I've had this minor problem with the engine ever since I put it in 7 months ago, and that is that I couldn't set the idle down to where I wanted it. Seems someone fooled around with the pump settings on the back (surprise! Ya, right). Since I advanced the fuel timing a bit a few weeks ago, it was idling up near 1000rpm, and with the idle screw all the way out, the idle wouldn't go down any more. So I had to turn the screw on the back some, as obviously it was in too much. I turned it a bit much perhaps, as it doesn't smoke like a train anymore when my foot is in it, but the power loss is quite minimal. Fuel mileage is up a bit, too, so I'm going to leave it like this for now. Last mpg check was 43, on winter fuel now. I'll get a better feel for it next time I tow the Kubota around, as that takes all I've got for power.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> for now.

Zak,
I'm new here and have taken the hour or so to read all through this thread and I love every bit of it! I've been wanting to do a diesel conversion in a small truck for a while now (actually I just want a small diesel truck, but the ones that came from the factory that way are impossible to find).

I was considering putting a Nissan SD22 in a Ford Ranger, but after reading all this about the C223 I think this sounds like it could be the easiest diesel swap on the planet. One would just have to find an old S10 or Sonoma with a 4 cylinder-5 speed combo, remove the gas engine, replace the bellhousing with one off a diesel S10 and drop the C223 in!

So far the only snag is finding one of those darned diesel S10 bellhousings. I'd like to find an entire diesel S10 so I could just use the motor and tranny out of it, but good luck finding anything like that around here. I do remember seeing one for sale in the local paper years ago, but that's the last time I saw anything like that.

By using the original T5 that's in the truck, I could save myself the hassle of speedo conversion that you had, and since the truck would have a manual tranny to start with, no changing pedal clusters either. Only thing I'd have to find would be some diesel S10 motor mounts (unless the're the same as the 2.5L gas motor mounts?).

I like this idea alot... soon as I get some play money saved back up I may go looking for a blown 4cyl S10 for cheap <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Anyone know a good source for used Isuzu C223 engines? or diesel S10 bellhousings, for that matter? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm not even sure the S10 diesel was ever imported into the US. I believe it was, but of all the forums I frequent, there is next to NO mention of them.
My best advice is to advertise a lot. Put an add in everything free, up at the mall(s), etc. And be patient, and persistant.
The bottom half of the motor mount, the part on the frame, looks to be the same for gas or diesel. I can't confirm this with part #s, but that's the way it looked. The only other thing I'm not too sure about is if the 4 cylinder gas has different front springs than the 6 cyl gas. The diesel weighs about the same as a 4.3L gas engine...yep, it's heavy enough.
If there is ANY way I can help with your project, please feel free to contact me any time.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Yeah, they were brought here, but I think the GM 350 diesels already had people terrified of the word "diesel" by that time, so not many of them got bought. It's so hard to find little diesel vehicles of this era, and it's mostly GM's fault. They used the public as guinea pigs for their diesel, which turned out to be one of the biggest disasters in automotive history. So after that, people assumed all diesels were crap, and didn't buy any.

I was really hoping I could find a Ford Ranger with the 2.2L Mazda diesel in it, since in my opinion the Rangers were built a little better than the S10's of that era. But who am I to be picky? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shame.gif" alt="" />

It's my understanding that the non-turbo Rangers used Perkins diesels, and the turbo ones were Mitsubishi.
I can't confirm this, but I CAN tell you is that the n/a Ranger diesel I seen had a different motor than the engine I seen in a Mazda diesel. The Mazda was in 1984 I believe, and the Ranger was also an '84. Why they would be different I don't know. I've looked for more info on these but it seems to be very limited.
My problem is, if I had the $$$ and a willing wife, I'd have dozens of small diesels in the back yard. No, they're not that popular, but I'd buy all I could find!



Sad, bad diesel disease! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Anything domestic with a 4cyl diesel has very limited info, but ive done allot of re-search into all of these deciding which one i should start as a project, what it boild down to was that the c223 was the only motor have ever found... except for a prestine ranger with a MITSUBISHI 2.3L turbo diesel. not sure what the 2.2 ranger had. but this is what i can tell you,
My friends dad has a 2.3L ranger 4x4 he dose nothing with except say "i got plans" and wont let me buy it <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. Stock they put out about 90hp although i have seen one other one like it years ago.... that was tuned up( was lady driven and restored but her boyfriend who's a diesel tech turned it up to what he fiqured was 150hp) and she was grabing rubber with it. So yeah the ranger 2.3L used a mitisubshi engine, Also dodge used a mitisubshi engine in the old Ram50's but those are rare as is, let alone a diesel.

for the sake of finding a c223 or any small diesel engine,
the i think the simplest one to find would be a VW! but most people wouldent wana go that rute, other then that there arent many options unless you want to be real creative lining up a tranny with a industeral engine, has anyone done this????

dont be shy to ask around either or stop at places that have cars in the yard that aint mobile, but there home is... i found my c223 by chance at a garage sale guy said it had a "knock" but had everything except the tranny, but had the bellhousing <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />bought it for $100... so keep your eyes open! and good luck!

I heard of a guy who put an older VW turbo diesel (A2) 1.6L into a Suzuki 4X4...he used a Volvo diesel tranny, that bolted right up to the VW, because the Volvo diesel was a 6 cylinder version of the 4. The 6 was a failure, as I have read.
Anyway, I never did see this, but I think it would be a neat conversion. The truck would be too choppy-riding for my likes, but a cool truck all the same. I figure a TDI would work decent in a S10/Ranger/whatever also. Other than the cost of getting the engine and making it all work. If it was done to save money, you'd likely have to drive 100,000 miles a year to save enough on fuel to pay for what it would cost to make the unit to save money in the first place. Did that make ANY sense?! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/drunk.gif" alt="" />

There is a guy just a few kms from me who has a couple of td Rangers, one he drives and one he doesn't. Seems to me he said the parts one had something like 125000kms on it. Just sitting there. I'm going to bug him some day for it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I don't know if it is the same swap, but IIRC, Glen Wakefiled at Rocky Road Outfitters sells a kit to drop some VW diesel into a Suzuki Samurai...

I found it:
http://www.rocky-road.com/diesel.html
... looks like it is a kit engineered by Axis Power, and there is a note that this Volvo used VW diesels in some models.

Randii

Hello all, I found this thread with a google search and spent an hour reading the whole thing. Some pretty awesome info/stories in here. I see that the the thread has been "hijacked" a couple of times, so I don't feel too out of line by posting my story--this seems like the place to do it. Before starting, let me just say I wish I had found this forum about 3 months ago....

The story:

I have a 1979 AMG DJ-5G postal jeep. It came with an Audi 4-cyl gas engine in it (they only used that engine for one year--what does that tell you?). I knew when I bought it that I wanted to swap in a diesel, and a few months ago, I found an '81 isuzu pup in the local wrecking yard. It even started! I ran it for a little bit, enough to notice anti-freeze pooring down over the tranny. Turns out the heater core had been scavanged and somebody just left the hoses hanging by the firewall. Anyways, I knew the isuzu's were good diesels, and I got a good deal on "whatever I needed" from the truck (i.e. I get to take what I want, but I don't have to have the hulk sitting in my yard <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Anyways, I have since yanked the audi engine out, and have fabricated some motor mounts and a tranny mount to make it fit into the jeep frame. Just to keep things interesting, the jeep had an auto, and the isuzu is a manual, so I'm going to have to rig up a 3rd pedal. That's going to be kind of interesting since the jeep is right hand drive (old postal jeep, baby!) To top it off, the P'up was a 4 wheel drive, and the transfer case is non-separable from the tranny, so I figured as long as it was gonna be down there, I might as well turn my jeep into 4x4 (postal jeeps are all 2wd). Had to hack out the old frame crossmember to make room for the front diff and driveline, but what the heck, right? I'm going to need to have some new drivelines fabricated, but other than that, I think I have everything I need to finish the job. Melding the two wiring harnesses is the most daunting task I have left, I think.

I have a couple of questions that any advice would be appreciated on:

The 4x4 P'ups came with a 4 speed tranny. The axles on the jeep are going to be 3.73's. From the previous posts I've been reading, this seems like it will be an ok combination. Any idea of the top speed I'll be able to get out of this?

I'd really like to hook up mechanical oil and temperature gauges. Is there a good spot for this on these engines?

Which leads to my next question--I believe it's a c223 engine, correct? Does anybody know the model number for the tranny? This is the first isuzu engine I've actually owned, so I'm still coming up to speed on it.

Also, as I mentioned, the heater core was missing. For now, I have just fed the output line that went to the heater core to the return line that came from the heater core. Does anybody see this as a problem?

As I get further along and actually get the engine running, I'm sure I'll have a ton more questions. I'm very happy to have found this forum though--always encouraging to see other people who have done crazier things <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

TAKE YOUR TIME AND YOU CA HAVE A VERY NICE RUNNING LITTLE TRUCK,, AND THE 3.73 GEARS WILL WORK JUST FINE ,, EVENTHOUGH THE PICKUPS CAME WITH 4.11 , HOWEVER THE 2WD 5 SPD TRUCKS CAME WITH 3.73 ALSO, IF YOU JUST WANT TO SAVE YOURSELF A LOT OF WORK JUST SWAP IN THE ENG AND TRANNY AND USE IT AS A 4SPD ( IT IS CALLED AND MSG-4T ) AND THEN WHEN YOU NEED TO TOW SOMETHING BIG AND HEAVY SHIFT IT DOWN INTO 4 LOW AND GO, THAT TRANS IS PROBABLY THE STRONGEST TRANS ISUZU EVERY USED ALLMOST BULLET PROOF, FOR A SMALL ENG,,AND EXPECT ABOT 70 MPH TOP SPEED WITH THE 3.73, AND THE BRICK DESIGN OF THE POSTAL TRUCK, I BUILT UP A TURBO ENG MANY YEARS AGO FOR A FRIEND OF MINE AND USED AN AUTOMATIC 3PSD IN ONE OF THOSE TRUCKS FOR HIS WIFE TO DELIVER MAIL AND NEWSPAPERS IN AN SHE LOVED IT , DROVE IT FOR A NO OF YEARS AND SOME ONE STOLE THE DANG THING WAS NEVER SEEN AGAIN BUT IT WOULD ACCERATE LIKE CRAZY WHEN THE TURBO CAME ON BOOST UP TO ABOUT 50MPH ..STEERING WAS SO LOOSE IT WOULD ACCEL FASTER THAN YOU COULD CORRECT FOR THE LOOSE STEERING , GOOD LUCK JERRY