The Moon Truck

S

Squatch

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On the wrong side of the mountains!
This is a feeler. I'm back to work on my '88 Isuzu Spacecab that I'm building to haul the 4WC Eagle shell I recently purchased.





I like different stuff than most. And have the skills to build my own vehicles. I've owned Isuzu's off and on since '88. It took me 2 1/2 years to fnd a clean example of one of these trucks. I've owned it since Oct 2011. I drove it home and once home the fun started. They original plan was to build it for a cheap commuter and eventually maybe put a 4WC on it and build it similar to my Trooper shown above.

Unexpected problems have come up and the build has been back burnered more than once. It still needs to have an Engine installed and get it legal and then decide what mods I need and want to do to carry the camper to the places I want to go. A year+ ago I pulled it back into the garage to get the engine going and it has mostly sat since then..I'm now retired and starting back on it in earnest. Where we'll end up is a good question at this point.

My question is to see if there is an interest in me doing a build thread here. I realize this is not a gearhead forum and most folks buy their cars not build them from junkers. So I don't want to put the effort into this and bore folks unless there is real interest in seeing what takes shape.

I do have an ongoing build thread since I got the truck over on PlanetIsuzu.
http://forum.planetisuzoo.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=56442
It's long, technical and very blog like at times. That's just my style I guess. All the background to this point is there. If I go with this here I'll just cover the highlights of the past and keep going from there.



BTW Isuzu called their extended cab the Spacecab. It has a moonroof. Somehow Mama Squatch managed to turn that into the Moon truck. Beats me!

I do name alot of my stuff. Or should I say it names itself. The above Trooper is Red Beans. It's kidney bean colored and has the original dealer tag from Fred Beans Isuzu in PA. The F got deleted and she became Red Beans. Originally she was project towboat. Another unlikely project built to tow my Bassboat. She is still a little cosmetically challenged but that coming. Underneath she has a full frame off resto using the best parts the factory and the aftermarket had to offer for these trucks. The drivetrains on these 2 trucks is identical. I have been hoarding rare parts for some time so I have some cool stuff for this one as well. If I procede here I'll give a little more backgroung on RB's as that will help to explain what I would like from the Spacer. this truck is black so for now she is Black Beans. Maybe I'll call the white camper Rice!

Some teasers.











So would you folks be interested in seeing how this gets built to off road my camper or should I keep it on the gearhead site?
 
Isuzu, interesting. We had an 86 trooper for years that we bought new. I put two transmissions into it and then pulled and reinstalled the motor after a rebuild, so this is bringing back memories.....might be interesting to watch as long as I don't have to do the work. :)
 
I had an '89 Trooper which I bought new. It was a fuel injected 4-cyl and was the second-best truck/SUV I ever owned. I sold it to a friend in Wilmington, NC and he's still driving it today.
 
Gene Rubin and I thought about doing this many years ago. Looking forward to the progress. Now if only Pods.......
 
Glad to see a couple of folks have some background in these things. Big difference between an '86 and an '88. '87 was a changover year. on the Troopers by '88 they had much stouter axles, wider track, much improved tramsmissions, larger fuel injected 4 cyl engines. Drivetrain wise this is pretty much identical to a Trooper. This is the platform the Rodeo's and Amigo's were based off of.

This is not a PUP. This is the 1`st year of the truck that replaced the PUP. '88-'95. Then they sold rebadged GM s10's. (GM owned a controlling share of Isuzu at that time.

So anyway. I bought this truck and drove it 3 hours from central VA.( al ot less snow and salt down that way. Mileage is unkown. When the previous owner bought it he was advised the speedo had been replaced with one with many more miles on it. THey bought it in '94 and put around 40k + miles on it around the far, and small town till I bought it in '11. It was idle challenged but that is common and normally due to the miles of vacuum, hoses found on '80's vehicles.

My plan was to replace belts, hoses, brakes, shocks, fluids and tune it up and drive it. Well you know how plans go. I did a compression test and it had 2 dead cylinders. The previous owner had never adjusted the valves and burn't the exhaust valves in 2 cylinders.


I pulled the engine and replaced the head with a new one. While it was out I cleaned and painted the frame and engine compartment.


The engine was reasealed, painted and all rubber parts replaced. That's the red one above. Diring this time the truck also got some ball joints and front end bushings replaced. New Skyjacker nito shocks. All the brakes were replaced with Powerstop drilled rotors and matching pads in the stock size.New clutch, new motor and transmission mounts and lot's more.




I offroad my trucks and they see a fair amount of water crossings. So the transmission, transfer case, and axle vents were extended to the top of the firewall to keep water out of the components.
See the hose?


This truck has pop out rear windows and a Moonroof. all the little rubber buttons where the brackets go through the glass were replaced along with the factory weatherstripping.



The grungy interior was shampooed and scrubbed.
 
Your truck also had the auto locking hubs that you replaced with aftermarket manual locking? I remember that I did. I remember 86 was one of the last carburetor engines and I so remember the yards and yards of vacuum hoses. I still have the vacuum tester from those days. This trip down memory lane is fun. Thanks, and best of luck with the project.
 
I replaced the factory stereo with one from a 2000 Trooper with cassette head and cd player. They sound great, it was cheap, and I don't have to worry about folks stealing my fancy stereo at trailheads and boat ramps.



I added some high end Polk speakers in the factory locations.





Removed the mice nests.




I added a class 3 receiver hitch. And a commercial style 7 pin round pin connector in the bumper.


So anyway I installed the fixed engine in the truck. It ran fine but I couldn't get the wisps of white smoke to clear from the exhaust.


So I pulled the head again and found a very small hairline crack in the wall of the #4 cylinder on the exhaust side into the water jacket. Daggonit! The engine is toast. This is very rare. The bottom end of these 4 cylinders regularly go 300,000 miles without being touched. They do have a tendancy to eat a head gasket every 100k or so. Early iron block aluminum head engines.Much different expansion rates.
So I pulled the engine and parked the truck for a while.

I have a friend who is a factory trained Honda mechanic with his own shop. His wife had an '88 Trooper with 72k miles on it. Back around 2007 it had cracked the head. The early castings had a thin spot. (This pickup still had a #1 casting in it when I got it. That's the one with the burn't valve.) So he completely rebuilt the engine. Including putting all the aluminum parts through his bead blast cabinet. He put the engine back in and they drove it just a little till the rear rebuilt calipers locked up and it got parked. It sat for some time parked next to the main road at his shop getting snow and salt splashed on it. By the time he got back to it the rear of the truck had rusted bad. I bought it for the motor.
I keep showing these pics of Red Beans pulling heavy stuff for a reason. We intend to put a slide inCamper in a small 4 cyl truck right! Built right these trucks can do way more than most might think.


So anyway last summer I pulled the drivetrain and lot's of useable parts of that Trooper.


So that brings us to the present. I now have a 4WC that needs a truck. And a truck that needs an engine and a little supension work to carry it. I have been accumulating parts along the way. So this week I finally got enough other stuff off my plate to get to the motor. I have cleaned it as it seems my friend used some less than perfect gaskets on it when he rebuilt it. So I have stripped the intake,exhaust ect off and cleaned it.

Dirty.


Clean.






I told you this motor was just rebuilt a few years ago and parked. That's still assembly lube on the rocker shafts. This motor hasn't even been broken in yet.



Cylinder still show the fresh honing.







The torque on the main bearings and connecting rods was rechecked. All spot on.


And a fresh coat of Detroit Diesel alpine green paint.


 
SKI that was a lesson learned many years ago. All my Zu's have gotten manual hubs. The Auto hubs use a small C clip that likes to come off. Then the hub body slides out. the CV axle slides in and the hub grinds the splines off the end of an expensive CV axle.
 
I've always felt that the Isuzus were very tough little trucks. I forgot to mention I'd had a 1980 Chevy LUV from 1980 until 1987 (rebadged Isuzu KB-40) . It was in fact the primary reason I decided upon the Trooper in 1989 and why I avoided the GM 2.8 liter V6 offered as an "upgrade". No thanks, I'll take the fuel injected I-4. The 1980 LUV had a durable little I-4 of maybe 1.8 liters displacement, a 4-speed manual, and fairly short gears (maybe about 3.73 or so?). It gave audible indications of piston slap when cold but I ran the heck out of it for several years after the slap noise first appeared. Took good care of it but drove it all over the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern states during my mineral exploration days working out of Charlottesville, VA, and she always got me home. Sold her 3 years after changing careers when my second child was in the oven. We could just squeeze ourselves and a carseat in the cab, but no way to seat 4.

Digging the Isuzu build. Keep 'em coming.

Foy
 
Foy cool stuff. The LUV was the 1st 4wd truck sold in North America with independant front suspension. Pretty far ahead of their time. Yes they are very tuff. Which brings up my next subject.

I have read all the stuff on here about GVWR concerns many times. Point made, Please don't bring it up here. This is a small truck and like other small trucks I will be flirting with the edge of the numbers. There is a reason I have an Eagle shell and not a built Eagle camper or a Fleet. It's because I'm consious of this stuff. The chassis will handle it no problem. Will I be over the published numbers sometimes? Of course. The limits on this truck will be engine size not the chassis or brakes. I spent most of my life as a road cyclist. Anyone that knows one understands we are all about light weight. But I like to think my build will be a lot like my 4WC: As light as possible, as robust as needed.

Numbers can get dumb. This truck is from a vintage when much of the number crunching had more to do with import taxes that real payload capacity. That and ride comfort. These are real international trucks. They were sold world wide. Overseas they were rated for much higher payloads than in the US. One of the reasons is all US spec Isuzu's got the "soft ride" suspension. It's lighter sprung than what the rest of the world got. That and they got some wonderful 2.8 and 3.1 intercooled diesels we can only dream of. This truck has a very stout fully boxed frame. That's an asset and their achillies heel. Box frames rust from the inside out. This one is in good shape and rust prevention will be addressed as well.

Just to give an example on the numbers. Isuzu made a full 1 ton rated version for these trucks in the US. It was a long bed standard cab. The only difference between that truck and the regular longbed was lower axle gears, heavier rear spring packs and E rated tires. Payload and GVWR on the door sticker was over 1,000lbs higher. Same frame, brakes, drivetrain, engine. This truck will have most of that stuff as well. But like I said I intend to stay as close to and within rated GVWR as much as I can. For what it's worth the numbers on this truck are the same or higher than it's more modern equivalents such as a Taco. Except the newer ones have higher tow ratings due to bigger engines. Red Beans (My Trooper) is built with extra HD OME springs and such, lower gears, upgraded steering components and brakes and much more. It easily handles twice it's rated hauling and towing capacity. But as with this truck It's not something I regularly do. When I do I realize the liability is on ME! BTW the boat and Loaded truck is within my legal limits. Truck and trailer full of oak probably not.






The point of this is to say. I intend to build my truck in stages to do what it needs to do. I have no intention of putting myself or anyone else in harms way. If I do It is MY responsibility. And I'll work hard to keep my truck and load within the rated numbers. I'll also build it so that it isn't sressed at all even when well over those numbers adding an extra margin of safety. So consider this part of the subject discussed and closed.
 
On a lighter note I have been agonizing a bit over this build. It would be easy to just duplicate the Trooper build and call it a day. Well almost. The Trooper has a very rare in the US set of Old Man Emu 029 Springs in the back. They have a crazy high load rating yet still ride pretty good. Only a few sets were brought into the states and they are no longer available. The standard OME 028 HD's are still available. These are the Isuzu version of the HD Dakar springs everyone uses on their Taco's. But that kind of build get's out of hand and the costs build up quick. Now that I'm retired I'm a Cheapskate. At least for a while till things settle down. Before I had more money than time now I have more time than money I want to part with. That and I already have a lot of stuff and ideas I want to try. So I'm going to do something different with this truck. So far anyway.

The Pickup is lighter than a Trooper. The difference is pretty close to the weight of my Eagle shell. I have some good Trooper springs so we'll try those in the back 1st. I'll also probably replace my bumpstops with a set of Tmbren rubber overloads. There is a lot of interchangability in Isuzu's of all vintages. That's part of the fun. So we'll work with that a bit. Last night I put down the game plan in writing on another forum so I'll just cut and paste it here.

"I have a fairly clear plan for the rest of this build for now anyway.
>Reseal and assemble the engine with a Calmini cam and stock exhaust manifold. I have another Calmini header and that and the exhaust will get upgraded later.

>Reuse new stock style clutch that came on the engine.

>Already have new Powerstop HP stock sized brakes so I'll stay with them for now. I can add big brakes later.

>Install the 4:56 open diffs in both axles. Truck now has 4.30's.

>Install the new Sway-a-Way HD torsion bars and keep the new already installed Skyjacker Nitro front shocks. They might get cranked up a tiny amount. The factory steering damper has been replaced with a new one.

>Replace rear spring bushings with poly ones. Install rear Trooper springs and Timbren overloads.

>Replace rear shackles with Indy4x HD ones.

>I may have to replace the new Skyjacker rear shocks with longer ones. They are a bit on the short side anyway even though they are supposedly for up to 1" lift. I have a brand new set of KYB shocks that are longer.

>Install the new Camini front and rear anti-sway bars.

>Run 30x9.50x15LT Dunlop Rover At's on Snowflakes

>Paint the rest of the frame

>Install new spare Carter fuel pump

For the most part this list is mainly work and not much money spent. I already have most all this stuff and it's still an upgrade over stock for weight carrying."

The last few days I have been cleaning engine parts and doing some painting. The person who built this engine had sandblasted a lot of the parts. Unfortunately he also blasted the protective finish off some of the steel nipples and such that are part of the various aluminum engine assembly's. They were starting to rust. So yesterday I put these parts back in a blast cabinet and cleaned them again. Then cleaned that with solvent and clearcoated all the pieces. And did a little trim painting. I think it's going to be hard to get this one dirty when it's done. So here are a few teasers.

Clean parts.






Paint before the clear coat.
 
I say do a full build thread. Your trooper is one of my favorites. I have always wanted a trooper and now I have two.

The white one is a real clean 91 that I bought about 4 years ago. I just picked up the red one for my yard beater on our 6 acres.
 

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Best way to make plans change is to write them down I guess. In the last week I found out a fellow Isuzu head had a set of the rare Old Man Emu 029 rear leaf springs he wasn't using and wanted to sell. So I packed up and did a 770 mile round trip to get them. Of course I had to remove them from the truck they were on.
1st + 3rd springs are stock Trooper springs(same set up as the stock pickup springs) 2nd + 4th are the OME 029s.


Just need some cleaning and a coat of graphite paint.

I'm guessing that many are like me and one or two specific destinations drove their purchase of a 4WC. For me one of these is a specific campsite in the GWNF in VA. On the way home from getting the springs I stopped for the night at this site. It's 2 miles of rough double track with a couple of small stream crossings. Haven't been there in over a year. Wednesday night I drove in after dark in the rain towing the military trailer in the above pics. "Think the scenes in Jurassic Park in the Jeeps at night in the rain, but without the T-rex!" Ha Ha
Old pic of the trail.


Old pic of the site. Both it and the trail are rarely used. It was much more overgrown this trip.


It was a great night of quick camping and it reminded me that if I want the Pickup to carry the camper where I take the Trooper then it will need to be built similar. Glad I found these springs.
 
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