Seeing how bad the damage is to the diesel zuk, new power plant?

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:28]Okay, sit still everybody. Everybody, don't go away.

[00:00:31]>> What is going on, YouTube? It's been a hot minute since our last video. We had just got back from our trip out west. I hadn't started tearing into the my samurai to see what had happened to the diesel, how bad the damage was.

[00:00:46]Uh, and I've just been unmotivated.

[00:00:48]Like, I I couldn't get enthused about tearing into it again. I've I've been in this motor too much. But finally getting getting motivated. Um, I've got today I pulled the front clip off of it.

[00:01:04]Um, for two reasons.

[00:01:08]I'm going to make the engine easier to pull out cuz one, you know, my building's not super tall. So, I was worried I wouldn't be able to lift it high enough as tall as this thing is.

[00:01:17]So, this way I definitely got room to get out and I'm wanting to clean up all my wiring while I've got the engine out.

[00:01:23]So, we definitely do that cuz we can see is a very messy, nasty, crapastical section of wiring. So, we're going to get all that cleaned up, see how bad the engine is. Hopefully get this thing back on the road bigger and better. Um, in other news, part of why we haven't had video in a while, I've been cleaning around here, although it really still doesn't look like it yet, but I have. Um, I got another shelf, been organizing some parts. I still got my diesel for my the four-door project over here, but I took the wall down from my bar top u turn this back into a carport. And we've got the four-door in here. Of course, I got the front clip from my diesel sitting on the back of it, but we're going to be able to get back to work on the four-door. That's that's the goal. We're we're trying to get to where I have a project in the shop that I'm working on and then have the four-door out here. So, while I'm waiting on parts for whatever I'm working for in there, I can jump over here and get stuff done and bounce back and forth. So, you you'll see this more frequently. I know it's it's been a little while since I posted on it and I apologize, but we got that tore down.

[00:02:44]I've been hauling off a bunch of trash.

[00:02:46]I still had all the construction debris from putting up this building. And I'm not done yet. I've got uh you know, still a mess going on here.

[00:02:58]But I'm going to cut this bank out a little bit more, move the that stuff.

[00:03:02]I'll have parking on this side. And then we're going to do a little bit of a fire pit around back or something like that.

[00:03:08]Uh couple new updates around here.

[00:03:13]Let me I'll just show you. Oh, stand by.

[00:03:17]It's the one we just took to Utah.

[00:03:20]And I just picked this one up last weekend.

[00:03:24]It's for Nothing's going to be done with it right now for down the road. I got to get mine back on the road first. But, you know, this one's pretty well built already. It's going to need some changes made to it, but should be a good little rig. It's a runner. Um, but you know, I haven't really even drove it yet. Just went and picked it up, brought it home. The main reason though, uh, I'm fostering that one. It's going to live somewhere else. But the main reason I went and got that is I'll show you. Stand by. It's sitting up here in Dan's property. Be back in a second. So, this was the other thing I picked up.

[00:04:02]while I was down there. Another tin top body. This one is very rusted out from in the lower half.

[00:04:12]Floors are pretty well gone, but the upper part, other than the lower part of the windshield frame's a little roached, but I can manage with that. But that's going to be the donor body for me to cut up and widen the four-door project.

[00:04:29]I want to widen it four to five inches.

[00:04:31]If I'm going to drive it all over the creation, I want a little elbow room.

[00:04:35]So, I've been searching searching for one for, you know, that was pretty beat up cuz I didn't want to cut up another good body. Uh, so this one fits the bill and I got it for 50 bucks. So, perfect for that what we want to do. So, excited to say we will be getting back to work on the four-door project.

[00:05:00]Deep down deep down deep.

[00:05:29]What is going on everybody? Um, been a few days since I was out here working and recording. So, I don't remember where I left off. I was having fun with kidney stones and all that. So, what I remember, we had pulled the engine out.

[00:05:42]Um, and that's about where I left you.

[00:05:45]Um, I did get the oil drain out of it and I pulled the timing cover, you know. So, I took the alternator off and pulled the timing cover. Um, that's all I've done. I wanted to bring you all back in, show you what I found, and we'll we'll tear apart a little bit more, but it's not looking good. Um, so first thing I noticed when I pulled the engine out, spin this around here, is this clutch disc.

[00:06:11]I don't know if the camera will pick it up, but those splines are almost gone on that. They are They are super thin. So, we're going to have to get a new clutch disc and figure out why that's whether it was just a poor quality clutch disc or what I've had lots of issues since we did this swap. Um, went through several clutch discs. They were about every 800 miles or so. It was the kind with the the dampening springs in the clutch disc.

[00:06:45]um they would I don't know if it was the vibration of that diesel engine or what, but it kept breaking those dampening springs and then they'd get lodged in there.

[00:06:56]So, I switched to solid disc and it's been running good for a couple thousand miles, but it was about to give out. You can tell there the splines were almost gone.

[00:07:05]So, I don't know if something wasn't quite lining up. Like maybe my flywheel because on these diesel engines, you got to take the end of the crankshaft and shave it down a little bit. Maybe I didn't get it perfectly straight and things were kind of wonky. So, we're going to have to look at that real close. We'll definitely have to get another clutch disc. But the other thing, spin you around here again.

[00:07:30]Pulled the timing cover off. you wasn't worried about timing belt because I finally invested in a timing cover, but belts fairly loose and it is chewed completely up. And my first reaction was, "Oh no, that's been uh rubbing on something." I don't think that's the case at all. Uh, I'll have to pull the the valve cover and head just to be sure, but my theory is my cam shaft got started for oil. Cam shaft locked up. Crankshaft kept turning causing the belt to jump around, skip a few teeth, which means, you know, more bent valves, possibly bent rods, damaged pistons, could be damaged head, all that. If that's the case, we're not fooling with this engine anymore. So, we'll set y'all up on tripod and we'll start pulling this valve cover off. See what we can find.

[00:09:06]a deep down.

[00:09:11]Deep down.

[00:09:20]All right. So, I got the head pulled off this engine, as you can see.

[00:09:28]And surprisingly enough, it seems it seems really good. Turns free.

[00:09:34]Doesn't look like anything's bad. All the valves open and close. So, nothing catastrophic there.

[00:09:43]Honestly, all the pistons look good. The main thing I have found spin you around is Well, I just pushed it back to where I Yeah, there it is.

[00:10:03]We've got debris in our pickup.

[00:10:07]That is part of a rod bearing.

[00:10:13]So, could I possibly get by with just slapping rod bearings in this? Maybe have to get the cam re or the crank regground.

[00:10:22]Probably.

[00:10:24]Am I 100% sick of fooling with this engine? Cuz it feels like it's cursed.

[00:10:31]Definitely.

[00:10:32]So, that leaves me with what am I going to do? I might have found something.

[00:10:37]Maybe we got something.

[00:10:40]Uh, everybody, some other people were like, "Well, just put your ALH in there." One lot more work to put the ALH in different block style so my adapter won't work. Plus, I've got some birds I got to let hatch and and grow up. So, yeah, we got to leave that be for a while. That's earmarked for our four-door, which you can see.

[00:11:08]We're going to get back to work on that.

[00:11:09]That's the goal is this is mine that I'm going to work on.

[00:11:14]You know, I'll have one in there, one out here. While I'm waiting on parts on one, I'll work on the other. That kind of thing so we can keep stuff rolling.

[00:11:21]Anyway, enough yammering about that.

[00:11:25]Show you the plan.

[00:11:28]Meet our new power plant for the Samurai, a 1996 VW Pat TDI.

[00:11:38]It's a be clogging the be >> rust hole in the door.

[00:11:44]You know, a little bit of rust popping out here and there. It's been sitting for a few years and it was sitting with windows cracked and you know, it's it's rather potent inside, but overall it's intact.

[00:11:59]But it's got the Let me see if I can get this hood open.

[00:12:08]Pardon me. One-handed here.

[00:12:11]All right, we've got the the timing cover was off of it, but that's no big deal. The 1.9 TDI. This is the I believe the engine codes 1Z, which is the predecessor to the AHU.

[00:12:34]And actually the main differences in this are, you know, the AHU had forge pistons, this one has aluminum, had bigger injectors, you know, a little more tunable, just a few upgrades that if I need to rebuild this motor, I can essentially turn it into an AHU. So that's cool. So I'll have a little more power. Stepping up to 1.9, you gain about 30 horsepower right off the bat. A little more tunable.

[00:13:00]Should be more reliable.

[00:13:04]uh you know just overall better and it's the same block style so I can use the same adapter plate I've got you know it'll be the least pain in the ass method of fixing my issue so this hasn't ran in a couple years here in a little bit I'm going to drop a battery in that we'll see what it'll do and if we can get it running then we'll push my Samurai out of the pull it up in there. Get that engine unhooked and pulled out and and see if we can't get some life out of this thing now.

[00:13:44]I need to go this way.

[00:13:47]Hopefully, this will reach Oh, we got something drawing on it a little bit. We got had some sparkle lighting.

[00:14:20]All right, that's on there. Nothing's tight. I'm just going to get in, turn the key, see if I get any lights or anything. If we get dash lights and stuff.

[00:14:32]Oil pressure light came on. Battery light.

[00:14:36]Temperature light. That's guess we'll see.

[00:14:53]Oh, it's turning over.

[00:14:57]but didn't necessarily sound very even.

[00:15:10]I don't even know if it's got fuel in it, but spray just a little carb cleaner in here.

[00:15:25]See what happens.

[00:15:52]One more squirt of this just to see what happens. Come on.

[00:16:20]Come on.

[00:16:26]Well, she kind of ran.

[00:16:31]It's showing no fuel or the the fuel gauge is showing empty. I don't know if there's actually any in the tank, but that's a reassuring sign.

[00:16:44]I think we'll we'll get some diesel poured in there, you know, just a couple gallons or something or maybe even just hook up some.

[00:16:52]But yeah, I think she going to work.

[00:17:17]All right. So, you can see she's sitting there running. Uh, I didn't realize the headlight switch had been on, so my battery was dead. Got it hooked up, the charger hooked up, poured a little diesel fuel in the tank, and she she fired up and ran for a second. And I think it just was emptying out the fuel that was in the injection pump.

[00:17:50]Sprayed a little carbon cleaner in the intake. Fired her back up. She's purring along now. So, we might Dad might try and take it down the road if we we'll get it let it run for a few minutes.

[00:18:03]I'll let you know if we do. Dad's going to see what it'll do going down the road.

[00:18:20]See if it'll go forward a little bit at all.

[00:18:39]She moving.

[00:18:46]Get this block out from under it.

[00:18:50]All right.

[00:20:22]about got the engine transmission ready to pull out of our donor car here. Um, I'm going to go down and get dad just cuz I always like to have an extra set of eyes as I'm lifting stuff up.

[00:20:35]And we'll see if we can't get this yanked out of here. And I still got to pull the harness and everything out of this car. But that'll be the majority of the work on this done. So hopefully I can have this car out of here late today or tomorrow.

[00:20:53]All right, as you can see, we got the engine transmission out. Still got to pull the wiring harness out of that. Few other things. Intercooler.

[00:21:16]I'm not sure I'm going to use that intercooler, but we're going to take it out and look at it. uh try and get the rest of the stuff we need out of that car so we can send it down the road, get it out of our way, start cleaning up this engine, and then redo a bunch of wiring on that Samurai before we set this one in. So, that's going to do it for this video.

[00:21:37]Um, boy, I got crap all over my forehead. Um, that's going to do it for this video. Next video on this one, we'll work on getting this engine cleaned up and get our adapters on and our our new motor mounts and stuff so we can get it set in, get the wiring cleaned up, ready to go in there. Um, maybe a different video in between. I don't know. I'm kind of in limbo. It's been a mess around here lately, but we're working on it.

[00:22:07]We're trying to get back on track. I appreciate y'all watching. Uh, if you're not subscribed, think about doing it.

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