08/01/2025
Over the next few days, or weeks, or months😳🤷♂️, I’m going to post how I swapped out the drivetrain in my ‘98 Isuzu Rodeo, what my thought process was, and hopefully some pointers to consider to make someone else’s swap easier.
For the sake of people just want raw info, I will try to do this write up in two versions. A basic list of information and also a more elaborate explanation of how and why stuff happened. This is by no means the only way to do this, just the way I’m doing it.
So let’s begin!
Basic info in second pic:
Remove your drivetrain. This pic has the new drivetrain installed, so ignore that.
-Green was battery. Remove bracket.
-Yellow was antilock brake controller. Gross. Relocate battery here.
-Red. Cut radiator support for easier removal and installation.
-Blue was cruise control actuator. Also gross.
-Purple was air filter box. Now there’s so much room for activities!
Long winded version:
Let’s talk engine swaps. This one has been a long time coming. My ‘98 Rodeo served me well, but once the water pump finally failed (at 206,000 - if the pump is original) I didn’t want to put money into the factory drivetrain. The 3.2L burned oil at an excessive rate, all the gaskets needed replaced, and even the trans was going to need work because the synchros were going out. So what to do? I love the platform, but want something different for power.
I chose an S-10 drivetrain for the swap. Engine - ‘02 4.3l V6
Trans - ‘02 NV3500
I’ll post engine build stuff later.
Reasoning:
Drivetrain needs to fit the engine compartment with relative ease.
Drivetrain needs to be cheap, to include repair parts.
Drivetrain needs to be accessible. Easy to replace and get repair parts.
Goal:
Build a Rodeo I can keep running for a million miles as cheap as possible.
Spend money on parts that make maintenance faster or easier.
Info for second pic:
First step is to remove your existing drivetrain. This pic has the new drivetrain installed, so ignore that.
-Green was battery. Remove the bracket. I was originally going to rear mount the battery in the trunk (separate post from years ago) but decided against it. I wanted to maximize under hood space and the battery seemed to fit in the void if I got rid of the antilock brake controller, which I did.
-Yellow was antilock brake controller. Gross. Relocate battery here. Yup. I don’t trust it, so it has to go. The bracket I build for the rear mount was modified to fit here.
-Red. Cut radiator support for easier removal and installation. This is a win. Makes mock up and installs so much easier.
-Blue was cruise control actuator. Also gross. I don’t use it, and I wasn’t going to try to retrofit it to the swap, so it had to go.
-Purple was air filter box. Now there’s so much room for activities! For real. So much space now.
More to follow.
