 
I also was able to get my hands on some scrap 3/16 steel that was about the perfect size for a winch plate so I finally got the winch installed! This is the same winch I had on my old YJ. Hopefully it still works, its just an old Smittybilt XRC 8. Never had any issues in the past but I know they're known to not be just a slight step above the Badland winches.

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I welded the plate directly to the front piece of protruding frame only because I plan on SAS this thing next year and I will be cutting the entire front half of the frame off anyways so why not? Still need to run the wires to the battery and re-connect the hook

Also plan to trim the corners of the plate up a bit!
 
Looking good! Glad to see those tires on something instead of collecting dust in my garage. I hauled 5 33x10 BFGs before in a Mazda Protege 5 wagon, but I had one on the roof. Nice job stuffing them in your civic!
 
Cut the bottoms of the rear quarters out for tire clearance and due to a little bit of rust. Once I did this the entire quarter panel cavities were wide open and would suck all of the exhaust up into the cab. So I've got the driver side all patched up, going to knock out the passenger side in a few days.
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Just read through your post here and saw where you were wanting frame specs. I have a factory Trooper manual at the shop. I will dig it out and see what info it says. If not we can check with Jerry Lemond. He used to be an R&D specialist for Isuzu and actually wrote the mechanics guide for most Isuzus.
 
Diggin your corners. I have cut mine but haven't yet plated them in.
 
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