question about engine swap

[calebmurphy]

Hey guys,
I see that most of you know much more than I do about working on vehicles so I figured somebody here could answer my question. I drive a Suzuki Samurai, and I am thinking of swapping to a diesel 2.0- 2.9. This seems to be a common swap among samurai offroaders. My question is how will I attach the Samurai tranny, clutch, and bellhousing to the back of the diesel?

I would like to keep everything the same other than the engine if possible. My transfer case is separate from the transmission, and has a drive shaft that goes from the tranny to the t-case. This could be modified if I was to change the tranny to match the diesel but I do not prefer this.

Some people have told me that it's better to take the motor and tranny from the vehicle and cut new holes for your shifter. What is your opinion and suggestions? Can a custom bellhousing be made to hold a sami clutch, match the diesel flywheel, bolt to the diesel, and hold the sami tranny? Is there some sort of converter?

I'm not asking to do research on a sami, but when you swap engines how do you know how to convert transmission to engine or do you normally use the transmission that was already matched with the motor? What do you suggest, and where do I go to custom parts if necessary?

thanks
caleb

[broncocraigellis]

I know Samurai guys swap in the VW 1.6 diesel from a Rabbit. IDK what else they came in. There are several vendors online who sell the bellhousing adapter to mate the 1.6 to the stock Samurai transmission. Xtreme4x4 put one in a Sami and is running it on WVO w/ a kit from greasecar.com; that's what I'd love to personally do. I've heard to stay away from the newer 1.9 engines b/c they have too much torque for the stock Sami frames and spring mounts, which results in spring hangers ripped out of the frame.

Here are a couple of links to more info. about the swap:
www.rocky-road.com/diesel.html $819 for a really complete looking kit
www.acmeadapters.com/store_engine.php#indparts <$595 here, but may need to buy more individual parts

Go for it and post pics of the process along the way!!! That would make for one cool DD rig that got great MPG.

Hope this helps.

[m38jeepman]

Yeah that is a neat conversion. The Xtreme4x4 show aired this past weekend. I did not hear what liter engine was swapped, but they did say it was from a Jetta. I assume they ran it with no muffler because you could really hear the turbo.

I think it would be harder to find a good engine than the bell housing adapter to install it.

[Rcross]

Just another thing to consider, I know another engine (non diesel) that is a good swap for the 1.3 in the sammi. Have you thought about the 1.6 out of a tracker/sidekick. They have a bit more punch than the 1.3 and are really tough little engines. I abused the hell out of mine for 5 years and it never missed a beat. Just wanted to throw another option out there for you.

[calebmurphy]

I thought hard about putting in the tracker/sidekick 1.6 and might yet put it in, but I've always been a diesel fan for unknown reasons. I hear you don't even need the bell housing adapter for that right? What kind of gas mileage did you get from the 1.6? What did you get from the 1.3? Most people tell me they get about 30, and those are the ones with carburators. Mine is fuel injected and only gets around 20 with stock tires. Any suggestions to boost mileage? Besides putting a 1.6 diesel in. Tomorrow I am going to change the fuel and air filter and see what that will do.

I thought it would be a while before I even seriously considered this swap but after reading the rocky roads link I got excited. I think it will still be some time until the funds are there. Plus it's hard to replace something I've put a lot of time and effort into making run so well.

So when someone swaps out an engine, do they typically get an engine swap kit? Do they normally use the transmission from the engine? Say you wanted to put the 350 Chev in a jeep cj.

I'm new at seriously transforming vehicles. I have had to work on them even before I was driving. My dad beat me if I tried to get out of helping with our cars. Now I thank him for it, but he wasn't a fan of modifying, only fixing what was broke. So I appreciate your input and leads.

[Rcross]

I was getting around 27-29 mpg out of my tracker with the stock tires on it. After I upped my tires to 31's with stock gearing I was avg out 24-25mpg. Was kinda cool at the end of a weekend run at Grayrock where everyone was re-topping off for the trip home (we all top off right before we get to the park) it would take me 3-4 gallons compared to the bigger rigs 10-12 gallons. Also as far as dependability when I sold her she had just over 260k miles on her without a rebuild, that was also the 8v motor.