I recently bought a 1990 2-dr Suzuki Escudo (Sidekick) while on my tour in Okinawa. It has the stock 1.6L, 8-valve with an automatic tranny. I was looking for advice on what to do with it to improve climbing and mudding. I have already ordered a Calmini 2" Suspension Lift, Calmini 3" body Lift, Thorley Headers, a Calmini Ring and Pinion sets for both front and rear. What else do you guys recommend? I've already experienced what this thing can do stock and look forward to moding it.

Side Note: I was told running anything bigger than 29" tires was a bad idea with the automatic 'Kicks. Is this true? And if so how would I over come this problem, short of putting in a manual (city traffic is horrible on okinawa and driving a 5-speed would be a nightmare)

To improve traction definately install lockers when your doing the 5.83's. It will save you needing to tear into the axles again. The rear is a quick and easy install, but the front requires the use of a sami carrier and retaining sleeve.
Zig

Know a good source for the lockers???

Calmini www.puresuzuki.com for the rear locker and hawk 1-888-samurai for the everything to do the front. There is a write up on the front set up on this site.
Zig

Dude, Bogus info on the tranny man,
click on my zuke pic, see them 33s
in my auto trans kick, with stock 4.62
gears, that has 260,000 miles on it,
and the tranny has never been out
of the rig.  It's also a 89, you got a 90.
The trans (at least mine) is a GM TH180
good for 200+ HP, keep good clean fluid
in it and she will survive, Synthetic if you
can bear the price at $4 a Quart/Litre.

I run 31s daily for the mileage, until I
get my 5.83s then it's 33s all the way.

33s with 5.83 gears is about the same ratio
as stock 205x75-15 with stock gears  

So lift that badboy up and go play in the Dirt.

I'll backup Wildgoody there, I've got a 90 with the 3 speed auto.  As it's a th180/3L30 (old vs new GM nomenclature).  If you look on GM's powertrain website at the tech specs for the 4L30E which is exactly the same thing but electronically controlled and with an overdrive 4th gear tacked on, the tranny's good for 250+ HP and 250 or so Ft Lbs torque. They use the 4L30 in a ton of stuff including Isuzu Rodeos, they were using it in the Cadillac Catera and also selling it to BMW for use in some of the 3 series cars too.

As it is,  I'm running 31's on mine right now too with no issue.  You might get a bit worse milage because it's putting more load on the engine with the reduced effective gear ratio from the bigger tires.  Mathematically with 31's on the 4.62 diff's it works out to the equivalent of a 4.07 or so on the stock tires.  It's a bit of a decrease but nothing to worry about too much. It'll take a whole lot more than 31's to kill the tranny itself though.    Worst case you could probably get some gearsets out of a factory manual and swap em in.  Since I do a lot of highway driving to work I'm keeping the 4.62's for lower RPM's on the freeway.  With the 31's it's usually running around 3800 or so vs the 4500 with the stock tires.  Probably a bit better for engine life.  I'd honestly like to get a 5 speed to keep the highway RPM a bit lower but I can't find one cheap enough to make it a very attractive swap.

You guys are a helpful group of individuals. Thanks alot! I've been trying to get info from the locals here (as I have neved Zuked before) but the whole they speak Japanese, I speak English things gets in the way.

Again thanks for the help with Tranny info.

No problem, I was in Korea for a year in the Army so I know how that language barrier can be.  I was also going to say, if traffic there is like it is in Korea, you definitely have nothing to worry about with the auto on 31's cause you'll never get it going fast enough to wish it had more power.