VW powered Sarmurai/tracker/sidekick

[DKarvwnaris]

Just curious if anyone has had personal experience with the repower kits that are being sold online for suzuki sport ute's utlizing a VW Diesel engine. I have read quite a bit about them over the years, but the majority is either heavily slanted to one conversion supplier or the other, few have any un biased comments to compare the two suppliers kits. I remember one being the Acme kit or something off the top of my head, not sure off hand.

I have been looking for a cheap small off road toy that I can get insurance on for local street use, this has ruled out ATV's and Golf carts since they are not legal in all 50 states. Golf carts are not worth the money in my eyes and they are not diesel version's I can find so far. (I want to run dyed diesel when off road, can't find non taxable gasoline anymore these days).

Keeping in mind that I want nothing more than a light duty 4wd trail rig that I can regularly get insurance for to eliminate the occasional on road use, any other ideas in mind? I am planning to use a pre TDI engine due to all mechanical fuel system. I don't need the power of a TDI for what I'm tasking this toy with.

Thanks for any links, comments, or photo's in advance. If anyone in the southeast has or knows of a Samurai/tracker/sidekick for sale with a blown motor, let me know. I am specifically looking for a manual, preferably with A/C and a removable rigid top, but anything reasonably priced is fine too.

11 years old or older will be preferred as I can put permanent plates on it in our home state of Montana if its 11 years old or older.

 

[bvanetten]

Up to my eyeballs with personal experience!

Yep. I'm about 90% done with my conversion. My project is a bit over the top but the experience is valid still.



1986 Zuk

1. 6l TD (out of a 1986 jette)

Rebuilt tweeked "Giles" Injection Pump

stretched 14" in the middle

Toyota mini truck axles

toyota 5 speed

dual toyota t-cases

Scout power steering

Jeep 4. 0 radator

Ford Taurus fan

GM 105 amp alt

rx7 oil cooler

intercooler

2 1/2" exhaust (downpipe to tailpipe)

Jeep YJ springs (Shackel reversal)

34x10. 5 swampers



I am using the Acme kit and motor mounts. They are the only one providing a kit to mate VW to Toy. Given my experience with them so far I would pick them even if there was an alternative. There are not words to discribe the quality of there parts or service.



I believe there are only three kits available to mate VW to Zuk/track/kick.



RockyRoad (the old Keltic kit)

Acme

Roadless Gear I think.



I have no experience withe the rockyroad kit. But from what I have heard it is not the route to go.

A buddy of mine has the roadless gear kit and it is good if you are alright with doing alot of the fab work yourself. It is a good kit but bare bones.

Acme is the shiznit.



Here are some pics of my project.

 

[DKarvwnaris]

Very nice project, I can see you've got alot of time in that one already. The Samurai you've got looks longer than the standard Sami's I've seen, did you section the body/frame where the primed area is on the side?

I've hoped the Tracker would be a little more refined than the Samurai's, but I may just settle for a bare bones seat and tires and go with something like yours.

Realistically, I should probably stick to 235's at the largest. I want the fuel mileage more than anything, time will tell, I'll most likely go back to a desert toy setup like I used to have when stationed in San Diego years back. (it was a old CJ-3 with a small block and 33" paddles).

I found a Tracker this afternoon at a dealer who said he's planning to wholesale it at the end of the month, its a rough looking rig with no top at all. My hopes are the tracker will be a little more nimble on pavement and still allow for a few weekend trips to the lake without having to trailer it out, keeping it a basic trail rig is going to be hard to do after seeing that the majority of the Zuke's with VW plants in them are running full on mudders etc.

Thanks for sharing your project, its what I'd want if I was not stuck in a 90% blacktop pavement filled city area currently, about the most I can climb in Montgomery is a few curbs and maybe a median

 

[PKirby]

I have read the Sidekick/Tracker does not have enough room for the VW diesel due to the IFS suspension and the Samurai must have at least 3" of lift before it will fit.



I think the Sidekick/Tracker is much more refined for highway use and they are still durable.



I just bought a 4x4 Samurai with a bad engine and rolled 4x4 Tracker for the 1. 6 engine that I will install in the Sami.

 

[therabbittree]

that looks good I have been debating makeing a 4x with my vw rabbit p[ickup or a samuri. . if i did teh vw pickup i was gonna try to do it on a samurai frame that was streched . . but your toyota trans and axles etc seems better. . i can say teh samuri trans is a real rev box so highway rpm is very high. . any tips on teh vw to toyota trans mounting or th eratios in the transmission. . doe sit havea overdrive?

thanks

Deo

 

[bvanetten]

DK,

You might have top speed issues with 235 tires. The Sammi t-case has a 1. 4 to 1 gear reduced high range. You want to keep the rpms at cruise below 3k. The VW will rev past 5k but is happy below 3. I think 31's would work. A tracker or sidekick would be a great ride.



PK,

With the Acme kit sammi's don't need any lift. There are several trackers and sidekicks with vw's installed in them. AFAIK the install is no more different than the zuk.



Rabbit,

I think the the best route to go if you plan on tweeking the motor is the toy transmission. Several converters have grenaded stock sammi trannys and even a diff, all had over 100hp motors. The diff went while just off idle up a hill.

The toy transmission has a 5th gear OD and the tcase high range is 1 to 1. At 75mph I should be around 24 to 2500 rpm. This might be a bit low, we'll see, I'm running stock 4:10 gears. When I did the gearing math on this I set it up for highway driving and fuel economy and to get my off-road gearing back I just added a 2nd tcase. Best of both worlds.

The Acme kit modifies a toy flywheel to mount to the vw crank. I'm able to use stock toy parts this way, starter, clutch, etc.

I hope to get about 30mpg. The best I could hope for with this setup is 35. My motor should be putting out about 120hp and I have a lead foot so we'll see.

 

[bvanetten]

INfo

Here is some info for ya'll



http://33ad.org/wiki/SamuraiDieselShoppingList



http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content?board=48.0