'86 Suzuki Samurai TDI Swap

number3114

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Location
Reno, NV
TDI
Suzuki Samurai Tintop
1986 Suzuki Samurai hard-top;
1.9L TDI 1Z diesel motor from a 1993 VW Passat: 90 HP and 149 ft lbs torque. So far, gets about 32 mpg in this vehicle;
Toyota 5-speed Transmission and T-Case with 4.7:1 low-range & 1:1 high-range;
Dana44 rear differential with 3.73 gears (tall gears were selected to keep highway RPM low: 2500-rpm @ 75-mph);
Reinforced Samurai front axle with heavy-duty 26-spline shafts;
Rear disk brakes using Samurai rotors, Audi 5000 calipers, and Acura Integra parking brake cables;
Toyota MR2 intercooler;
Volkswagen Quantum radiator;
Honda Prelude air-filter-box;
Jeep Wrangler fenders;
Suzuki SJ410 grill;
Dodge D50 motor-mounts;
Chevy S10-Pickup oil pan;
15-gallon petroworks fuel tank;
5-gallon stainless-steel jerry-can is integrated into the fuel system (automatically drains into main tank);
Air-lockers with on-board compressor;
Roll cage is welded into the body to provide solid mounts for tailgate & roof rack;
Compartments for storage & stowaway-winch are built into the floor;
Body, Frame & Wheelbase were lengthened four inches;
Three inches were removed from the cab-height (for increased stability & aerodynamics);
Leaf-spring mounts were raised one inch (to keep springs even with contour of frame and to lower vehicle);
FOA coil-over shocks can be adjusted to provide additional lift (and softer ride);
32-inch tires;
Many more parts from the local Pick-n-Pull.

Here are some pictures of the (relatively) finished vehicle. Before & After comparisons are in the next post, followed by some random pictures I took during construction. I'll try to get some more pictures and commentary up shortly.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=341609






 
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Zedbra

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2006
Location
Squamish, BC
TDI
2005 Jetta TDI
great job! you did a lot of work to make all that come together. those old samurais are fun little trail rigs, do you think a little more lift / tires are in the future?
 

number3114

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Location
Reno, NV
TDI
Suzuki Samurai Tintop
Thanks, yeah it required much more work than I ever imagined. I would have probably not started it had I only known.

As far as the lift... I actually went to great lengths to avoid lifting it. The cab's been lowered 3" and the spring-mounts were modified to achieve an additional 1" drop (though my coil-overs do raise the vehicle back up an inch or so). It seems like everyone's able to make a decent off-road vehicle by lifting these things... It takes a little more effort to achieve those results by lowering it. As an added bonus, this thing is actually quite stable out on the highways too. I was more interested in an all-purpose vehicle for road-trips and exploring, and less interested in something that can only be used to crawl over boulders.

Having said that... I'm thinking about adjusting my coil-overs to increase the lift by maybe a half-inch... My theory is that if the entire weight of the vehicle is supported by the coil-overs (allowing the leaves to be completely slack in the vehicle's resting state), then I will have a good inch of travel on only the spongy coils. This should make for a comfortable ride on washboard and rocky roads. But as I start to bottom out, the beefed-up leaves should increasingly resist the force, allowing me to reduce the total travel necessary and allowing me to keep the vehicle low and stable. I admit that articulation will not be a strong-point for this vehicle, but that's what lockers are for :).

Edit: I just took the vehicle on its first off-road trip and the suspension worked exactly as I had hoped... The ride was comfortable and I never felt the vehicle bottom-out. I also really started appreciating my 4.7:1 low-range, which I was unsure about previously.
 
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number3114

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Location
Reno, NV
TDI
Suzuki Samurai Tintop
About the sway ber...

There actually is a quick-release mechanism (sort of) on that bar, though it's hard to see in the photo. I have bolts connecting the bar to the leaf-spring plate (not welded-on studs w/nuts). On the right mount (left in photo), you can see the reflection off the bolt-head. "Quick-release" involves taking out those bolts and taking the nuts off the top mounts. I had pins and pin-locks on that same bar in a previous Samurai and kept breaking and loosing the small pins and pin-locks.
 

dieselzuk

Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Location
Eugene, Or
TDI
none,yet
Excellent build. Thanks for all of the pictures too. What transmission did you use, the W56, or did you get a hold of a R151f?

I'm looking to do the same thing, but with an 98 AHU engine. I'm starting phase one very soon by buying a 1998 VW Jetta TDI. After that I'm going to slowly build up all of the parts that I need. Thanks again.
 

rspring

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Location
Florida
TDI
09 Jetta CR; 2011 BMW 335D
Nice!

Great build. Love to do a TDI swap into my Zuk. Have a 16v right now...
 

CFM

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Location
Wells, Maine
TDI
1995 Saturn with a 1997 TDI drivetrain.
Great job! If I hadn't seen the "before" pictures, I would have thought it came from the factory that way.
 

glitdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Location
West Coast Canada
TDI
Tdi asv motor in a mk3 golf, om642 in a wk jeep
That my friend is probably the best expedition zuk I have seen to date. I love the integration of the roll bar into the body. Starting a project in the next year or so like this how much money have you got tied up into it? (If offense is taken feel free not to answer)
Really like the job you did congrats on a great expedition/zombie apocalypse/ daily driver/zukyotawagon
 
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number3114

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Location
Reno, NV
TDI
Suzuki Samurai Tintop
dieselzuk, yes it's the W56-B transmission.

glitdi, don't worry, I'm not one who is easily offended... Though unfortunately, I'm also not one who is good at keeping track of my expenditures. One thing's for sure, this cost a LOT more than I expected. Though, it wasn't my priority to make a cheap vehicle. Here's a very rough breakdown of what I spent (I probably guessed low on many of these):

$2000: Tintop Samurai: craigslist
$3000: Complete motor w/45,000 miles, ECU, wiring harness, air-flow meter, all imported from Germany: qualitygermanautoparts.com
$1000: Motor conversion kit (includes adapter plate, flywheel, modified oil-filter mount, motor-mount attachments, tachometer interface, and a few other things): acmeadapters.com
$150: Transmission & T-case: junkyard
$100: New radiator: Somewhere on the internet
$350: 15-gallon plastic fuel tank: petroworks.com
$250: Rear custom driveshaft (front is currently stock): 4xshaft.com
$1000: T-case rebuild with 4.7:1 low-range: marlincrawler.com
$150: Rear diff: junkyard
$500: 26-spline front axleshafts: spidertrax.com
$1000: Front air lockers & compressor (These actually cost me nothing since they were pulled from my previous Samurai, though down the road I still want to buy rear lockers)
$1500: New Wheels & Tires
$1000: Coil-over shocks: f-o-a.com
$250: KII-USB Interface: ross-tech.com
$1000: Steel for roll-bar, bumpers, roof-rack, floor, mounts, etc (Though I scaled back some of my ideas and I had a LOT of steel left over)
$1000: Many parts from the salvage yard, auto part stores, Home-Depot, and Summit Racing (I was really lucky to have these guys located in my town!)

You can do the math... I'd really rather not :)
 
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Zedbra

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2006
Location
Squamish, BC
TDI
2005 Jetta TDI
^ the math equates to you wanting to do this project your way, which is the best way to do it. again, great job.
 

gidb36

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2005
Location
Sioux Falls,SD
TDI
Beetle,1998,White,1988 Suzuki Samurai with Ecodiesel installed
One of the best builds i've seen.

I did a sami build when I was in high school with the old mechanical 1.6 turbo and the original samurai transmission. The College and life got to work and I had to sell it but retain my modded new beetle.

You've given me the bug again! Something of pure art and beauty. Well done sir.
 

glitdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Location
West Coast Canada
TDI
Tdi asv motor in a mk3 golf, om642 in a wk jeep
Overall that's not bad money spent 10 ish grand for that kind of vehicle... once again great job and get lots of years and miles out of that rig...
 

andy2

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Location
Bowmanville,Ontario,Canada
TDI
13 Jetta,94 Golf drag car 585bhp,Samurai buggy BHW 300bhp,97 Ram cummins
Nice work !

I have a samurai rock crawler machine and have a 1Z TDIM that I'd love to put in.I currently have the 1.6 8v fuel injected engine and a 6.5:1 transfer case and 5:38 axle gears, hydro steer etc...

I'm thinking about getting the toyota trans/transfercase if I do the diesel swap.Is your trans/case from a 4cyl or v6 ?

I know someone who is using a 1.9td with v6 trans and he made his own adapter plate.From what I understand the v6 case is not as desirable as the 4 cyl ?

Also what clutch are you using ?

Sorry for all the questions :)
 

number3114

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Location
Reno, NV
TDI
Suzuki Samurai Tintop
andy2, I have the 1.6L 8v Sidekick motor in my other Samurai and find the TDI to be much more usable on-road and more enjoyable off-road (I certainly don't miss the sound of constant 4000+ rpm), though it does add some weight to the little vehicle (mine weighs in at 3400 lbs, but that's with the diesel tanks full and my roof-rack, winch, high-lift jack, & other goodies all bolted on).

I used the 4cyl trans/t-case because the ACME's kit was designed for that. Based on the specs of Toyota's 2.4L motor, I figured that transmission would be sufficient for the 1.9L: http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/4R_TechInfo.shtml . I don't know anything about the V6 transmission, but I'm guessing it is probably heavier, less common in scrap yards, and may have slightly taller gears, all making it less desirable for a rock-crawler. Another option is the sought-after r151f transmission dieselzuk introduced me to in a previous post, though I know nothing about the compatibility with ACME.

The ACME kit is designed for using the Toyota clutch. I used the Centerforce brand because that's what Summit Racing had in stock, though again, I'm guessing a stock-clutch would have been sufficient. I made a few modifications to allow the Samurai clutch-pedal to operate the Toyota hydraulics:




Also, even if you don't use the ACME kit, you'll probably find their Q&A page helpful: http://www.acmeadapters.com/faq.php.
.
.
 
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dieselzuk

Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Location
Eugene, Or
TDI
none,yet
The r151f is just the v6 r150 with a 4 cylinder bellhousing. It originally came on the 86-87 22ret(turbo). The acme kit only works with 4 cyl transmissions, so you can use this kit with the much stronger, but much harder to find r151f.
 

number3114

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Location
Reno, NV
TDI
Suzuki Samurai Tintop
Thanks. Yes stronger, and with a better gearset than both the W56 & R150... 1st, 2nd, & 3rd gears are lower than W56, and a higher 5th gear. I've also read that in addition to the different bell-housings & gears, the length of the R150 input-shaft is also slightly different.

R150:.. 1st 3.830 ... 2nd 2.062 ... 3rd 1.436 ... 4th 1.000 ... 5th 0.838
W56:... 1st 3.954 ... 2nd 2.141 ... 3rd 1.384 ... 4th 1.000 ... 5th 0.850
R151F: 1st 4.313 ... 2nd 2.333 ... 3rd 1.436 ... 4th 1.000 ... 5th 0.838

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_W_Transmission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_R_transmission
 
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jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
yeah the R151f has lower gears...not exactly the same as the r150....case is basically the same just a different gearset...I have one right now I want to adapt to my tacoma TDI...running the stock W59 for now...great project by the way....love the pictures!!
 

JungleDeath

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2005
Location
Reno, NV, USA
TDI
00 Golf_11 JSW
Pics of ya wheelin' it?

I soft wheel my Golf in Antelope Valley and the west side of the Dogskins (amongst other places...). It's a red 4 door. You can't miss it. I'll be looking for ya. That is a great build and shows off a lot of skill. Nice work.
 

FredS

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Location
AZ
TDI
01 Golf GL 5spd, 00 NB 5spd, 94 Toyota-01ALH
Acme now makes a V6 Toyota trans adapter for the VW motors.
 

andy2

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Location
Bowmanville,Ontario,Canada
TDI
13 Jetta,94 Golf drag car 585bhp,Samurai buggy BHW 300bhp,97 Ram cummins
I'm likely going to take a gamble on the samurai trans/case.I'm not willing to spend the $$$$ on the toyota trans and case with 4.7 gears and rear disconect.I broke lots of axle stuff but not hurt the sami trans or case yet.

I will likely get the atomic clutch/flywheel kit and complete vw adapter kit.
 
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