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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
The TDI in all its glory.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
The Sami’s gearbox nicely organized at Kelowna Transmission waiting for a rebuild.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
We finally had AMT Machine shop step up and machine the flywheel to fit the Samurai ring gear.
Story & photos by Budd Stanley
A Rocky Marriage - Repowering Project Sami with a VW turbo diesel
I know, I know… those of you that are following the Project Sami build are getting anxious, impatient and down right angry that I have not updated the state of our engine transplant. It was more than a couple of issues ago that I teased you all with the rebuild of a not so tidy little VW 1.6L turbo diesel engine that would soon reincarnate the Samurai. The original plan was to have the little Sami up and running before Christmas, however as many of you know, sometimes big projects come with big challenges. Let’s say that we’ve had quite a few getting this little VW four pot to find its new home.
For those just checking in, let me give you a brief recap of Project Samurai. We started out with a $1000 1988 Suzuki Samurai SJ413, purchased with what looked like a good body but no engine. This was of no worry, because we already had plans to dump the Suzuki 1.3L in favour of a 1.6L VW turbo diesel. This swap doesn’t net us a huge horsepower gain. In fact, we’re losing 2 hp, dropping to 68 hp. However, the benefits of this swap will see our torque bumped from 76 lb-ft to 100 lb-ft and we will be burning a whole lot less fuel out on the trail. Those of you following editor Irons Merican Metal Menace are likely falling off your chair right now, but trust me, I have a plan here and the combination of diesel and turbo will come into play a little later on.
We sourced a rather old but running turbo diesel engine from a VW specialist in Vancouver and rang up Rocky Road Outfitters who set us up with their Axis diesel swap kit specifically designed for the Samurai. All was looking good, we had all the bits, but we aren’t going to just dump any old engine into the Sami without taking a quick look inside. Here is where all the issues started.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
1 Before we get to the fun part, we needed to notch the oil pan for better clearance. A slight lift with keep us in the safe when axles start to flex.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
2 Thanks to CAD (Cardboard Aided Design), we cut out some metal and welded into the structure.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
3 Cleaned up with the grinder and a fresh coat of paint, we also mounted a new oil drain plug at the lowest point to aid getting every last drop of nasty diesel oil out during maintenance.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
4 Our Axis Kit as supplied by RRO. This kit and some extra ancillaries will allow a VW turbo diesel to power our Samurai.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
5 While the kit had a nice powder coat finish, the pre-drilled holes left us rather disappointed. After drilling them all out and finding several did not align properly, our disappointment then turned to anger.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
6 The starter bracket was so far out we spent a good portion of a day machining it to fit the starter and line up with the boltholes.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
7 Once we re-drilled and machined all the bolt holes to lineup, it was finally time to bolt all the bits together, starting here with the engine mounts.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
8 The Axis Kit uses studs that mount to the adapter plate for the gearbox to sit on. Due to their size, we needed to drill out a couple holes on the gearbox.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
9 We also had to clearance a couple additional holes that would fit bolts that would thread in from the gearbox into the adapter plate.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
10 The adapter plate is then bolted to the blocks standard transmission bolt holes with four Allen key bolts. Studs are then fixed to mount the gearbox to the adapter plate.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
11 These studs featured a threaded spacer to ensure a nice tight fit.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
12 With all the studs in place, we can mount the flywheel we had machined up at AMT Machine shop.
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13 This is an anxious moment as we find out if all our machining was done correctly. AMT’s work on the flywheel and our handheld grinding of the starter bracket looks bang-on with the bendix in operational position.
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14 The clutch is aligned and mounted, then comes the moment of truth, sliding the gearbox into place.
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15 We didn’t like where the upper studs were sitting. We pulled the gearbox off and moved them to the last thread on the adapter plate, then re-installed the gearbox. We’re still not too happy with where the nut is sitting after being torqued. We’ll readdress this issue a little later on in the build with something with more length and strength.
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16 We have the Aqualu body just dry fitted so that we finish it off once all the oily bits are in place and can torque everything down in its proper place.
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17 With everything bolted down, we are quite happy with where the engine and transmission are sitting. The oil pan clears the axles just fine and we still have lots of room between the top of the turbo and the hood. Next issue we’ll have fun playing all the life support systems and spark life to the diesel.
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Project Samurai - A Rocky Marriage
The well run-in turbo diesel required a full rebuild and a fair bit of machining to be reliable enough for our liking, so a full strip down was performed. The cylinders had a healthy lip at the top of the piston stroke, so we had the machine shop bore it out. While the block was out, we had them weld and polish out some scuffing on the crank and fit a new bushing for the intermediate shaft. Fresh rings, bearings and valve guides were dropped in and we gave the head a refresh with a fresh decking and new valve grind. With a fresh engine sorted, finally we were able to start the transplant process.
Our swap kit from RRO (Rocky Road Outfitters) included engine mounting brackets, an adapter plate to mate the Suzuki gearbox to the VW engine, spacers and adapters for several ancillaries and a wide variety of bolt spacers and hardware. Also included was a wiring harness, exhaust downpipe to attach to the standard exhaust, some PVC piping and an extensive manual to guide us through the whole process. RRO usually supply the kit with a custom flywheel that would fit into the Suzuki bellhousing. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any sitting on the shelf, and told us it was simply an exercise of finding the flywheel from a VW Fox and machining it down to accept the ring gear from the Samurai. No worries, how hard could that be.
We like to have all our ducks in a row when digging into a project like this. We know its not going to be a weekend job, but having all the bits and pieces on hand is ideal. We referred to RRO’s manual for the additional parts that would be required. This included the aforementioned flywheel, pressure plate and oil filter housing from a VW Fox, the clutch disc from a Mitsubishi Mirage 1.6L, the starter from a 93 Isuzu Impulse along with an assortment of sensors, switches, fittings and coolant hoses.
So, first up was flywheel, pressure plate and oil filter housing procurement – nightmare number one. Well it seems that all the VW Fox’s in North America have been sucked into some VW black hole, never to be seen again. It took three months just to find a wrecker that had one, just outside Toronto. No oil filter housing, but we did get a pressure plate and flywheel in the mail.
The starter was easy enough to find, we visited the local VW dealership for some of the little odds and ends, but still couldn’t source an oil filter housing. We were looking pretty good, but before we get elbow deep, we needed to ensure we got the flywheel machined – nightmare number two.
Spending days wandering around to just about every machinist in the Okanagan valley, not one shop wanted anything to do with our simple little job. All they had to do is turn down the diameter of the flywheel to fit the ring gear, but every shop forwarded us on to “the next guy can do that.” Since we were making no headway with the flywheel, time was better spent giving the gearbox a good going over. We made a visit to our buddy Ivar down at Kelowna Transmission, and left the gearbox in his hands. Later that day we got a call back. Ivar explained that the input shaft was junk, a couple bearing were on their way out and a couple syncro’s weren’t far behind. Luckily, there is a rather cheap rebuild kit for these gearboxes (they don't have the best reliability record) available, so we ordered it up and had Ivar spin his magic. Probably best to match a fully rebuilt engine with a fully rebuilt gearbox anyways. While there I asked if he knew where I might find a VW Fox oil filter housing, but he knew of none.
After another couple of months getting frustrated with the locals, I packed up the flywheel and went to Vancouver. Adam Trinder of AMT Machining, an old friend from my rallying days was more than happy to help, and spent 20-minutes after work to get the flywheel to the spec I needed. While there I asked if he knew where I might find a VW Fox oil filter housing, but he knew of none.
After six months of scrounging, begging, borrowing, stealing and draining the wallet of its contents, its finally time for the marriage. We moved the engine, gearbox, RRO Axis Swap Kit and all our parts over to Casa de Irons, booted out Stinky Jeep, inserted the Aluma Zuk and went about taking over editor Irons happy place and drinking all his Rootbeer.
Before we went bolting everything together, there was some house keeping to take care of first. RRO informed us that the height of the VW engine is actually a little taller than the Suzuki mill, and they recommend a 3-in suspension lift to keep the VW’s oil pan off the front axle. As we currently don’t have a lift in the Samurai, and wanted maximum clearance in any case, we went about cutting the VW’s oil pan above the axle and welding in a clearance notch that should stave off metal on metal contact before we get the suspension a little higher. Then we gave everything a good coat of paint and prepared for the task at hand.
The engine mounts and spacers supplied in RRO’s Axis swap are built from high-strength steel and are nicely powder coated. Often you will need to send a drill bit through the boltholes to clean out some of the thick powder coat to allow bolts to fit smoothly. We’re not sure what RRO used to cut the holes, but it definitely wasn’t a laser cutter. We had to give every piece a good machine job with the drill if we had any hope of the bolts making it through. All fine and good, we don’t expect every company to have a multi-million dollar CNC and cutting table, but when we found that a decent number of holes didn’t even line up… well we come to nightmare number three.
We spent the next couple days mocking everything up, and machining the bolt holes to align. The engine mounts; adapter plate, alternator mount and even a couple of the spacers all required a healthy bit of drill work. Then there was the adapter plate for the starter… that thing was so out of whack it gets nightmare number four all on its own.
All right, with all the kit pieces cleaned up and aligned, we could finally get to a milestone in the project. Bolting the engine to the gearbox and dumping it in the frame. With the engine mounts fitted to the block, we mounted the adapter plate to the rear with the supplied hardware then mounted the studs to the adapter plate to accept the gearbox. The flywheel, clutch and pressure plate are then placed in position and torqued up to spec before it was time for some more machining.
No nightmare here, clearing some metal out from the two lower mounting holes on the gearbox was expected, and is required to give the mounting bolts a flush fit. Sliding our freshly built gearbox onto the studs, we found that these were not quite long enough to grab all the threads of the nuts. Pulling the gearbox off and backing the studs out of the adapter plate until they sat flush with the final thread, we reinstalled the gearbox only to find we were still half a thread short. With the amount of vibration this drivetrain is going to experience, we weren’t too happy with the situation. If we weren’t so tired at this point, we’d call nightmare number five, but with the gearbox torqued on good and tight, we’ll revisit this little issue a little down the line.
With the engine and gearbox married as one, it was time to introduce them to their new home. If you remember the nightmare of all nightmares back when we last talked about Project Sami, you’ll remember the shocking state of the original body. We sorted that nightmare with the utmost of authority by simply tossing it in the scrap heap and replacing it with a magnificent Aqualu aluminum body. At the moment, we just have it dry fitted as we will be getting back to this side of the project once all the oily bits are in their place.
With a little muscle and a lot of sit-ups, we worked the VW turbo diesel into the engine bay. The engine mounts fell straight down onto their studs and everything looked like it was designed to sit in its place from the factory. We bolted up the mounts, slid the drive shaft into the back of the gearbox and checked our clearances. The engine was sitting a little low on the old engine mount bushings, but we still had an acceptable amount of clearance between the axle and oil pan, and the hood fell into place with no nightmare inducing metal on metal notices. We were looking good.
While we leave you on a positive note, we are by no means out of the woods just yet. Check out next issue when we start connecting the Sami’s live support systems to the VW turbo diesel.
Rocky Road Outfitters Axis Swap - Part number: SJ8511 - $1,064.00