Diesel Metro?

[Cowspots]

Diesel_John,

I was thinking about this thread, sorry for being off topic before. I have been keeping a close eye on VW diesel conversions for Suzuki Samurai and they fit well. I wonder what the overal length of the block with pulleys would be?

There would have to be custom motor mounts fabricated and much more I am sure. I wonder if my Metro's or Suzuki's have room for a Canada 1.9TD? Can the trans and suspension handle the weight and torque? I doubt it.

An aluminum block VW Lupo 3-Cyl TDI diesel would be a GREAT choice for a Swift 1.3L SOHC chassis; however, they are not sold on this continent. This would be a conversion nightmare for sure. A VW engine to Suzuki trans adapter is already available. http://www.acmeadapters.com and http://www.rocky-road.com/diesel.html

Good luck!
Cowspots

[MetroMPG]

The answer for a diesel conversion of a Metro = use an oil burner from a Canadian market previous generation smart car: 3-cyl, 800-something cc.

Any wrecked smart that was involved in a crash probably still has a good drivetrain... since it's in the back.

[diesel_john]

i have two diesel rabbit bodies from arizona right now sitting with no serviceable cylinder heads. believe me that if i could find good cylinder heads at a reasonable price, i would have two diesel rabbits for sale tomorrow. the cylinder heads do eventually wear out. the valves wear right down into the seat until the valves cannot be adjusted any further. valve height is very important with 21 to 1 compression any slight liquid leakage into the cylinder and good bye cylinder head, the heads eventually break. as far as i can see there aren't any more good heads sitting in salage yards. the short blocks are bullet proof but those aluminum head after about 200k on average they give up. have put over 700k on 4 of them am still on my fourth one. so am looking at alternative engines or welding a cracked head and deactivating the piston in that hole and its opposite. and running a two cylinder 0.8L rabbit.

[michigandiesel]

Sorry for the long gap, I am the original poster of this thread about the Geo Metro with subframe damage. Indulge me as I tell the rest of the story. I spent most of the week between Christmas and New Years under that rusty ride. I did a lot of welding with my new flux core wire welder, I put a massive brace between the A-frames, patched a huge hole in the wheel well with steel plates, rivets and undercoating, replaced two struts cartridges and 4 wheels and tires. The final straw was putting decent tires on the front. With good traction, with each tire having it's own idea of which way to point, it was a death trap. As one tire would hit snow or ice, the one with traction would lurch to the right. The other side got some bite and pulled to the left. I got it up on a lift and saw that the A-Frames on the left was 2 " higher than the right one. It must have ben run up on a curb. I sold it for $400.00. A few weeks later it was back on sale. I called the seller and asked if he had had the bad frame repaired. He acted evasive, claimed that he had paid a welder $350 to fix it and that the engine had spun a bearing to boot since I sold it to him. The moral, be real careful, quit when you are behind and there is all ways some crook out there. I did try for a refund, but the seller had been deported. Thanks for letting me get this off my mind. Paul

[MetroMPG]

Paul: thanks for the update, even if it didn't have a happily-ever-after ending.

I wondered about your situation a couple of weekends back while I was showing another Metro owner exactly where he had to drill & oil spray inside the structures in the front of his car to prevent the dreaded control arm mount rust/failure.

[AXMonster]

Its no use to you now, but if anyone else is looking for a small diesel that will fit then a Daihatsu Charade 1 litre 3 pot IDI turbo diesel will be a good starting point. It comes with a 5 speed box and is front wheel drive.

It would actually pull the car along at a reasonable speed too (up to 80mph) and should easily get hypermiling Mpg.

I had one many years ago. It was fun

I guess you won't get one in the USA though.

[kane66]

Not that this is a metro. .. but it is putting a 1.6 vw engine in a car that was never intended to run it. Lots of good information
VWvortex Forums: 1985 vw diesel swap into honda crx
I'm actually planning a similar project with a 91 civic hatchback. Already have the cars just sorting out a injector pump problem and I'll be up and running. What I've discovered is that vw engine/transmission is rather long... like 40" or close. I'll actually have to notch out part of the civic body to fit the transmission. I don't know how the engine bay of the metro compares but If it's a close fit in a civic it might be extensive mods in a metro. Also when your deciding what engine to put in your car you have to forget some of the preconceptions developed from driving gas cars. First off is just because it has a smaller displacement doesn't mean it's more efficient. Take for instance the 1.6 TD compared to the 1.9 TDI. Even though the 1.6 is a smaller engine it's nearly 20% less efficient than the 1.9, all because of a better engine design. A really good comparison to make when choosing an engine is look for the g/kwh (grams of fuel / kilowatt hour of work) measurement. the lower the number the more efficient the engine. Anyways hope this information helps.

[MetroMPG]

Hey everyone: I've moved the posts relating to Kimer6's Kubota/Metro conversion into a new thread. Looks like he's doing great work that deserves the recognition of a dedicated thread:

Geo Metro convertible / Kubota diesel engine conversion (driving!)