Yesssss! I like to try to take the box; put wheels on it…. Then an engine and trans that no one else has done yet! Seriously, my favorite projects are those oddball ones that the industry ignores…. Example: My mini truck build. 1984 Dodge ram D50 (Mitsubishi mighty max) Fully custom built frame/suspension on airbags Supercharged Buick 3.8 V6. Definitely not something you see often, and no aftermarket custom parts.
Dave, I’m so glad you shared this video. Your Isuzu is my favorite crawler that you built today next to the Mas grande after that and also the Hilux. That thing is way more trick than I ever thought. Although I should’ve known since you built it. Not to mention I love samurai. Only crawler I ever had unfortunately had to sell it to the family while unemployed.
For anyone curious, the samurai almost definitely has chromoly front axles as almost all front lockers only come in 26 spline vs the stock 22 spline inners which requires a side gear swap and chromoly axles. Great vid Dave! Glad to see the Amigo again.
Love 'em both , "Trail Hated" and Old English 400 is hard to beat but Ma , Pa , two Chilluns , two Dawgs and a Kat carrying capability just barely edges Samurai out ! Seriously they're both beautiful rigs to be proud of , thanks for showing them to us .
Nice job on that Amigo, amigo! I would choose the Amigo for myself. A little more power and heavy stuff for axles. Keep on truckin Dave. I wouldn't kick any of your builds off the trail. Always good stuff. Thanks for the entertainment.
Great to have a close up of the rigs. Your such a talented builder, I don't think you get enough credit for that. Its cool how you remember alot of the details from something you built quite sometime ago.
THanks for taking us along on this adventure. really enjoyed the tour of your old rig and the of your friends rig as well. nice to see teh history of your work. you seem to always pick the unconventional vehicle to build a wheeling rig out of. cool !
I love the sammy. The small compact setup on these things make it super fun to get around on the trails. My buddy here in St. Anthony has a 96 geo tracker that he uses to go bumble around in the desert. Really tight turning radius & light enough to stay on top of the sand
Love the Amigo! Fellow eastern Washingtonian here. I bought a 2000 Amigo V6 last summer and love it. It already had a 3” lift and 33”s on it. I want to turn mine more into an overland rig/daily driver. I’ve started fixing up the interior and almost have that where I want it. I plan on regearing it next with Loka lockers. Then some new rear arms and dreaming of coilivers after that. We’ll see. Love your channel!
Love the Amigo! I have a soft spot for Isuzu because my old man had a first gen Trooper, and then a first gen Rodeo back in the day - both 5-speed manuals.
You were in my neck of the woods ! 😮 These are a couple of the more interesting projects you've shared. Still out wheeling and standing the test of time . I hope to see these in person some day 👍
I like both of those rigs a lot for different reasons but the amigo is probably my favorite. I actually owned a white amigo about the same year as that. Mine was a 5 speed with the v6 and soft top on the rear. I wish I still had it. That thing was a blast when it was all stock. You really went all out on that one! It’s great that your friend has it and it’s still doing trail things!
Back in the 90s in high school I had a buddy with a bone stock Samurai. We gave him a lot of crap for it but, we still had a ton of fun in it. I spent many nights squeezed into the back seat holding on to the roll bar while blasting down old logging roads and occasionally through farmers fields.
I had commented on another video about wanting to see a isuzu build ,thanks for showing us some of your old school cool. Ps as a wj owner I agree about the unibody
UA2017 is still my favorite year and one of the highlights is seeing Dave's Amigo do it's thing! Taken my Tacoma around Corral Canyon four or five times, such a fun trail! Valley of the Moon is another good one
@@thedirtheadshed I'm stoked to see the stuff that you're currently building. Your suspension setups are my favorite part of your builds! The airbag setup on that Amigo is genius!
I love them both. I always wanted a low buck Sami, but they've gone through the roof like old Toyotas. The amigo screams DAVE. Its quirky but well built with lots of hidden features.
If I had a choice of what to build. I would probably go Samurai. Because there is probably more info out there to help me do it right. And probably easier to source parts. And it's tiny, to squeeze through tight forest trails
Tough call. For sheer low dough and go, it's hard to beat the Sammy and on the other hand, you obviously put a lot of work and love into the Amigo. I think I'd go with the Amigo based solely on the Chappelle's logo on the rear axle.
Me Amigo!! 😅 had an orange one with 3.1L and a white 2nd 4cyl and both were 5 speeds. Awesome off road vehicles, even the 2nd was good if it was dry outside.
I’m a Jeep guy, but I also appreciate (And build.) other vehicles as well. I almost snagged an engineless Amigo (5.3 LS, anyone?) a few weeks ago for $100. I’m still chasing it, though it might cost me a little bit more (Worth it). My current non-Jeep rig is a SAS ‘01 Suzuki Grand Vitara. Roughly 16” of lift with 39’s. Mostly stock running gear, and that tiny V-6 never ceases to amaze me!
@@thedirtheadshed Heck yeah! The thing has way more power than you would ever think is possible from a V6 that has the displacement of a big 4 cylinder!
@@patrickulju583 that would be awesome! When I had my ‘86 Samaurai, I would dream of putting a supercharged Buick 3.8 V6 in it. Should be able to do it quickly and easily through.
Easy question for me, I’d build the 93 Isuzu Rodeo I already own. Sadly I didn’t build it when support was easily available. I have purchased some stuff from Independent4X. I know I can’t afford to SAS it, but have thought about adding an automatic locker to the front. Come to northern Colorado and give me a hand with it. 😊
Both are really cool. Sami's were more capable than Jeeps on the same tires. They were just so light and nimble. Cool little rigs. Wish they would have stayed in the US and brought the new Jimny. It's also always cool to see oddball vehicles. I think the Amigo wins though since it's completely different. Back in the day Sami's were pretty common on the trail. Amigo's not so much. Especially with airbags. Will we see the Grand Vitara get some love?
I do really like that Amigo. Lots of cool stuff going on with it, BUT... I have a huge soft spot for Samurais, as I had on as my first vehicle. They are just way too much fun to drive! Still want another.
I have wanted an Isuzu for a while, been looking at Troopers but a VehiCross has popped up locally. I’m not into rock crawling so much, just want something to explore the desert with.
Hey, your Vids are super inspiring, Im a proud owner of 2003 & 2010 2nd Gen Jimny/Samurai/Gypsy... 1.3 Long Wheelbase... just something you should know... In India these were used by Law Enforcement and Defense Forces... so they started manufacturing and selling these in India from 1988 onwards and went on till 2019 with just engine Upgrades on the basis of emissions... So yeah whilst the fourth Gen was launched globally and manufactured in india almost a decade a go...we still got the same 2nd gen till 2019... also known as SJ410/413/413W... SO if you need to source anything for a Samurai... India is the best place to go..!
@thedirtheadshed learned to drive in a 90 trooper, built a mild 93 trooper and 4wd swapped an 89 amigo. If you want IFS its gotta be the strongest setup made. Just laughs at 35s
@thedirtheadshed awesome I just put one in my nissan I'm building. Was curious if I made the right choice. Thanks for the response you're awesome. I enjoy the videos.
Why do you regret narrowing the front 3”s? I love both these platforms and throw the tracker platform make great rigs. What I’m looking for on my next build to get away from jeeps
Just because it complicated things by having to have custom shafts made. And wider wouldn’t hurt on that rig.. my Mazda is full width and it does great
The gm box doesn’t have the long sector shaft. The tire gets into it more when turning. I wanted the box forward with the arm back…. So I reversed it. On my Mazda I kept the scout 2 box Normal rotation. Box back arm forward. It worked out well too
@@thedirtheadshed my only regret about getting the XJ after selling my old rig is that it wasn’t the TJ with the 4.0. Or your amigo. I love unique builds!
