[sam_516]

Hey guys, took the jimny out for its last drive before I was going to pretty it up and sell her and I blew it up (minimum head gasket)

Thinking of buying a Sierra with a Gemini deisel engine ( same as rodeo I am told) in it and swapping it into the jimny as the jimnys weakest point is all those electrical gizmos under the bonnet,

Before I commit to it tho just wanted to find some one who has owned one and if they liked it


Yes I know it will weigh more, not rev as hard, easier more proven engine swaps out there but most the driving I do more requires a deisel. So if anyone knows of a member wouldn't mind picking there brain a little,

From a quick google search it's moving engine mounts back a little and cross member

[atari4x4]

can you legally fit such an old engine to a new car? i always thought that the engine had to be the same age or newer than the car it's going into, might be best to do some more research.

personally i'd be looking at dropping in a baleno 1.6 & fitting the jimny stuff to it... less stuffing around & you wouldn't need to look at trying to get the gearing to work with a shitty old diesel.

[Tyron]

sam_516 wrote:

Thinking of buying a Sierra with a Gemini deisel engine in it

Good luck finding one in the first place!

[joel]

all the electrical "gizmos"being the weakest point?? yet you blew a head gasket?? what electrical function did that??
the m13a would have to be one of the most primitive engines in a current model vehicle ive seen.
you cant trust those diesels mate, with all those pistons and the like, what you want is steam engine that produces rotary motion.


sounds like a pretty hard undertaking imo.

[Mike_B]

In the States VW diesels are popular, and there are a couple of kits available to fit the VW diesels to the Suzuki gearboxes, supposedly they are a relatively affordable and functional conversion, at least over there, not so sure about here in Aus, but it does interest me sometime down the track a bit.

[atari4x4]

joel wrote:

all the electrical "gizmos"being the weakest point?? yet you blew a head gasket?? what electrical function did that??
the m13a would have to be one of the most primitive engines in a current model vehicle ive seen.
you cant trust those diesels mate, with all those pistons and the like, what you want is steam engine that produces rotary motion.


sounds like a pretty hard undertaking imo.

pretty sure his is a 13bb

[joel]

one step above a rock in terms of electrical technology than, even less complex than a m13a.

[sam_516]

It is a g13bb and I have found a Sierra with one in it hence the question, and blown head gasket was the last thing to go wrong, but befor that I seemed every second drive some sensor would get wet short out and shut the engine down

And looked into the vw 1.9td conversion the kit sold over in the states won't work apparently because of the whole rhd and lhd, but there is a bloke trying to work around it

[sam_516]

Nothing about engines age, going to ring an engineer on Monday and have a chat,

[atari4x4]

read the bit about emissions standards for replacement engines again...

[jimnynutter]

My 99 Jimny had a baleno g16b and It went hard!!
Was a great car!!

[McBane]

Capacity limits do not apply to 4WD vehicles.... sweeeet

[Mike_B]

sam_516 wrote:

.........

And looked into the vw 1.9td conversion the kit sold over in the states won't work apparently because of the whole rhd and lhd, but there is a bloke trying to work around it

Yeah depends how much extra work you want to do to make it work, the VW TD engines though are much better than the what you originally proposed, and should pass emissions requirements with little trouble.
I have recently been reading a long post about a guy in UK doing this VW 1.9TD conversion to his Vit, using parts from one of the USA conversion kits. Don't recall him mentioning specifically that the LHD/RHD thing was a problem, but he did have to do some fabricating and so on to get things to work, (apart from the extra stuff to make the diesel run in what was a petrol engined vehicle), and has been on the road for some time with significant fuel savings compared to his original G16A motor. (If you google Shropshire Suzuki you will find this conversion info).

[Gwagensteve]

My understanding is that we never received the 1.9 Diesels with a mechanical pump - In Australia, they're all full electronic. If you read the acme site, you'll see that the electronic motors are a whole lot more hassle/cost.

I also recall someone on here saying that they were chasing a totalled caddy van to do this swap, but it ultimately sold for $6.5K.

In any case, using a late model 1.9TDi motor completely negates the reason the OP wanted a diesel - they will be far more electronically complex than the G13BB in the car, and parts will be very expensive and/or hard to get, (Hard to get if the OP swaps to a mechanical pump, for example, to get rid of the electronics.)

The next problem would be gearing the car down. Acme don't try and do this at all, suggesting (even recommending) a SPOA conversion and 32" tyres with stock gearing to get the engine in it's happy place on the highway. That's not a valid possibility for a Jimny - so you'd have to come up with a way of knocking 1000rpm or so out of the cruise revs through gearing. Swapping in an AW-4 auto might be possible with JR's controller, as they have a very tall overdrive. You'd need a trail tough jackshaft adapter, a complete vitara AW-4 with TCC, and then the appropriate parts from ACME to make this swap work.

All up, I'm guessing that's at the very least a $10K project.

Would it be cool? Sure. Would it grenade front axles/diffs etc if you ever tried to use it off road? Undoubtedly. The biggest issue though, is that you've traded the electronic hassles you're having now for masses of mechancial troubles - an untried swap, non AU delivered parts*, an unusual gearbox/engine combination, and over twice the torque that the driveline was designed for.

I think it defeats the purpose of the swap.

As an aside, I've looked into the power/torque of the older VW diesel 1.9's and I don't think they are better in any way than a G16B., barring fuel economy. Acme don't compare their diesel swaps to a G16B, only a G16A. Drop the G16B numbers into their table and the (older, mechanical pump) swaps just don't stack up. Sure, you can use an electronic motor, drop US$1200 on a tuned mechanical pump, put it all together, and apparently make over 200HP , or something, but again, that's defeating the purpose of what the OP wanted to do, once again, swapping troublesome EFI for a highly strung diesel.

*To get an electronic controlled VW motor into a suzuki requires, IIRC, using mechanical pump engine parts like accessory drives that were never available here.

Just some thoughts. Have a good look here: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/suzuki/9 ... d-3-a.html for some of the complexity of fitting a late model VW diesel.

Steve.

[303zuke]

So who bought the Sierra Diesel ute at the Burren Jct auction?

[Mike_B]

Gwagensteve wrote:

My understanding is that we never received the 1.9 Diesels with a mechanical pump - In Australia, they're all full electronic. If you read the acme site, you'll see that the electronic motors are a whole lot more hassle/cost.

I also recall someone on here saying that they were chasing a totalled caddy van to do this swap, but it ultimately sold for $6.5K.

In any case, using a late model 1.9TDi motor completely negates the reason the OP wanted a diesel - they will be far more electronically complex than the G13BB in the car, and parts will be very expensive and/or hard to get, (Hard to get if the OP swaps to a mechanical pump, for example, to get rid of the electronics.)

The next problem would be gearing the car down. Acme don't try and do this at all, suggesting (even recommending) a SPOA conversion and 32" tyres with stock gearing to get the engine in it's happy place on the highway. That's not a valid possibility for a Jimny - so you'd have to come up with a way of knocking 1000rpm or so out of the cruise revs through gearing. Swapping in an AW-4 auto might be possible with JR's controller, as they have a very tall overdrive. You'd need a trail tough jackshaft adapter, a complete vitara AW-4 with TCC, and then the appropriate parts from ACME to make this swap work.

All up, I'm guessing that's at the very least a $10K project.

Would it be cool? Sure. Would it grenade front axles/diffs etc if you ever tried to use it off road? Undoubtedly. The biggest issue though, is that you've traded the electronic hassles you're having now for masses of mechancial troubles - an untried swap, non AU delivered parts*, an unusual gearbox/engine combination, and over twice the torque that the driveline was designed for.

I think it defeats the purpose of the swap.

As an aside, I've looked into the power/torque of the older VW diesel 1.9's and I don't think they are better in any way than a G16B., barring fuel economy. Acme don't compare their diesel swaps to a G16B, only a G16A. Drop the G16B numbers into their table and the (older, mechanical pump) swaps just don't stack up. Sure, you can use an electronic motor, drop US$1200 on a tuned mechanical pump, put it all together, and apparently make over 200HP , or something, but again, that's defeating the purpose of what the OP wanted to do, once again, swapping troublesome EFI for a highly strung diesel.

*To get an electronic controlled VW motor into a suzuki requires, IIRC, using mechanical pump engine parts like accessory drives that were never available here.

Just some thoughts. Have a good look here: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/suzuki/9 ... d-3-a.html for some of the complexity of fitting a late model VW diesel.

Steve.

Thanks Steve,

I thought that it might be possible, however with more info, the cost Vs benefit when compared to a good G16B is hard to justify,
except the odd person who does things because they can and no other reason....

Mike