1st gen trooper guys?

[AK.xplorer]

Back 15 years ago when I was new to Alaska and before I had the budget to build more refined, and consequently more expensive landcruisers, I built a 1988 isuzu with the five speed manual and the 4:56 gearing. The 2.6l 4ze1 was a fairly powerful engine, and to this day, I like it far more than a 22re. I overheated it 3 times, never lost a head gasket.

I did the following:
ARB Air locker
3:1 terra flex gears
Calmini heavy sway bars
Calmini 3" suspension lift
Calmini Steering Stabilizer
3" indy4x body lift
Yakima Roof Rack
Full 2.5 flow master exaust
Desmoged Engine
New Clutch
265/75 Toyo Mt's

Over a decade after selling it, I found the poor thing sitting in disrepair, and couldn't let it die like that. I bought the poor thing for a few hundred bucks and fixed every single thing wrong with it, and gave the poor thing a new paint job, then re-sold it. I drove it for a few months, taking a walk down memory lane, remembering my son when He was an infant, in a car seat in the back. Now he's a deep-voice teenager!?

I painted it a metallic sand dune. The paint glowed some sort of desert orange in the low light, it was a glorious outback kind of color. Many years ago, I traveled all over in that thing, and really built my 4wd skills and mechanical knowledge in the thing. I pulled a 1 ton ford diesel miles back to the road with it in 4lo, and it out climbed and out accelerated any 22re around. So many fishing trips and so many hunting trips were done in that thing.

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

Nice save i also have a 88 trooper in addition to my 97 rodeo. mines an automatic though im trying to find a semi local one with a stick and blown motor so i can buy it and make mine a truly bullet proof design.:coffeedrink:

 

[Nesquik]

Very cool!

 

[AK.xplorer]

Only thing the rig was lacking, was a solid Dana 44 front axle, like any IFS rig. The stock torsion bars were too soft with a big boat atop, and the calmini torsion bars were too stiff.

Desmogging the engine was easier than Landcruisers, because the smog pump didn't share a belt with other essential components.

I honestly feel the trooper was ahead of it's time:
4:56 gearing
Rear Disc Brakes.
Absurdly strong skid plates over the front, the transfer case, and the gas tank that rival anything I've ever seen in a stock vehicle.
Multi-port EFI
Fully boxed frame

 

[tacobronco]

Nice Rig!

I like it!

I also had a 1st gen Trooper in the late 90's, an 87 with the 2.6 / 5 speed. It was my first 4WD.

I remember the 2.6 had an issue with the heads cracking, but thanks to the Isuzu Trooper Owners Guild website (remember that?) I was able to determine from the casting number that mine must have been replaced at some time. Never had an issue with the head. I purchased it from the original owners for whom it was a family hauler. Maintenance history wasn't great though - I remember valve lash was zero when I first checked it, probably narrowly escaped burned valves. I also had a horrible time when I first bought it chasing down a weird undulating idle speed issue - turned out it was bubbles in the cooling system triggering one of the vacuum switches on the thermostat housing that was intended to increase the idle speed if the engine got too hot. That's what triggered my head gasket fears, but it never recurred after bleeding the coolant.

I also remember a weird water leak on the passenger side kickpanel that I finally figured out was due to a huge gap in the factory seam sealant. Other than that it was dead reliable. Took it all over the Sierras camping. I was terrified, though, the first time I took it fully loaded to high elevations - it was such a dog that I thought for sure the engine was blown! I also once pulled a 2WD dually diesel Super Duty that was high-centered on a rock on a trail near Tahoe that he had no business being on, much to the amazement of my buddies who weren't yet familiar with the awesomeness of low range.

The only mods mine had were KYB shocks (not as many shock choices back then), 30x9.5 BFG A/Ts on stock steelies, Superwinch manual hubs, and some kind of bolt-in cat-back exhaust kit (maybe Calmini? don't remember).

I left it with my Dad when work called me overseas for an extended time, and he declared it to be the poor man's Land Rover. I think that's about right.

I eventually sold it to free up funds for an early Bronco project with more off-road capability, which I still have today. However, I'll always miss that old Trooper!

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

 

[balexander87]

A white '90 with the 2.6/5spd was my "first car". It was our family hauler that we towed a tent trailer all over the Sierras when we lived out west, then drove it all over the back roads of Southern Missouri after the move. I inherited it when I turned 16. Loved that rig. Wish I still had it. Definitely didn't know how cool it was at the time. All I thought I wanted was a regular cab S-10, for some reason...


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