Engine Swap in the Near Future

[k1n3k]

I love my samurai, but I hate being an obstacle in traffic rather than at least keeping up. After weighing options on adding power to the factory 1.3L 8 valve, swapping the engine for a 1.6 16V, rebuilding a 16 valve 1.3 I've got laying around, I kept running into problems with parts availability, fuel availability, or sheer cost being really high to do it right. So I said the hell with it and bought a AAZ VW turbodiesel for it. Its not a ton of power, but its a lot more torque where I need it. I've done a TDI in the past and the efficiency range of those motors involves a whole drivetrain swap to get the proper gearing, not something I'm willing to do this time. Nice thing with the AAZ, its happy to sit around 2800-3000 RPM at cruise, that puts it exactly in line with the gearing in the samurai for 60 mph. Not fast by any means but it never hits 60 anyway unless its on level ground with no wind.... So I'll take it. The engine gets delivered on the 3rd. I'll probably fire it up on the pallet to make sure its a runner. Its allegedly from Japan, and is low miles. They didn't list exact miles but between 50k and 75k, so should have lots of life in it. Fully mechanical too!

Up next, sell the danger ranger then buy an adapter plate and other install junk.

 

[Greg]

I dig the plan... so you'll need an adapter to the transmission? What's the AAZ make for torque?

 

[k1n3k]

IIRC its something like 114 ft lbs at 2500ish RPM? Its got a nice flat torque curve too. Its a pretty solid bump over the samurai's stock 75 ft lbs at 3500 RPM. This is all at sea level when brand new. with it being 36 years old at 4500' elevation I'd bet its well below those numbers by a lot. The g13a in the samurai now makes peak power at 6000 RPM, so when I'm climbing trappers loop to get to work, I'm doing 35 mph AND spinning that poor little motor 4500-5000 RPM the whole way just to get up the hill. Usually in 3rd gear, sometimes 2nd. Having the extra grunt would be nice, if it will climb that hill at 45mph and do it at 3000 rpm with reasonable EGT's I'll call that a win.