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Late 80s B2000 Advice

Josh P said:
The Isuzu PUP and Chevy LUV had a Isuzu C223 engine which is pretty close. 58 hp and 93 lb/ft of torque. Those trucks are similar weight as the Mazda.
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Thought about the LUV, hadn't researched it yet, but fair
 



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DemonMudder said:
Costs so much..what am I getting myself into lmao
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If you've got fabrication skills, there's how to videos on YouTube for making them yourself.
 






Josh P said:
If you've got fabrication skills, there's how to videos on YouTube for making them yourself.
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I've got basic DIY fab skills, like I'll make custom brackets, but I've still not welded anything yet. I'm sure I could figure it out and get it done though
 






DemonMudder said:
I've got basic DIY fab skills, like I'll make custom brackets, but I've still not welded anything yet. I'm sure I could figure it out and get it done though
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no welding required, just drilling holes in some plate steel. Precision work.
 






Josh P said:
no welding required, just drilling holes in some plate steel. Precision work.
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Still no guarantee there but I'm sure I could make it work
 






DemonMudder said:
Still no guarantee there but I'm sure I could make it work
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The V2203 has a sae #4 flywheel housing, it's possible to get an adapter from Phoenix casting for an automotive transmission or get a step adapter to sae 3 to get a bellhousing.
 












timtimtimajim said:
Have you looked into a VW TDI swap? I’ve been very happy with mine.
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Is there anything you'd do differently, if you were given a chance to do the build over again?
 












DemonMudder said:
Haven't but I'm curious to hear more about it
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The engines are great, only reason I don't have one is the timing belt. My Jeep Liberty CRD had a diesel with a timing belt which let go 155 miles into ownership. So for me, it must have chains or gears for the timing. The newer VW diesels have chains. The 3.0 can be swapped now but you're looking at $10k by the time you get all the items needed.
 






Josh P said:
The engines are great, only reason I don't have one is the timing belt. My Jeep Liberty CRD had a diesel with a timing belt which let go 155 miles into ownership. So for me, it must have chains or gears for the timing. The newer VW diesels have chains. The 3.0 can be swapped now but you're looking at $10k by the time you get all the items needed.
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Damn...alrighty then..
 












Josh P said:
Is there anything you'd do differently, if you were given a chance to do the build over again?
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Only two things come to mind:
1) For a bit less vibration and noise I would go for stock VW hydraulic motor mounts. I didn’t do this because the engine crossmember is in the way. It would be a rabbit hole of cutting out the engine crossmember and fabricating a new one. But for a more comfort oriented build it would be the route to go
2) Different transmission gearing or transmission all together. The first gear in the M5OD isn’t the best off the line in general but it’s even worse with the diesel because of less rotating mass. Better axle gearing would fix this too though.

DemonMudder said:
Haven't but I'm curious to hear more about it
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The swap uses either a 1.9 or 2.0 TDI out of Jettas, Golfs, Passats from around 1996 all the way to about 2014. There’s a bunch of different versions of the TDI over these years. They all have almost the same engine block though. Heads and injection methods are the biggest differences. There’s several companies out there that make adapter kits to adapt the TDI to almost any transmission you can dream up. The TDIs are very reliable as long they’re maintained, very tunable, and give you great gas mileage too.
 






timtimtimajim said:
2) Different transmission gearing or transmission all together. The first gear in the M5OD isn’t the best off the line in general but it’s even worse with the diesel because of less rotating mass. Better axle gearing would fix this too though.
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I'm curious, with your setup what would ideal gearing be? Eithwe trans ratios, axle ratio or both? With my VT275 I'm going to leave the 3.73 axle ratio alone and get a 6 speed manual with a tall overdrive for the highway.
 






Josh P said:
I'm curious, with your setup what would ideal gearing be? Eithwe trans ratios, axle ratio or both? With my VT275 I'm going to leave the 3.73 axle ratio alone and get a 6 speed manual with a tall overdrive for the highway.
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I ran some calculations and figured out that if I stick with the same transmission ratios, a 4.56 axle ratio is perfect. The other thing I could do would be to swap in the gearset from the 2.3 M5OD. It has lower ratios across the first three gears. Doing that I could get away with running 4.10s.
 






timtimtimajim said:
I ran some calculations and figured out that if I stick with the same transmission ratios, a 4.56 axle ratio is perfect. The other thing I could do would be to swap in the gearset from the 2.3 M5OD. It has lower ratios across the first three gears. Doing that I could get away with running 4.10s.
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One final question, what diameter tire you running? The torque of a diesel is addictive.
 









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Alright, yalls best guess now, had my girlfriend tag along today, we strapped it to the rado and dragged it around, keep in mind, clutch pedal still does jack squat till I decide to buy and replace the slave and master cylinder. So apparently in first gear, or any gear for that matter, the rear end locks up, literally had it in first and was DRAGGING it out of the unit. Neutral is the only way it moves without locking up, and while it's in neutral being dragged, I can't switch to any gear at all, only into reverse, which I'd did do a couple times since it would still help jolt everything, not happily. But did that a good few times, drug around for a good lil' bit, and nada. Engine still won't even get more than a THUNK from the starter. Guess it's oil pan time, cause I got literally nothing else in mind, and rather not drag it around again with barely any brakes lol
 






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