Basically for a tracker/sidekick you:

1) Take your old motor out and sell it off along with other unneeded stuff to recover some costs
2) Drain your tank of fuel and blow out the lines. Put in a VW water/fuel separator and connect your fuel lines. Enlarge your gas tank filler spout
3) Buy a VW diesel turbo engine and strap the Acme adapter plate and flywheel on with clutch
4) put your motor in the engine bay with the engine mounts
5) hook up about 10 wires with the glow plug relay
6) hook up your plumbing, radiator and clamps
7) Fill up with diesel and smile with the extra fuel mileage and low end torque.

http://acmeadapters.com/faq.php
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/SamuraiDiesel/

 

Hey I have had about 5 zukes since I turned 16 and loved them. The one I have right now is an '86 that I did an SPOA lift on and put some mudders on and am dying to put a diesel in. I was wondering if you did the swap yourself, and if so how difficult was it?

 

Yes, I like them a lot too. My first one was back in the early 90's and my brother and I swapped in a 1.6NA. In those days, the fuel mileage was better because of the higher sulphur fuels. I got 45mpg going from Portland to Vancouver, BC running on 235's for tires.

The swap is really straight forward and not difficult. I've done quite a few of them and am currently running my 87 Samurai with a 1.9TD, AC and power steering. I'm also running a Sidekick with a 1.6 Ecco Turbo diesel. I'm getting about 37 mpg in the sidekick running 30 inch tires with the ultra low sulphur fuels. I'm going to do an injection pump mod and see if I can get some more mileage out of it.

To do the swap, you'll need a long weekend if you have all the parts on your garage floor ready to go. You can have the engine and tranny in the engine bay in 3 or 4 hours. Be prepared to get a lot of gas station attendants saying, "hey, are you sure you want me to put diesel in this suzuki?" Pretty fun with the reactions you get.

 

Hey! My fiance is getting ready to convert an 87/86...he got two of them, and one of these days they/it will be one piece. He bought a car this wkend to use the motor out of...really excited to see how it turns out!

We scoured everywhere looking for an engine-- they are hard to find, and cost an arm, leg and first-born when you find them!

 

Yes, the diesel motors can cost you. There's a number of places you can find them. Additionally to that, you never really know what your getting either. Half of them are good and the other half are tired and need to be redone. Not a big deal but it adds to the cost. You can have problems with the injection pumps as well if they have been sitting a while. After a while they get plugged up and full of varnish and sludge. Its a great long term swap. Way more reliable than a gasser. There's just not a lot to go wrong and if you perform regular maintenance, they go for a long, long time.

 

My cousin owns a salvage yard...the lady that worked there told us he had three...drove up there, they turned out to be inventoried wrong and were gas engines... He did a search...the only thing available that wasn't Canadian was in Washington state-- didn't wanna fool with that.
We found a whole car-- a Rabbit or Golf-- can't remember what Trav said-- not 20 miles from where we lived. Belonged to some lady in her 90s that doesn't drive anymore and the engine only has between 80-90,000 miles on it I think...got it for a song and a dance and will hopefully be picking it up this wk!

 

That is absolutely great! Always nice to find a reasonable deal close to home.

 

Well, we went and picked up the car...will post pics sometime...got it home...thing had sat for six years...they cleaned the air thingamabobber of the 'nests' and hooked a battery up-- thing runs like a sewing machine! We flew up the road a little in it...turns out to be an 84 Rabbit...or the 'b-bit' because the 'ra' is missing on the back...

 

Thats a nice find because it did not cost you an injection pump. Usually when an injection pump sits like that, it will need to be rebuilt or purged. It was probably sealed the entire time with no air accessing the pump. Your lucky. Right on.

It should be a mechanical head so it will have the little round steel pucks for valve adjustment and such. Good little motors. Make sure you put a new timing belt on it and change out your thermostat.

 

have you ever put a turbo on a naturally-aspirated engine? acme adaptors says you can...
would you use a vw turbo or do you know of any others that might work-- i've heard a stock head will hold up to 24 lbs of boost...