[tylerruinstrucks]

Hi all!

Over 15 years ago, my first car was my dad's old 1990 Trooper. I am now rejoining the Isuzu family with this fantastic little Amigo I picked up in Phoenix last weekend. 124k miles. 2.6L 5-speed. 2WD. 33" tires. 3" lift. Drove her all the way back to Los Angeles without any problems (minus the rear passenger tire delaminating at 60mph and doing some damage to the body and cracking my taillight ).

I've got a carpet on it's way from Stock Interiors, a new OEM shifter boot from the legendary Jerry and have a lot of other fun little projects in mind including a custom tire cover and eventually adding A/C.


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Looks so good in the desert. We camped outside Phoenix for the night before heading home. These big A/T tires handled the rocky dirt roads fine, even with just 2WD.


My son came on the trip. Made him earn his keep with window washes at the gas stations.


Appreciate all I've learned here so far and thank you all in advance for the future help I'm sure I'll need.

Tyler

 

[szac]

So awesome, man! Where did you camp outside of Phoenix? Sonoran Desert National Monument? Holy smokes and there's the shredded tire in that window washing pic. Good to see little man establishing some ownership too.

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

Thank you! We camped at a place apparently known as Smuggler's Run off of Highway 8 in the South Maricopa Mountains Wilderness Area. https://freeroam.app/campground/smugglers-run

Here's a bonus shot of campsite with the Amigo looking like a dang Matchbox car.

 

[Lightning]

Awesome! I'm so happy seeing your new truck on the Planet. I saw that rig on Offerup in Phoenix too but I ended up buying a 95 Rodeo. I loved my 4WD 93 Amigo that I had some years ago, wish I still had it, it was originally 2WD like yours but I swapped in a 6VD1 and 4WD from a scrapped 94 Rodeo and it was a little BEAST until it blew a head..

Keep the sweet pictures coming in!

Cheers from Arizona,
Andrew

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

Added sound deadening material plus new black carpet from StockInteriors.com!

Still need to reassemble dash (and pass smog) but she's comin' along!

 

[Enemigo]

Looking good. Welcome.

 

[Tentin]

New sound deadening is a game changer. Did you do the doors yet?

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

Yes! Did the doors too. Makes such a difference. The cab is so much quieter now it's crazy.

 

[gruff54]

Tyler,
How did the carpet fit?

Mike

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

Fit pretty good! They leave you a alot of extra margins that you have to trim. It would have been easier if I had an old carpet to trim against but instead I had to kinda just figure it out as I went. It's far from a professional install, but it's great for my needs. The shifter area and the firewall are definitely the trickiest. In hindsight, I probably should have just bought the full kit that included the cargo area and wheel wells. At the time I didnt want to spend the extra $100, but to order on it's own with shipping, its at least $150. that said, I think I may do a spray bedliner in the cargo area so it wont really matter.

 

[gruff54]

So it fit the transmission hump and firewall pretty good? My experience with aftermarket carpet is they don't fit the hump very well, regardless of the vehicle.

Mike

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

Had to trim a few inches to get it correct at the firewall but the transmission tunnel is pretty spot on. I'd say I got it about 95% right. For 200$ for whatever, it's a no brainer if you've been considering it.

 

[gruff54]

I'll bookmark StockInteriors.com then! Thanks.

Mike

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

Yeah man. Wherever you can get the best deal on the ACC molded carpet. StockInteriors is just a authorized reseller.

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

First time poppin the top! I was surprised how easy it was to do it myself. Now just need to rig up one of those hard top holders for the garage.

Driving around without the top was a gamechanger. The truck was already fun but it's really at it's best going topless. As long as I can get this thing to pass smog, it's going to be the perfect weekend fun truck I hoped it would be.



Here's a little video of the Amigo's new carpet. I cant believe how much quieter it is now with the sound dampening material + carpet kit. Engine is just a low rumble now, and almost inaudible when music is playing.

Here's the sound proofing stuff I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0751CBXBT/
36 sq ft was enough for passenger area and doors with enough left over that I could probably do the roof if I wanted to.

 

[Lightning]

That carpet looks great! My amigo I had years ago, I had replaced the carpet with plastic astroturf from Lowes' . It was hilarious and I'm considering doing it again but doing a much better fit and finish with my current Rodeo.

I loved that Amigo with the top down, it was epic rolling through the pines in the Arizona high country. I never had any kind of top though so back in Phoenix mid summer 110+ weather, I got more than one sunburn on the back of my neck! haha :shock:

Keep the pictures coming! I'm living through your Amigo and memories of mine! Maybe one day I'll buy another..

 

[Lightning]

I spy something interesting in that video! Other than the carpet looking awesome by the way.

Do you have any detail about what looks to me to be a locking hood latch lever?! I have never seen one of those before nor can I easily find one online. That's really cool!

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

Good-eye! It is a locking hood latch -- but it's also busted. I mean, the lock works, but the actual latch is snapped off, so I have to just pull the rod. Super annoying. I'll eventually figure out a new handle to attach there. Maybe have my brother 3D print me something.

Also, I love the idea of the astro turf. A friend did that in the bed of his VW pickup-van and it was awesome. If this Amigo was in rougher condition, I definitely would have gone the more jokey route, but with how nice the interior is, I felt like i had to treat the little lady a bit better :lol:

And in another update: A couple Amigo centric FB groups have come up clutch for me in the pursuit of a soft top. One guy in Virginia shipped me an original OEM top in great condition (just one broken zipper which is an easy fix) for $100 and a guy down in San Diego pulled all the hardware for me (support bar, tie downs, weather stripping with the snaps) off a junkyard find for another $100.

Now, I probably dont NEED a soft top (given So Cal weather) so it's probably just the completionist in me + the fact they get rarer by the day -- but for about $200, it seems worth it!

 

[Lightning]

Ahh that is neat, I would be very interesting to know how that "works". If you end up replacing it, I would take it off your hands in hope of replicating something similar.

Nice job sourcing the soft top set up. I'm crossing my fingers for some photos! You speak the truth though, if you can get your hands on anything OE in good shape then it is worth it. Even the first gen Rodeos are getting more rare in the yards lately. I remember 6-8 years ago there would be 6 or more lined up in several yards. Now there is not even 6 for all the yards in Phoenix...

I too thought about 3d printing interior parts. Its very intriguing.

 

[tylerruinstrucks]

Here are some pics of the locking hood release. I have to wonder... were that many people breaking into Amigo hoods that a lock made sense?? I suppose it might be a decent place to install a little lockbox where I can store valuables when I'm rolling topless or soft-top. Hmmmmmmm :idea: