1.9 TDI to Lada Niva - which transmission?

Hi to this forum. I'm actually quite new to auto mechanics - being only rebuilt a old Jawa sidecar bike before. However, I do have a crazy plan to install a 1.9 TDI to a legendary Lada Niva from '83.

To be more clear on the purpose of this project - not to have any misinterpretation. I really fell in love with the car. The design and the way it's built. Very soviet, robust and simplistic. It's small, compact and it's actually quite good off road for it's time. It features 4 coil springs, a transfer case with central diff lock and a slow/high speed switch.
In short, I really love the cars looks and feel, but I loathe the lada engine and gearbox in it. The engine is only 59kw, which isn't it's problem. The problem is that it does not have any torque before having only few at 3000+ rpm. The gearbox is 4 speed, which means highway speed I am at 3500+ rpm, with extreme LOUDNESS due to the engine, gearbox and transfer case vibrations etc. There is an 5 speed option, but it sucks due to it's poor durability.

So, my logic was, let's put a bomb-proof 1.9 TDI into my Niva with a transmission which will not break down. The 66kw one actually fits perfectly for Estonian law, which is that I can not increase the engine power more then 30%, volume more then 20% and weight more then 10%. There are coupe of issues though.

First and the biggest is the transmission. I don't want to use Lada-s. So I did lot's of searching the forum here to find any options that would be as easy conversions as possible. The best seemed to be the Ford Type 9 transmission, which is very accessible here in Europe (Estonia) in a Ford Sierra for example. I almost bought the bellhousing kit - but then did some last minute measurements. It does not fit due to it's length. Even if I move the engine more font it does not fit. The reason is that the Niva has a separate transfer case behind the transmission. The total length for the transmission therefor is maximum 63 cm (25 inch)

So basically I need a RWD transmission which is quite short. BMW came to mind. I could do a transfer plate. But, BMW has the starter on the drivers side - no room for that on the 1.9 TDI. I've also come by the Toyota W58, which measurements I do not know but it looks too long on a picture at least.

So, this is the reason why I'm making my post here. To ask help from much more experienced TDI-ers. I appreciate any ideas how to make the build happen or any hints which transmission to use.

And by the way, this is my orange Niva:


cheers!

cool project! i take that this is a longitudinal configuration? ... some of the mercedes boxes are pretty short ... you could use a toyota w series 4x4 box and adapt the niva t case .. is the niva t case a divorced type ?

suzuki samurai 5 speed ! ... short and there is an available adapter although it needs to be corrected as the machining is crap (not centered)

The transfer box is a separate unit, so yes, it is a divorced type. The engine of course is in a longitudinal configuration.

Thanks for the input. The Samurai transmission seems a plausible option, though not very common over here. I will also look into Mercedes options.

The other issue is the height of the drive train and the gear lever position. With the original Lada configuration, the gear lever is to the passenger side of the drive train. This allows the drive train to be quite high (next to the gear lever) and allow also a fairly high input shaft in the transfer case. This video with the transfer case + lada transmission aligned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC0S28J2bxs&t=215s (nvm the German, I don't speak it either)

I have already accepted that I may need to alter the position of the gear lever, though there is not much space because of the TC levers. I would not want to lower the transfer case due to the reason that the output of a gearbox output is too low relative to my transfer case input height.

A BMW transmission therefor would be a good option because most of the gear linkage is outside of the case and can be altered. Too bad they don't have the starter on the other side

I do think the Samurai gearbox is feasible though. Any links on where I could get an adapter for it?

Edit: which Samurai generation gearbox is mostly used for the conversion? 2nd or 3rd generation?
Edit2: Does the Samurai transmission handle the extra torque and hp of a TDI well?

Neat project!

One thing to keep in mind, VAG inline 4 cyl engines of the type you are considering are physically quite small. They are not very long, even with the timing belt taking up some space on the front. So you may be able to mount the engine further forward in the engine bay than the original engine was, thus making the size of the gearbox less critical. Although it sounds like you already know this.

I do not know how big the Niva is, though, as they never sold any here.

The Samurai transmission is a poor choice. They are incredibly weak. They were designed for use with a little torqueless chainsaw of an engine (and those blew up a lot). I worked at a Suzuki dealer in my younger days. It was actually the pre-TDI VAG engine swaps into Sammies that prompted the Toyota (Aisin) gearbox adapters, so these guys could use a sturdier transmission. Which of course paved the way for Toyota pickup TDI swaps, since the adapter was already there.

I wish I would have had the foresight to grab all the abandoned blown up Samurai and Sidekicks that got scrapped every month behind our dealer.

Thanks for you input oilhammer!

The niva original engine is also a inline 4 cylinder engine with 1.6L capacity. (The communists were never into powerful cars lol) Compared to 1.9 TDI they are about the same size. So I will not get much extra room. Also, fitting the engine as front as possible will be bad for the weight distribution, though a secondary concern.

The durability with increased power was my concern with the suzuki transmission too. But as it has been mounted with TDI 1.9 so many times on Samurai's it sounded as a good option. I guess I need to find some alternatives to consider.

Well, I can tell you from second hand experience that the Suzuki gearboxes are pretty lightweight. And while the Russians may not have made or liked very powerful engines, they DO tend to make things excessively heavy for their size. I would lay money that Niva is heavier than the Sammy, and even a stock 1.9L VE TDI will make MUCH more power than any Suzuki hairdryer 4 cyl managed to make.

Sammy conversions with non-turbo 1.6L VAG diesels (52hp) were enough to break those gearboxes off roading. And 1.6L TDs and 1.8L gassers were enough to literally break the transmissions in half. Seen it. Multiple times. Broke the case right down the middle, and the shafts were pushing out.

i have a w56 in the shop... i'll measure it this afternoon

My Niva is from '83 and it weighs 1150 kg. And yes the Russians did make everything pretty heavy and robust, which actually in many cases was not a bad thing. The 4 speed transmission is actually a bomb proof one. However the 5 speed is not. And the thing is that you don't want to cruise on highway with 4000 rpm on a diesel engine.

jimbote - I would appreciate it!

Cheers!

Edit:
To get you guys into a Lada Niva mood, here is a commercial!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQ0eZRLm7Q

I cruise at 4000 RPM on the highway... I just run out of highway pretty quickly.