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Description:
Hi my names is Stuart i live in Glasgow- Scotland with my wife and 8year old son.
I own two isuzu`s lWB 1990 lotus edition 2.8td bighorn Hi -Top . 1989 2.6 petrol swb barn find. The daily drive is the bighorn and the 2.6 is a restore project and offroad toy.

Modifications and Accessories:

Suspension: standard
Body Lift:standard
Tyres/Wheels: standard
Traction Aids: LSD,
Bullbar: Frontera wrap around cut back
Spot lights and Lighting: N/A
Communications/GPS:N/A
Dual Batteries:N/A
Engine:2.6 (soon to be a 3.1td)
Exhaust:standard
Sound system:N/A
External: work in progress
Internal: work in progress
Others:


Pictures:

These are my two Isuzu


The daily drive


The 2.6 project

I bought the 2.6 after a bit of humming and hawing at the time i was using a 97 2.0 frontera sport as a offroad toy it was orignally my daily drive

As time went on i did the usual mods

Then i added mud tyres and a cb


Anyway fast forward to present day i have been working on this 2.6 petrol mk1 trooper

As i said it lived in a barn for two and half years after the fuel lines went on it , they were replaced but the farmer /owner lost intrest. A mate had told me about this trooper in a barn. At the time i wasnt looking for a trooper never mind an old one.




It was grubby full of dead bugs n spider webs and wasnt even sure if it would start an i was happy and £100 quid lighter .It then sat there for 5 months till i sold the frontera,.
The the big day came it was been put on a trailer an my mate was dragging it 100 miles to my house.


This was the beginning of my first ever project. I had bought a clarke mig welder the year before an had never did welding before so i was clueless about how and where to start.

Then i gave it a wash  and put up garage tent







Now we all caught up.  The real job and fun begins

I removed back seats the seat belts and the carpet.  I held aloft my mighty light and  an old screw driver began poking the rust bits









the other side


There was no going back now

Most the next post and picture i have copied from the itoc forum save me writing it all out i again . I will do best to edit to keep it up to date . I hope i have this in the write place and not breaking any rules apologies in advance if i have .

The progress so far
i Jacked it onto axle stands got the wheels off,
I used my trolley jack and a plank of wood jacked it up under the tank i then undid the 6 bolts?  for the fuel tank and dropped it down. i then undid the hoses as i went






Behind the wheel the rust  looks even less appealing if rust can ever be appealing






I had a look at the rear cross member and it is corroded at each side i ended up partly removing  the rear bumper








I know the pictures arent that good i was using a cheapo torch.

Is there supposes to be a rubber bump stop here

I had issue with the repair trying to beat rust an following the shape of arches against the boot floor.






I know patchwork but solid.


The other side is not as bad

Update been back at it again this time the opposite arch








That went ok . The next part wasnt so good found a ruddy big hole in the seat mounting.  The mount uses 2mm i have 1mm metal i can cut round the hole the rusty edge of an still have most of the mount  might be able to patch. It will be good practice for the crossmember.  Its like they used tin on that part the metal changed thickness . I had to cut it all away at one point i was twisting it round long nose pliers like openning can of tuna

I removed the front seats and carpet





Off with center console



Next job was  too deal with the rust around the windscreen



It didnt go according to plan I cracked the screen i saw that coming as its been 10 years since i removed one.
The side i thought was bad was better than the side that looked good.

I started off with removing the factory fitted ?  radio/cassette. Easy. next was any screw that held the dash to the body. I am glad the window was out made it alot easier. I had to stripout the three center oil/fuel/temp dials  aswell as the speedo rev dials  and few other parts . A bit of fighting with screws and connectors i finally got the dash out



Finally it let go



I didnt even upset this wee guy he just sat there laughing

Until i threatend him with a blow torch


The next stage was check out the rust damage not as bad as i first thought , wee bit off work on drivers side is definetly needed




passenger side

I cracked open my can of bru and sat back for a breather


Then i thought where am i going to put all these interior parts


I then moved onto the front bumper one bolt bent then sheared couldnt get the last bolt off even with a blow torch and dw40  need a bigger bar

I managed to get the front bumper off






The cross member is in good condition  now i could see all of it i am glad for that.  The radaitor mount is well corroded


I had a frontera bullbar i cut down so i retro fitted that just to see how it would look

Busy weekend stripped the gearbox, engine, radaitor front and rear props (and rear diff flange) Part wiring loom and fuse box and fuel tank out of a 95 3.1td comercail.

First job was to get access to gearbox .  With some help from Jack and his special GET ACCESS TO GEARBOX TOOL this was surprisly easy

Click image for video





This what a swb trooper looks like underneath now dont try this at home this is a specialy trained to play dead Trooper.

The wiring loom was a nightmare as i didnt know what to keep and take i just cut off what i know i didnt need an kept what i didnt know  :lol:
There was a load of connectors under the dash i split them and dragged the loom out of the gromit on drivers side .  



The engine lifted out nicely in one go bar one wire for egr just a wee socket to unclip.i took home the gearbox and other bits i had to leave engine it wouldnt go in the back with the forklift  the there wasnt enough  height , will get that  at a diffrent date on a trailer .


Now the fun begins getting the one out of mine with no forklifts  and getting that one in with no clue what i am doing i feel this is going to be a nightmare getting it into a 2.6 petrol mk1. The good thing is from what everyone said there is very little wiring . When i compared the engine mount to my 2.8 td there was not much diffrence . I move house at the end of the month getting out this crap hole . I wont be doing anything till after i move