westcoaster

My poor old '87 suzuki samurai needs an engine. With fuel prices the way they are these days I'm considering stuffing a diesel under the hood. There are a couple of places that provide adaptor kits for the vw diesel acme adaptors being one of them and rocky road being the other. I would probably be looking at a 1.6 na for the fuel economy or the 1.6td for the power. Anyone have any experiance with these? Know of any other diesels that will fit, or even better, bolt up?
Thanks!

apache

Might want contact petroworks offroad in Fallbrook Calif, they specalize in suzi and might be of some help

dodgeram

my 1.9 TD jetta (pre tdi days) got about 48mpg can't see a suzy being much different

my uncle had an old non turbo diesel rabbit 1.6 I believe that thing was kinda gutless but got 65mpg

heat was kinda poor in the winter too ..................

if you got through with this let me know how it goes ................ my dad always keeps talking about getting a suzy with a vw diesel, he'd love to hear about it I'm sure

Dufrain

I have had an 86 jetta non turbo diesel,it had no power or torque to speak of ,i think it is rated at around 50hp.it got about 50mpg .I also had an escort diesel with the mazda diesel non turbo,it got around 50 also but no power either.You would want the vw turbo engine to pull the taller tires and 4wd in the suzuki i would think.you might check out the mercedes,turbo diesels in the 80s cars they may be too big though.

amartinson

It's not a diesel, but I have an old "weed whip" with a bent shaft but the engine still runs good.

May have to beef up your suspension and tranny first, but I think it would bolt right in.



Sorry, just couldn't pass it up.

westcoaster

I'm sure your weed whacker does have more horses and tourque

Raspy

westcoaster,

How about a Mercedes 240 diesel? Excellent engine! There are millions of them arounds, they last forever and run very well. But they are not turboed and probably not as compact as the VW.

Wetspirit

westcoaster

I have heard of them and had a little discussion with a fellow who had swaped one into a lada niva. As best I can tell there may be a few issues.... The Mercedies-Samurai swap is not all that popular, I would be the guy charting new ground, fabbing the motor mounts, making the adaptor plate, and or hammering out the body work to make the Mb tranny fit, Fabbing tranny mounts, setting up drive shaft adaptors, etc. etc. I can do it, I just don't want to do it. I am looking for something to bolt on and go. There will be enough creative engineering with the VW adaptor kit as it is. (besides I just replaced all the bearings and seals in the existing samurai tranny)
I need this to be reliable, I don't wheel with a group, I am usually solo a heck of a long way back in the bush at a time of the year that is generally miserable for walking out to get help (Oct-Nov) (Hmmm... noticed your in california, You would probably still be wearing shorts then?...)
I also have "Aircare" emissions testing to contend with. Generally they frown at an older engine in a newer body. Around these parts the MB engines have mostly been from the '70s. With the VW engine I can get one from the same model year or newer.

I appriciate the MB sugestion.... It would be too much of a hack job, for what I am looking for though....

AlpineRAM

Be careful on repowering the Samurai! With the MB diesel it won't run fast since it won't get up to the rpm needed. The VW tdi is known for tearing off samurai trannies in stock form. OK in 4x4L it tears up diffs and driveshafts, in 2x2H it's just the tranny. Except if you have a slipping clutch then everything goes well

AlpineRAM