92 Isuzu pickup reality check / build

[ricoisme26]

Another update, I did receive the new rails for the truck bed, and Sunday night got around to getting them installed. It took me about 2 hours, due to lots of measuring and remeasuring before I drilled and bolted down the vertical brackets. I had to space them to fit the Thule box. Below is a quick step by step and install photos.

I opened up the kit and for the price everything looked pretty solid! I am very happy with the quality of the bars themselves, and the vertical brackets seem pretty sturdy and did come with nice foam padding between the bracket and the truck bed. Here is the first bracket mocked up on the truck bed rail. Obviously these would fit even better on a full size truck bed with wider rails. The width of the rails on the Isuzu are tiny.

Here is the first bar mocked up, which I was happy with after measuring a few times and making sure I would have clearance between the back window and the Thule box. I proceeded to drill and mount the brackets and am happy with the fit and how everything stiffened up once installed. Measured and repeated for the rear bar.

Do you think these bars would be sturdy if they were extended to the width of a full size truck bed? I have an F150 and was looking at these after seeing your initial posting about buying them. I was waiting to get your impressions on their build since I haven't found much luck finding reviews of these else where. I measured the distance between my bed rails and its about 62.5" the amazon listing states that they extend up to 64" so I'd be cutting it close. Didn't know if they would loose some of their stability once expanded that far.

Excited to keep an eye on your progression

 

[GTI-88]

Do you think these bars would be sturdy if they were extended to the width of a full size truck bed? I have an F150 and was looking at these after seeing your initial posting about buying them. I was waiting to get your impressions on their build since I haven't found much luck finding reviews of these else where. I measured the distance between my bed rails and its about 62.5" the amazon listing states that they extend up to 64" so I'd be cutting it close. Didn't know if they would loose some of their stability once expanded that far.

Excited to keep an eye on your progression

So the bars don't expand, they are a set width, there is just a channel on the underside of the bar that gives you a range to mount them. I think they would be stable for your F-150, maybe even more so because the "foot" of the brackets would fully sit on the larger bed rails of the F-150 vs. the very skinny ones on my Isuzu.

I drove the truck around yesterday and the bars are totally stable. I think as long as you are OK with substituting some of your own hardware in, and willing to drill into the inner side of your bed rails vs, some of the clamp options I have seen on other bars, that these are a great inexpensive solution compared to other name brands that are 2-3x the cost.

 

[GTI-88]

Well finally got around to replacing the thermostat today.
I mentioned before that the truck would never read over C on the temp gauge. I determined the gauge was working, so decided the next step was to replace the thermostat.



Here’s the engine bay taken down to the point where I could get the old offending thermostat out. Went pretty easily, took some time cleaning the old gasket material off the surfaces to install the new thermostat and gasket.

Out of curiosity I took the old and the new thermostat in and boiled a pot of water and dropped them both in. The original thermostat and new were both 180 degree, but the original started opening early, and slowly. Obviously wasn’t working correctly.

Got the new thermostat in, cleaned the carb with some carb cleaner, replaced the coolant, and let the truck warm up. After running it around the neighborhood a few times the temp gauge was now comfortably sitting at 1/3rd, success I think!

 

[GTI-88]

The truck is running a lot nicer now that it is actually getting warmed up properly! I’m excited to keep working through the maintenance stuff this winter and planning some short camping trips for spring to test her out!

 

[GTI-88]

Well, I am learning that I hate vacuum lines. I have been consistently getting a little stutter in the idle and also low in first and second gear.

I picked up some new vacuum lines and have been replacing a few that seem suspect, to no real improvement yet. I have also fussed with the idle setting a bit, but I think that I need to get the vacuum leak figured before getting that dialed in.

I can hear a leak and ultimately tracked it down to a part that I have looked up and determined to be a vacuum control valve. Further research leads me to believe that this is part of the emissions controls and I can remove it and cap the vacuum lines. I replaced the lines leading to valve and I can still hear vacuum leaking at the unit, so I think the unit itself is faulty.

Looking into it further it seems like many people remove the emission controls on these trucks to simplify and reduce the possibility of vacuum leaks from the mess of lines coming off the carb. I think I will just try deleting this one component and see if it improves the idle.

If not, I may be looking at a rebuilt carb or a weber unit, which would allow me to remove a ton of the vacuum lines and simplify things further, which would be nice.

The maintenance continues...

 

[GTI-88]

After tinkering with some emissions control deletes, more new vacuum lines, a new air filter, and repairing a torn gasket between the carb and the air filter assembly, the idle has smoothed out substantially and I would say 90% of the stutter I was getting on low RPM acceleration is gone.

Next maintenance items are going to be a new fuel filter and oil change. Still thinking about what oil to run if anyone has recommendations.

Also I am about to pull the trigger on a set of 27x8.5xr14 General Grabber ATx's. These should get the truck about an inch higher and should perform a heck of a lot better than the passenger tires currently on the truck. They are the smallest AT's I can find and I want to keep everything as light as possible. Hopefully I will have them installed by this weekend and I will post some before and afters.

I'm also going to pull the banged up and rusted rear bumper off. I will probably just run without one for awhile, but I am planning on having finding a local shop to make me a super simple tube steel bumper, again with lightness in mind.

To be continued...

 

[GTI-88]

Well, time to resurrect this thread almost a year later! Work and life got a bit busy over the last year, but in good ways. Work was super busy all year, home projects, gardening, some fun trips, and no progress on the little Isuzu other than driving her to work about once a week, and making some Home Depot runs for projects.

This was all until I was cruising Craigslist last week. I have periodically been looking at new tires for the pickup since the current ones are a cheap budget highway miler model that were getting pretty bald. However I have struggled on pulling the trigger on $500+ of new tires since I have been trying to keep this truck as budget as reasonably possible.

Cue someone just down the road selling a nice set of wheels and tires for $400. Yep, that seems like a pretty good deal! The next day, I was sizing these up in the garage and thinking there is no way they are gonna fit on this little truck. How could I pass up this screamin deal though? The wheels are in great shape, and the tires have perfectly even wear with 9/16s of tread all around. Worst case I figured I could flip them for more than I paid...



Only one way to find out if these meaty tires are gonna fit, so off with the old, and on with the new!




What do you know, they actually fit! Put one on, lowered the truck back down, tightened everything up, and tried it on full lock in both directions, no rub. From that point it was on and I got the other 3 swapped out and took her for a spin on the icy, snowing streets around the house. I was able to swing the back end around really nicely on icy corners, and had no problem getting through the 6-8" of fluffy stuff on the sides where the plows hadn't been. Of course on the ice I had to get rolling in second gear, otherwise I was just spinning the rears in first.



Now she looks like a proper little truck! Next project is cranking the torsion bars on the front end up to raise the front about 1-1.5" to balance out with the back a little better and give me a little more clearance over the front tires. Then I will have to get her in for an alignment, which was needed even before the new wheels / tires / and messing with the torsion bars.

I'm getting excited about this project again! I have a back catalog of some maintenance that I want to get done, including:

-oil change
-transmission oil change
-rear diff oil change (thinking maybe new gasket here too, seems like it is weeping a bit)
-new timing belt (struggling to decide to try this myself or take it to a shop)
-fix the windshield washers that are not currently working
-the previously mentioned alignment after adjusting the front suspension
-whatever else I think of

Then the fun stuff I also plan on chipping away at:

-looking for a more powerful headlight option than the firefly jam jars that I currently have. (LED?)
-light bar (bumper mount? over cab mount? need to decide)
-ditch the rear bumper which is rusted through at the ball mount, maybe try to find someone locally that can fab me an easy tube bumper
-remove and repaint the front bumper and and plastic valance below, probably just use bed liner for this. Have to wait until warming weather
-I'm thinking I will do bed liner up to the lowest body line on the sides of the pickup. There are a couple of thin paint spots down low and at least one has a little bit of surface rust, so I think roughing this area all up, wire brush the couple rust spots, and paint the lower body with bed liner will fix this up nicely, and look good too.
-suspension refresh

I also have the original bed topper that came with this pickup in the garage and I have plans to rehab it, including insulating and lining the interior, adding LED lighting strips inside, and painting the exterior with likely the same bed liner I will use on the pickup. I want to be able to pull my bed bars and Thule box off and throw the topper on to go camping in the summertime.

I am still keeping this project as budget as possible, sourcing stuff via craigslist, neighbors, finding stuffed used / abused, etc. It is not that I couldn't spend more, but I just like the idea of seeing how inexpensively (IE not "cheap") that I can go on this project and come out with something pretty cool in the end.

Looking at past costs, I am not too far over $1K all in for this project, but that will jump a little if I bite the bullet and have a shop do the timing belt job for me.

Truck: $500
Wheels and Tires: $400 (Craigslist)
Roof Bars: $165 (Amazon)
Thule Box: $100 (Craigslist)
Thermostat: $15 (auto parts store)
Air Filter: $20 (auto parts store)
Vacuum hoses: $20 (Amazon)

Total to date: ~$1,220

More to come, and sooner rather than later. The new wheels and tires have got me excited again, and winter is driving me a little stir crazy so I am looking for projects...

 

[Chris in TX]

Thats a pretty nice Old Man Truck

Any ideas re: skid plates/underbody protection, or do you think the new tires+torsion bar adjust would make them unnecessary/not worth the weight penalty for the sort of driving you're planning on doing with it?

 

[GTI-88]

Thats a pretty nice Old Man Truck

Any ideas re: skid plates/underbody protection, or do you think the new tires+torsion bar adjust would make them unnecessary/not worth the weight penalty for the sort of driving you're planning on doing with it?

Haha yea I am slowly trying to convert it away from old man truck status.

I really don't see doing anything much above and beyond forest service roads being 2wd, I don't want to get into too much trouble. I think of it as pre-runner esque ha, which I recently read this article on for some inspiration

What Is A Pre-Runner? A History Of Toyota's Two-Wheel Drive Off-Road Tacoma Tough Truck

Setting the Tacoma PreRunner apart was its 2WD package.

www.drivingline.com

 

[pappawheely]

Your truck is a real survivor. Glad you are keeping it going.

 

[GTI-88]

Well it is been a while since I have had any kind of update here, but I have been making some progress with the old Isuzu.

I have mostly been using it for small truck duties, and had to take the rack off of the bed to load the truck up with my GF's stuff and move her into the house. After that, I kept looking at the old aluminum camper top that was originally on it and how nice it would be to have the bed covered again...

So back on the aluminum cap went! I also got the front torsion bars cranked up about 1", which really helped level the front with the back end and had the added benefit of no more rubbing when I would hit a decent size bump at anything over 10MPH. Also went ahead this last weekend and did the standard oil change and filter, went with high mileage 10w-30.

Now I am simultaneously working on some deferred maintenance and some fun stuff. I had a Rola roof rack sitting in the garage, and had the bars that I had taken off the truck bed. Looking at the structure of the aluminum canopy, I decided to take the rails that were on the bed and run them front to back on top of the canopy to help spread the load across the cap structure. Then I went ahead and used the u bolts with the rack to secure it down to the lateral structure in the canopy. At the end of the day the rack is super solid up there, and I just need to pick up some additional waterproofing materials to seal up the few holes I had to drill in the canopy. Long term I am planning to take it all down and apart and repaint the canopy shell, hopefully in the coming weeks.

I decided to throw one of my old wheel / tires up on the roof rack, and here soon I will get the tire replaced with one to match what is on the truck currently, or something close (keeping it budget oriented, may look for a right size tire on clearance or similar).

I also am working on adding 2 nilite LEDs on the canopy. I have them mounted and am going to rough out the wire routing here this weekend, test it out, and hopefully finish the install, pending my other ongoing project.

I have been tracking an oil leak for awhile and I'm 90% certain that the primary source is that the mechanical fuel pump is pushing oil out of its overflow valve. Luckily Oreilly's had a replacement available that comes with all the required gaskets, etc. for $40, so I will be picking that up today and getting that installed this weekend. I will be very happy if this takes care of the oil leak that the truck has had for years, prior to my ownership. There are still some weepy gaskets and such, but this leak leaves 2-3 penny sized oil spots under the truck every time I park it, and with my goal of making this truck as reliable as possible, I want to get this taken care of ( just recently rolled over 105K miles, I want to see this thing go 200K).

Finally, I had to call around to 3 different shops in town to find someone that would do a water pump and timing belt replacement on this truck. The first 2 small shops I called said they don't work on vehicles this old anymore! I was a bit shocked considering I feel like 90's vehicles are the life blood of these small shops, and what I tend to see parked out front all the time. Luckily the 3rd shop was very helpful, found the necessary parts and quoted $500-600, which I feel like is a fair, if not great price. Interested to know if anyone feels like this is too much for water pump and timing belt replacement?

Some garage picks below as she sits mid LED install, leveled out a bit with the torsion bars adjusted, and with a view of the canopy mounted rack and spare tire up top.

 

[GTI-88]

Got the fuel pump done this weekend, not a bad job. If anyone ever needs to change a fuel pump on one of these, don't follow the Chiltons manual instructions where you come at it from the top. You can take the front passenger wheel off and get at it through the wheel well.

I continue to be surprised how well this truck has aged. It only has had 2 previous owners (one being my neighbor) and they both kept up on general maintenance and it shows.

Next steps will be finishing getting the lights wired, then I have plans to do refinish some parts with truck bed liner.

 

[sg1]

This brings back a lot of memories. My first overland vehicle was a 1986 Isuzu Trooper with your 2.3 l gas engine. I equipped it with a roof top tent, took out the rear seats to make room for more storage and managed to get Jerry cans for 40 gallons of gas, 3 gallons of water and food for 2 months in. With that my girlfriend (now wife) and I crossed the Sahara twice on old French military tracks. At one point we had almost a 1000 miles without a settlement let alone a gas station. The Isuzu never broke down and the underpowered engine always pulled us trough (in low range). Do not underestimate your little truck. These Isuzu trucks used to be ubiquitous in North Africa and carry anything including camels and cows over terrible tracks.

 

[sg1]

This brings back a lot of memories. My first overland vehicle was a 1986 Isuzu Trooper with your 2.3 l gas engine. I equipped it with a roof top tent, took out the rear seats to make room for more storage and managed to get Jerry cans for 40 gallons of gas, 3 gallons of water and food for 2 months in. With that my girlfriend (now wife) and I crossed the Sahara twice on old French military tracks. At one point we had almost a 1000 miles without a settlement let alone a gas station. The Isuzu never broke down and the underpowered engine always pulled us trough (in low range). Do not underestimate your little truck. These Isuzu trucks used to be ubiquitous in North Africa and carry anything including camels and cows over terrible tracks.

Thats 30 gallon of water of course.