It started out as a 1989 Isuzu Amigo XS 4x4 with the 2.6L 4 cylinder and a 5 speed tranny. The first things I did to it were to put an ARB in the rear end, crank up the front torsion bars and do a springover in the back. This made the rear sit pretty high and thanks to Randii Burleson I gained the "Stinkbug" nickname. After I blew up my second isuzu tranny on the way home from Moab in 2001, I let the truck sit for about 6 months before getting up the motivation to tear it apart.

I pulled out the 4 banger and stock tranny then torched off the IFS. I picked up a Dana 44 from the local junkyard and started fabbing the brackets to mount it up. It took me about a month and a half to get the axle mounted under the truck, partially because up to this point all work was being done on the street in front of my house.

I decided that I wanted to have the truck running in time to attend the 5th annual Moab ZuZoo event, which was only about 4 months away so I managed to talk my mom into letting me take over the garage at the beginning of February. I managed to pick up a 98 4.3L Chevy V6 from a fullsize truck complete with wiring harness and all accessories from a friend. I borrowed a hoist and spent about a month fabbing brackets and figuring out how to fit it in. I also picked up a rebuilt 700R4 and an old Dana 300 tcase with an adapter. I sent the wiring to a place in Texas to get redone and pretty much spent every spare minute in the garage from February through may. About a week before the scheduled trip to Moab I had everything mounted and received the wiring. I spent the next few days filling up all the fluids, bleeding the brakes and hooking up wires. I didn't actually get the motor to fire until 6pm the night before I was supposed to leave. I took it for a few test drives and made some adjustments to the steering, went to bed about 11, and left for Moab at 5am. I actually drove it all the way there and back from San Diego and didn't have any major problems.

Since then I've worked out most of the bugs, replaced the wheels and tires, chopped off half the body, repainted it and started installing a roll cage.