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Project: Stratotrooper

30K views 64 replies 11 participants last post by  SRN  
#1 ·
Introduction:

When I bought my Trooper six and a half years ago, I got it for the primary purpose of getting out to explore the vast backcountry of Utah. In that time I have traveled thousands of miles of dirt with it, never doubting it would get me to my destination and back. I've done some mild modifications, lift, transfer case gears, and a few other odds and ends; but other than that it is completely stock. So when I noticed an odd noise coming from the engine a bit ago I was more sad than anything. At 234,000 miles, only around 50,000 of those being mine, I was hoping that the engine would last a bit longer. But, not knowing its maintenance history before I got it, I suppose I can't be too surprised. I diagnosed the issue as a rod bearing, so not an easy fix. I was looking at the prospect of either rebuilding the motor or getting something new to replace the Trooper as my primary exploration vehicle.

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How it was when I bought it.

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First trip off-road up American Fork Canyon.

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Black Dragon Canyon, 2014

I spent some time thinking about it. The Trooper is nearly 25 years old; but it has been the perfect vehicle for me. It has plenty of power, capability, space, and comfort. And even looking down the barrel at spending around $3,000 to rebuild the motor; there isn't another vehicle out there that matches it for the cost. I'd dreamed of one day replacing the Trooper with a Mercedes Gelandewagen or a Nissan Y62 Patrol; but at this juncture they are a bit out of my price bracket. I could find an 80-series Land Cruiser for around what I'd be willing to spend, but in so many ways they're a downgrade from a Trooper. A 100-series is more in line with the Trooper, but people think they are gold.

At the end of the day, it really was a no brainer for me to dive in on rebuilding the engine. But by committing to that path, I'm also committing to having this vehicle for another five to ten years. That means it cannot be simply rebuilding the engine, this needs to be a comprehensive refresh of the vehicle. I will do this in the following phases:

Phase I: Engine Rebuild

The Isuzu 6V1D engine is a solid motor, particularly when mated to a manual transmission. Making 175hp and 188lb-ft of torque I've never felt that it was lacking. But, if I'm going to rebuild it may as well make some improvements. After reading through some very excellent posts discussing DOHC swaps and using the SOHC single chamber to gain a little bit better airflow and low end power I figured that'd be a pretty good upgrade to pursue. While reading about that setup, I also came across the idea of swapping the stock Multec-1 injectors with Multec-2 injectors from later model 3.2L and 3.5L Isuzu engines. This is supposed to increase efficiency and again, gain a little bit of power. With these small upgrades, I should be getting closer to 200hp and 200lb-ft of torque; not an insignificant increase! All the while, keeping the engine efficient and reliable.

While I have the engine out, I'll also be replacing the AC, power steering pump, alternator, clutch and all the associated wear components so that everything is as fresh and new as possible. I'm also going to be adding a secondary fuse block for all my add on accessories like the fridge and HAM.

Phase II: Exterior

What's the point of having a car drive like new if it doesn't look new? I don't have a lot of rust, but I will be eliminating what I have. With the rust gone, I think the Trooper would look excellent in Toyota Quicksand with black along the lower quarter. I also will be tinting the windows and replacing all the exterior lights with LED's.

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Toyota Quicksand paint color

For armor, I'll be building custom front and rear bumpers and modifying some Rocky-Road Outfitter rockrails I've been sitting on for years. Since I rerouted my exhaust last year, I'm also going to be building a new skidplate to protect the tranny and t-case.

I've enjoyed the Scepter can holder I built a few years ago, but I want to make some improvements to it and maybe build one that holds two cans. That way I can carry 10 gallons of extra fuel or five of fuel and five of water. I'm also toying with the idea of getting a 35 gallon Long Range Automotive fuel tank. Group buy anyone?

Finally, new badges. I figure I'll make some new slightly more modern looking "Trooper" and "Isuzu" badges. Because I have access to a vinyl cutter and why not?

Phase III: Interior

All interior lights will be changed to LED. I have a BlueTooth stereo at the moment, but I'm not too happy with it; so I'm going to find a better one. I have a iPad Mini mounted up for GPS duty, but I'll be plugging that directly into the new stereo via a rear USB port and using it more like a full "infotainment" center. I never use my CB anymore, so that's going away and I'll be upgrading my 25-watt HAM with a 50-watt unit. I'll be adding another 12-volt power outlet in the lower part of the dash and a few USB ports in the center console for charging devices.

In the rear I already have two 12-volt outlets on the passenger side, one of which is a dedicated port for my fridge. I'm going to put another outlet and a couple USB ports on the driver's side.

Finally, I'm going to put sound deadening everywhere. Every piece of carpet and panel that can come up will get sound deadening underneath or behind it.

Conclusion:

What's in a name? Everyone calls their Trooper a "Super Trooper", so I couldn't do that. I got to thinking; there was the "Fortress", the "Superfortress" and finally the "Stratofortress" in Boeings line of large strategic bombers. Additionally, the B-52 Stratofortress is the longest serving aircraft in the USAF inventory, and over its long history has gone through many modifications and upgrades to keep it relevant. And now it looks like it will be serving well into the 2050's, 100 years after it first flew.

This project will take time, but I hope to have the vast majority of it completed by next fall. And once complete, much like its namesake, the refreshed Stratotrooper should serve me well for years to come.
 
#27 ·
Phase I:

The valve train chattering is not going away. I've changed the oil twice now in 100 miles; each time there was debris in the oil in the form of shiny dust particles. The chatter is not consistent, either. Some days it won't chatter at all, others as soon as it warms up it starts chattering. Once it starts chattering, it will continue to after consistent restarts. But, if it sits for a bit (20 minutes or so) sometimes the chattering will go away. Sometimes it won't.

Its either still debris clogging passages; which will REALLY annoy me that the machine shop didn't do a better job polishing the cylinders after they did their work. Or there is a faulty lifter. The inconsistency of it really makes me think it's blockage, which would be nice. But unfortunately I'm sort of at the end of my diagnosis skill's beyond beginning to tear it down again. The machine shop has a warranty on their work but when I talked to them last week they were surprised the hear that I was having an issue and kinda just said, "well, run it for a while longer and see if it goes away". Not really encouraging.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
#28 ·
Ok, further thoughts. What if it were related to RPM's? This morning I had no tick for 30 minutes or so of driving, but then I got on the freeway and hit 5k for a bit and the ticking was there when I got off the freeway and could hear. Went out and started it up a minute ago, let it warm up and then revved it to 5k; ticking started. Nothing conclusive, I'll need to see if it happens again; but do any of you more mechanically inclined folks think that points to anything?
 
#30 ·
While I can't help on the diagnosis, I have no experience with your particular engine. I hope you get it figured out soon. I am having problems on my Spacecab I don't seem to be able to figure out either. I will get it in time. Keep up the fight!
 
#31 ·
Phase I:

After determining that the tick always seemed to begin when the engine hit 5k for a few seconds, it made it easier to go to the machine shop and tell them that I was confident that it was a lifter. I spoke with them this morning and relayed my most recent information and they said they'd get back to me. After a few hours they called me and said there was a technical bulletin regarding this engines lifters and them collapsing. So they had me bring it down and as soon as they came out and listened it was, "Yep, that's a lifter all right. Leave it with us and we'll take care of it."

So, its with them and hopefully in the next day or so I'll get it back tick free!
 
#32 ·
Phase I:

Well, the machine shop has determined that it is not a lifter. They suspect that it is the cam chain tensioner. I'm a bit suspicious of that diagnosis for two reasons. First, this is one part that they did not replace because it wasn't in the rebuild kit. They had told me that they looked good to them, so I gave them the go ahead to use the OEM parts; thus making it easy for them to say, "Hey, it's not under warranty because you told us to use the original parts." I guess foolish on my part, but I trusted their judgment. Second, I would think that a broken tensioner would rattle rather than tick. And without pulling stuff apart, then how can they be sure.
Now, I can't tell if the tensioner is hydraulic. If it is, then I guess that it might suffer from a similar situation to the theory about the lifter; where I hit 5k, it over pressurizes and then loses tension. The ticking does seem to be less when the oil pressure is up and worse when it is low. I suppose that could also indicate that the tensioner has issues? But, if the tensioner is not hydraulic, then one would think that it would make noise constantly. And I'm really not having much luck finding information about the tensioner.

Anyone have any thoughts?
 
#33 ·
Phase I:

I was able to get a new tensioner from Jerry and with the holiday behind us, got to throw it in last night. The original tensioner was clearly jammed in one position. I pulled it apart and cleaned it up and now it seems to work; which to me indicates that it was probably gummed up with debris. But rather than use the old part, I threw the new one in.

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In addition to chain tensioner, I checked all the cam cap bolts to ensure they were torqued properly, and four of them were not. One was only hand tight! I don't want to bad mouth the machine shop too much, because I've done business with them in the past and never had an issue and they've been nice and helpful with trying to diagnosis this issue; but I've kinda lost confidence and I doubt that I'd go back to them again sadly.

I also pulled off the passenger side valve cover to check those cams, they were good. I then got everything buttoned back up, hopefully took care of the leak I was experiencing as well, and fired it up. I tried to get it to tick again, but thus far nothing. I also adjusted the throttle a bit and the response is way better. With the new chain tensioner in I was willing to really get on it finally and WOW, I can definitely tell that I have way more power than I used to! Let's just say that triple digits was doable before with a good run. Now, I got there in a pretty short distance with pedal to spare in 5th.

I'm going to hold off saying that this issue is resolved until I've put a couple hundred miles on it; but I'm really looking forward to Phase I being done! This is the heavy lifting, very frustrating phase. Phase's II and III are the fun stuff!
 
#34 ·
Phase I:

I've put around 250 miles on the clock since replacing the cam chain tensioner and the ticking noise is gone! So happy about that. But, one issue is resolved, another crops up. I am now experiencing an issue with hard starting. Happens whether it is warm or cold; but it can really struggle to start, like its starved for fuel. I checked the pressure regulator, and it holds vacuum fine. I put a pressure tester on the fuel line and it gets to spec (41psi) and then slowly drops. This is consistent with a bad check valve; which of course is part of the pump assembly. Also explains why its really hard to start in the morning, but coming out of the store it only struggles for a moment.
I have found that if I prime the line by turning the key to get the pump going, but not starting three times and then cranking it seems to start OK. But that obviously is not a long term solution. I've got a few more tests to run on sensors and I'm going to replace the pressure regulator to make sure; but I have a sinking suspicion it's that check valve. Time to start lubing up those tank mount bolts... goodie!
 
#35 ·
Phase I:

Last Thursday I went hunting for why I was having such a hard time starting the Trooper. Step one was to pull the plugs; and what did I find? Coolant in four of the six cylinders! Oh, boy… This also explains why when I'd start it on these cold days my exhaust condensation plume was so big. I hadn't really thought much of it because just like normal, once the engine warmed up a bit, it'd go away. BUT, this also suggests that this is not a blown head gasket situation, but rather something worse. Like the head bolts were not properly torqued by the machine shop, or that the head is warped. Now, in the ~600 miles that I've run the engine since reinstalling it, it's never overheated and one would assume that if the heads were warped, I'd have noticed this pretty much right away (also, I'd like to think that the shop would have checked that) so I'm leaning toward the torque issue because that makes the most sense. If it were blown gaskets, I'd be seeing white smoke all the time. Also, the probability of BOTH gaskets going out at the same time is slim. With the bolts not being torqued, when the engine is cool, gaps form and coolant leaks in, when it heats up, it expands and closes the gaps and everything "seems" to be running normal again.

I spoke with the machine shop right away, to their credit thus far they are accepting responsibility. Supposedly today they will be letting me know what auto shop that they want me to take it to for the repair work to be done (they repeatedly have told me that they are machinists, not mechanics). As one can assume, I'm really not happy with their work. But as long as they make it right, we'll be square.
 
#36 ·
Phase I:

I got the Trooper back yesterday afternoon from the shop and here was the verdict: the head bolts had not been torqued properly! The machine shop agreed that it was their fault, so they covered the repair. So while I'm not terribly happy with their work, at least they are acting like stand up people and I can respect that.

Since it's the dead of winter, I don't have much planned as far as working on it at the moment. I'll be daily driving it and making sure that everything runs right; but that's about it until it warms up (is it spring yet?).
 
#41 ·
I figured I'd let everyone know why there haven't been any updates for awhile. On February 15th I was in a ski accident that ended up making my right leg look like this:

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Yup, that's a titanium rod through my tibia, a steel plate on my fibula, and a bunch of screws holding everything together. A few weeks after that a blood clot let loose from the surgical area in my leg and made it's way to my lungs causing pulmonary embolisms. No fun. And then a few weeks after that the PE in my right lung caused a pleural effusion that landed me in the hospital for 12 days. Not recommended!

I've been out of the hospital for a few weeks now, and I'm steadily getting better, but I still have to use crutches to walk and can only put 50% weight on my right leg. So sadly, the Trooper has just been sitting for the last few months. I had planned to knock out a bunch of little interior projects over the winter, so I'm not really that behind on my schedule to get this "finished" (projects like this are never finished, right?). As the weather warms up here and my mobility improves I hope to get back at a few things and I'm really looking forward to being able to drive again here soon! That may be the worst part of all this, not being able to get behind the wheel of a car. This is the longest I've gone without driving since I got my license 20 years ago and its aggravating!
 
#42 ·
Wow! Read your post, looked at the picture, and my leg started to hurt. :shock:. Haven't skied in a long time - LONG time. Probably won't ever (not much snow in Florida). Used to go up to N.C. to ski. Hope it heals well.
Also glad you were "taken care of" by the shop that did the sub standard work. That's uncommon these days. Dennis
 
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#43 ·
DSUZU said:
Also glad you were "taken care of" by the shop that did the sub standard work. That's uncommon these days. Dennis
Yes, I doubt I'll ever use that machine shop again; but the fact that they were upstanding people, admitted their fault, and paid to have it fixed is commendable. Very much a rarity these days.
 
#45 ·
Richey said:
Hey Stephen,

Sorry to hear about your leg, I was wondering where you went. hope you get back on your feet soon.
It's all just time now. I'm starting to think about getting the paint and body work done by someone while I'm unable to do anything. Who'd you have do your paint on the Amigo?
 
#46 ·
SRN said:
Richey said:
Hey Stephen,

Sorry to hear about your leg, I was wondering where you went. hope you get back on your feet soon.
It's all just time now. I'm starting to think about getting the paint and body work done by someone while I'm unable to do anything. Who'd you have do your paint on the Amigo?
I did it all myself using the paint booths at UVU
 
#49 ·
Richey said:
I don't have access to it unfortunately. How much work do you need done? Complete paint job color change? Lots of bodywork and dents?
Little bit of rust removal, all surface. Total exterior paint change. No body work aside from the rust.
 
#50 ·
Wouldn't be too hard to do. If you can find a shop with decent ventilation and a 5hp compressor I could probably get it done over a couple of weekends. Without a paint-booth it would be hard to get a really clean paint job, so if you're okay with a few specks of dust here and there then it could work.
 
#51 ·
Richey said:
Wouldn't be too hard to do. If you can find a shop with decent ventilation and a 5hp compressor I could probably get it done over a couple of weekends. Without a paint-booth it would be hard to get a really clean paint job, so if you're okay with a few specks of dust here and there then it could work.
I'll see if I can find a place. Don't know too many shop owners.