Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

[vien]

Hi

I am 17 and this is my truck. Many people say I'm crazy having this as a first car (especially as it is left hand drive!).

What do you all think?

http://www.kapture-it.co.uk/show_image.php?image_id=10091789&cont=prev

The first is how it was given to me - its been sitting in the drive for about 4 years now! - and the other 2 are now.

Some of these people have amazing trucks!
I want to go off roading but have never been yet.

Thanks

Vien
South-East Wales
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My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.

[Google]

[vien]

Its annoying that the engine is now only a 1.8l YES a 1.8!!!! So top speed it only lik 75!! (Faster in 4th than 5th!).

Probably good for me as I passed only in February.

The gearbox is such that in lowbox, little 1.8l engine can make a 4 wheel wheelspin in reverse up my drive!

I think its gotta be a high ratio but then i have nothing to compare it to!
What do you lot think? As some of you must have experience in that sort of thing.

[Drive inclined at a big angle something like 35degrees - only few attempt it - its even written off a taxi!]

So...to the point...Does anyone have a big engine they would care to donate!!! Please lol I dont like spending money on this truck as its only worth <£200!

Thanks for reading

Vien
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My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.

[Philp]

Nothing wrong with not following the herd i.e. not driving a citroen Paxo or Corsa! My first car was a 1969 mkIII Spitfire.

Hard to tell from the picture whether it's a swb or LWB, bonnet looks like an interesting colour! As to the wheelspin in 4 lo you have lots of torque so on a steep slope you may well be able to wheelspin all four wheels but be careful you don't break anything. As discussed in other threads you shouldn't drive it in 4wd on tarmac or you'll wind up the transmission and break something.

The trouble with sticking a bigger engine (there's always odd broken troopers on eebuygum) is that your insurance company will then see it as a modified vehicle and undoubtedly give you a huge hike in your premium. If you don't declare it then your insurance would be in-valid in the event of an accident. Id concentrate on giving the existing engine and running gear a good service and maybe have it tuned up to get the most from it and then buy something with a bigger engine in a couple of years time.

Interesting that someone felt it was worth importing from the US, although I guess it may well have come over with a US serviceman, my old flatmate had a US spec VW Rabbit (Golf) he got from a guy at Greenham Common.
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Phil

96 or is it a 98 Isuzu Bighorn Lotus

[vien]

Thanks for the advice.
(its LWB)

Dont worry I dont usually drive in 4x4 but I was going down the drive when my step mum was coming up in her Grand Cherokee. Problem in the power of the engine is so low that it couldn't reverse in 2x4 or 4x4 so i had to put it in lo'.

I find it very hard to move off in lo' without having the truck lurch foward - it seems however slow i lift the clutch with low revs it still does it! Any ideas?

Also: The truck was given to us by an american guy who imported a while back - he owned my dad some money so we took it! lol very old though so not worth much.

Shame about the engine - oh well it does what I ask but I thing i forgot to mention - it does 13MPG!!!! with a 1.8l engine! i dont get that....

Vien
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My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.

[vien]

Oh yeah - what 'winding up the transmission' and excuse my ignorance but how does driving on tarmac affect things negatively? I would guess that it would be the easiest thing it can do! lol I dont know..

Also: what a cool first car! that must of been great! My friends love my truck and think its a tank - they all have hatchbacks - or as i refer to them 'hairdresser cars' lol

What did your friends drive when you had your Spitfire?
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My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.

[exbouncer]

its a little cracker mate .my advice is "if it aint broke dont fix it".
I dont recommend too many wheel spins tho unless you fancy changing snapped half shafts

[vien]

Wheelspin was a 1 off accident - i was just surprised to see a 1.8l engine do that in reverse up a hill! I suppose all 4x4's do that in lo' maybe not reliant on the engine when one uses a ratio as high as in low box.

The problem is it takes forever going anywhere with this engine, going down slight gradients it will still only go 75 but more importantly a slight uphill gradient cuts the speed to 65! (and the fact that is does 13mpg!)
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My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.

[Philp]

My mates were driving a MK IV cortina estate, MK 1 Escort, MK 1 Golf (mind you this was 20 years ago when most of these were just old bangers!)

One thing to check is whether it has free wheeling hubs on the front axles, it may not as some US spec I think didn't. If it does it'll either have a lever to turn to lock them into the axles or it'll say Auto Hub or similar and they'll be big chunky bits sticking out from the front hub. If it has neither a set of new manual hubs from Milner Off road is £110 quid, take half an hour to fit tops and it'll mean that you're not stirring the axles etc when in 2wd thus causing extra friction and load. Fitting free wheelers will help with speed and fuel economy. If you haven't done it a good service and tune may help too, but mileage from a 1.8 pulling such a big lump around is never gonna be great but 13 mpg is a little poor IMO. I'd say there was a problem somewhere. I get better mileage than that from my Pickup (just) and that is 18 feet long and has a 5.7L V8 and a carb the size of a bucket.

Do a search on wind up on this forum and ther's a number of threads that'll explain exactly what it is.

My Trooper is the 2.8Turbo diesel and performance is acceptable, although I may fit a front mounted intercooler and have the fuel pump optimised for some more grunt. If I want to spend some hooligan time I just get the Pickup out and go for a blast and frighten the local boy racers when 21/2 tons of bright yellow truck smokes em at the lights.
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Phil

96 or is it a 98 Isuzu Bighorn Lotus

[ian]

yeah yer lucky my fist car when i was 17.........was a chevette .........man it was rotten from *beep* tay elbow .........and the floor was so bad that if you ever locked yersel oot you could climb in through the hole in the flair

cheers

[vien]

It has autolocking hubs - Does this still mean friction is slowing the car or is it fully disengaged?

It hasn't been treated great I think - well i have no history of any service or anything! But i will probably have it services soon. I just passed 125 000 miles yesturday.

Concerning the the previous post - I have never seen so many spelling errors in 1 sentence!! Lol

My trooper isn't that bad that there are holes! lol But there is surface rust on chassis and bumpers/bonnet. I am respraying them myself - should of thought of respraying before I welded (spelling of weld?) the bullbar to the chassis! A lot of masking tape needed I think.

Now THATS the sort of 4x4 i want! Kick those stupid hatchback racers ass! You must have LOADS of fun doing that. Already all those people stare at my car especially when i scare them with my airhorn at 2 feet! But to have a truck that could beat even there years-and-thousands-spent-on hatchbacks in speed as well would be funny.


One of my friends has an old Golf aswell but a Mark 2 and the rest just french hatchbacks made of tin!

Bringing me to a question for people in the 'Isuzu Know':

Although the chassis of isuzu's is obviously much stronger than normal cars, I was looking in the doors the other day..
(I took a panel off to try to repair a dent I put in when I accidently hit my truck with my Hi-Lift Jack!)
...and Isuzu doors (Mark 1 i think) are REALLY thin!! They couldn't withstand and impact from another car at all! I was expecting to see cross beams across the sides of the truck or something!
_________________
My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.

[vien]

One day my dream is to get US Ford F350! (Super Duty) They're so Powerful and ENORMOUS!

Did you always want your Yellow Pick Up? I think I saw a picture somewhere else - it look brilliant!

I actually wanted a pick up for my first car but my dad said i would have this Isuzu which is still great! and he would get a pickup - add a few miles then give it to me.

Here it is:
(Hopefully coming to my hands soon!)

http://www.kapture-it.co.uk/show_image.php?image_id=10091852

Its a bit of a showy car lol in Bright Red! and Decals. I hope to put a 3" Chrome A - Bar on it, will look much better I think
Its the Colin Mcray Dakar Special Edition - the Nissan Navara RallyRaid
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My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.

[exbouncer]

[vien]

LOL

Don't worry about altering my mind state!
and I don't think the anti-4x4 lobby will be reading a small forum about pictures of people's trucks!

Anyway - the anti-4x4 lobby I think are not against Pick Up's as they are commercial vehicles - its against urban SUV's who never use the 4x4 capabilities.

...and its a bit late to philip to show he's a sensible road user now lol!
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My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.

[Philp]

Don't worry, ex bouncers just being sulky over a disagreement we had on another thread. I don't advocate racing people from the lights, neither do I do it (just sometimes people can't keep up with me, theres no law about how fast you get to the speed limit!) )
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Phil

96 or is it a 98 Isuzu Bighorn Lotus

[vien]

lol ok
_________________
My Truck: (First Car ever!)
1989 Isuzu Trooper LWB LHD imported from USA.