The car is a factory turbo car, under 1000 made in 1988. Sunroof, RWD, Lotus designed suspension, Dana rear axle w/ a sweet LSD, etc. But the isuzu 2.0L turbo engine was not known for good head design. (ie overheating). So previously someone finaguled a 2.6 trooper II motor into the controls of the 2.0 engine. I got the car for 400 as it sat. ACtually this used to be "aussiemg's" car on this forum for a whiel. which was "close" to running. Got the car together, drove it, found out really quick its had some bad oil control rings and was eating about a Qt. of oil in 10 miles. This isn't a motor you can order premade aftermarket, or genearlly improved parts for.

And honestly, looking at all the whatcha-ma-gigs in that engine bay makes me puke alittle in the back of my throat. Plus, you really can't get any parts for this brick. SOOOO....engine swap time!!!!!

I have discussed this on a a few other forums but i want to see what the insight is on this. Here is the deal. I really dont want to put a ton of extra cash into this. So i would like to use what i have laying around. That would include a complete S4 turbo engine, wiring, etc. Only thing is that its mated to an S5 N/A transmission and being that the isuzu isnt as light as an Rx7, im sure it might break. So therefore, ill need a Turbo II transmission and clutch to make this work. Everything else i need is already on the car from before. (walbro, fuel cell, EBC, BOV, FMIC, etc) So really, this isn't going to be a huge out of pocket expense. (+1 for being a parts *****)

Here is the skinny on the Isuzu Impulse as compared to a same year Rx7 turbo

ISUZU: 96.1" wheelbase, 51.4" height, 2970lb curb weight

RX7: 95.6" wheelbase, 49.8" height, 2688lb curb weight

I plan on leaving the interior stripped out, because honestly, i dont have the interior to put back in!! so i figure there is some weight to be saved there. The backseats-type things themselves weight in under 40lbs...

I have to finish cutting up a parts car in my garage, so i can push the Isuzu in yank the old 2.6 engine out. But by the looks of things, this might be pretty straight forward.

PICTURES!!!

 

THE MOTOR

 

sweet man, good luck

 

that izzy looks really clean. was it already done up. id really like to see more pics of it if u can get some more light on it. i think that is an interisting project, i would have never thought of that. good luck.

 

i got the car off of a member on this forum a little while back. Got for essentially 400 dollars. Originailly these cars were 2.0 engines, but this one was redone later with a 2.6 trooper engine. Actually, this car was a ***** amoungst the Isuzu folks i guess. When i got it, there was some nice things already on it. Namely, a blitz ebc, blitz BOV, FMIC, fancy radiator, has a solid clutch on it and a light flywheel, REBUILT RX7 TII turbo!!!. Etc. Had to adapt some things to get it running. But from the day i fired it up it had two bad oil rings. So the motor is toast.

ill get more pictures soon. I started pulling the motor. Having issues getting to some key bolts to get the engine out.

but we did get a burnout on film! that smoke you see if the oil...not the tires...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uvNjVtBgg4U

 

sorry i didnt read the post first i was stuck on the pics. about that tranny ive had lots of 7's with various drive trains. an s5 na tranny on an s4 t2 motor is a great combo. i hate the t2 tranny its xtra notchy and it gets hard to shift. as long as u have the flywheel clutch pressure and plate for the s5 na tranny it will be cool. the only thing that will feel funny is ur rearend. ull need that tight gear ratio of the t2 rearend. hopefully the the izzy has a close one also. the higher ur vac the better ur gas mileage right. i had an auto that i did a t2 5speed swap and my low end wasnt that great, but my topend was. i was at 12vac. when i put a t2rear in it i was at 16-17 vac and my gas mileage improved . so i want to see more pics . good luck.

 

that was cool.

 

actually the factory gear set is 3.909 which is so-so. But in my searching i found out that the 87.5 and earlier Isuzu Troopers used the same rear axle, just with different perches, oh and 4.56 and a rare 4.77 gear set!!! score! so im currently hunting down one of these axles to get the gear set from. Ill probably rebuild the LSD at the same time seeing i have to take everything apart anyway.

so basically the combo might end up being S4 TII, with S5 n/a transmission, ending in 4.56 gears on R14 with 205/60 tires.

 

UPDATE: pull the motor out of the car yesterday. Probably the fastest i've ever got one out off a car i have no experience. start to finish 1 hour, 40 minutes!

i also think that this project will go well on the grounds that i made the "blood sacrifice", when i cut the hell out of my knuckles on god only knows what.

i was going to get pictures yesterday, but i had to meet a lady friend. ill get pictures later if its not raining.

 

Brings back OLD memories.......
I owned an 84 Isuzu Impulse that I had totally custimized into a show car. I had asked a local shop to do a Rotary swap on it but the guy said it was to heavy and the benefits would have been little to none. I now wish I would have kept the car and done it anyways. Good Luck and keep us posted.
L8R

 

Looks good, i use to have a 88 impulse also, very first car. It had 15" American Racing wheels! That was the Shizzle in '94!! haha

GL

 

Well, the old motor is out! Started assessing the whoes, whats, wheres and hows. Removing things that were in my way or at least useless. Probably going to be doing a far amount of grinding to remove weird brackets and the like.

 

Looks like a really cool project! I was an Isuzu service advisor (they made good stuff, I still drive a '97 Trooper as a DD) for several years and got to drive quite a few of those Lotus suspended Impulses, very nice handling car. The 13BT should make that Izzypoopoo go!