Page 1: Story

Page 2: The engine rebuild

This is my 1986 Isuzu Trooper.  My parents bought it was it was new and it has been in the family longer than I have.  It was my older sisters first car, and then my first car.  It has roughly 290,000 miles on it and has been on fire twice.  The first engine died around 150,000 miles and my father went to a junkyard and got a second engine.  That lasted till around 280,000 miles.  Then a thrust washer on the crankshaft spun and the whole engine seized up on my sister in the middle of an intersection.  It then sat in our driveway for four years collecting all manner of dirt and wasps nests.  Since it was to be my first car, when I was 14 my father told me if I wanted to drive it I'd have to rebuild it.  I new nothing about engines but he said as long as I provided the labor, he'd provide the financing.

This is how I found her in our driveway the morning I went out to begin.  I knew absolutely nothing about cars when I started this but with my fathers guidance and an Isuzu Shop Manual that he had purchased, I had the engine rebuilt,the engine compartment cleaned and repainted and she was ready to fire.  I filled it up with fluids and some gas, hooked up the battery, and let her rip.  Took a couple of cranks but she fired right up, and that was one of the proudest moments of my life.  I put 10,000 more miles on her through a cross country move to Utah from Illinois, and two trips to California and back and added many more modifications, including a new gas tank, a 12 bolt axle from a 1990 trooper (w/ 4 wheel disc braking now) among other things.  It was when I was working at a used car dealership and bought my other vehicle there that I stopped driving it.  I would start it every now and then and drive it around the block but once the registration ran out, and once I went back to school, she's back in my parents driveway languishing away.  I love this car and have absolutely no intention of ever getting rid of it.  It was this car that got me hooked on cars and working on them.  Once I graduate in two years (or maybe sooner) I'll bring her into my dads shop and we are going to tear her down to the frame and completely rebuild her, modifying as we go (if we ever get to the point where we have WAY too much money we are going to put an Allison 250 Gas Turbine engine in it!).  I cannot wait for that.

Oh yeah.....

As it is, here she stands in the driveway, waiting for life to begin again.

SPECS:  It is a Two door long wheelbase version, and an original first generation.  It has the 4ZD1 carbed 4 cylinder motor with a 5 speed trans.  It is a 4x4 and has the original 10 bolt axle IFS up front but I've swapped a 12 bolt from a newer Trooper into the rear to get rid of the weak 10 bolt and give me 4 wheel disc brakes.  Beyond that this thing is pretty stock.

TROOPER OWNERS!

BE SURE TO GO TO www.planetisuzoo.com

Great resource for help classifieds and all around expressing love for your Zu.