Kubota diesel in a Fiero?
I know we typically talk about making our cars faster---that's why I have a 4.9---
but with the rising price of gasoline, I have been considering things from riding a bicycle to work to building an electric car. But I saw where there are plans to take a Triumph spitfire chasis-remove the body, replace the engine with a 3 cylinder Kubota diesel and build a foam/fiberglass body which they claim will get 85mpg at 55mph.
the website is:http://rqriley.com/plans.html

So, what would it take to get one of these fine reliable quiet diesels mated to our transaxle? And discuss what it would take to make it work.

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Proud Member of the North Florida Fiero club

4T60E Parks harness/ Rockcrawl chip-- more to come--

a diesel engine would be good for mpg and its even cheaper if you use a biodiesel fuel because even diesle prices have gone way up. i think you would need to redo the whole fuel system higher preasure reguierments. im sure the mounting points are all different. but if your going to put a diesel why not a 4 banger from VW or something out of the olds88 if a small block can be fitted im sure an old GM diesel could.

There is at least one person that is running a Diesel in a Fiero. Check out this link:

http://members.tripod.com/~A350Diesel/dieselfiero.html

He is on the forum and has a build thread on the car
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Archives/Archive-000001/HTML/20050119-2-034219-3.html

Some of the newer diesel engines are on par with the regular combustion engines on the noise level, and amount of combustion gasses they produce.

As good as Kubota is... not sure a tractor engine would do well in a car. Tractor engines are designed for the use and are usually significantly to much heavier than anything you'd want in a car.

The most current diesels perform better but they are pretty much all electonic and I would guess OBD2 compliant. That could make a swap pretty difficult.

VW has had a bunch of diesels over the years, many are transverse turbo units.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurasic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

A Kubota diesel from a tractor has an upper red line of maybe 3600 rpm. This would probably limit your top end and acceleration in each gear. Also a diesel, by it's nature, puts a lot more stress on the transmission. I deal with small diesels in sailboats.

Automotive diesels would be much more suitable, but you will still need to do something about the tranny.

I would rather run a VW TDI, it has way more torque and the same horsepower than the 2.5, gets over 50MPG which with the 11.8 gal tank of an '87-88 gives a cruising range over 500 miles.

JazzMan

Ok,
what does it take to do the tdi conversion.

Jeff

quote Originally posted by jeffndebrus: Ok, what does it take to do the tdi conversion. Jeff

Give it a try and let us know. I doubt it's been done in a Fiero, yet.

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Huh?

quote Originally posted by jeffndebrus: what does it take to do the tdi conversion.

I imagine you'd be facing the same fun as with any other non-GM FWD swap. At minimum you're looking at an adapter plate, custom engine mount(s), custom exhaust, and either a hacked VW ECM or an aftermarket unit.

Since the Fiero is pretty light in weight and the VW TDI engines have much torque it should be a fun project.
The sound would be an interesting thing because of the Fieros short exaust and the fact that it has only one muffler. Maybe it's possible to get rid of the TDI rattle.
I know a guy who swapped a diesel into a Miata because he could get a lot of free diesel at his work, that car was quite fast and pulled really hard in all gears.

Edit: spelling

[This message has been edited by Intel (edited 08-26-2005).]

I'd recommend using the entire TDI drivetrain, transmission and all. The gear ratios for a diesel need to be different from a gas application anyway.

What formula said.... It would probably be easier to adapt the shifter cable(s) to fit than make any Fiero trans fit the VW diesels. If the diesel is available with automatic then even better since you only have to make 1 cable work and don't have to sort out a clutch. (An auto would make you also work out the neutral safety switch, which may or may not be easy.)

Yeah I know... auto sucks... yada yada... blah blah... I'll take an auto in a Fiero any day over the chronic clutch problems nearly all manual trans Fiero owners run into sooner or later. Especially when you have heavy traffic to deal with like I do. Auto's don't get all that bad fuel economy either, which is mainly a holdover myth from the non locking TC days. With a locking TC and the right gears the auto's often can do as well or better than stick for MPG.

By using the VW trans with the VW diesel... (or similar) you do away with allot of problems... You have to make axles but there are already plenty of resources for that. I'm told places like CV unlimited will make about anything you want for fair prices but I haven't dealt with them myself. You'll have to make mounts but you'd have to do that for the engine anyway so a little more metal fab isn't that big a deal.

Mechanically transplanting a whole power train is the easiest way whenever possible. Look at several V6/V8 swaps that have also included the 4T__E transmission... You can just about always mix and match axle parts and fab mounts. The big pain in the ass is really the electricals and HID. (Human Interface Device... Shifter throttle etc.)

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 08-26-2005).]

Triumph Spitfires are tiny!

Yes, I agree with Ogre
If you are going to use a vw tdi--then it would easier and better to use the vw transaxle as well. I chose to use the 4t60e on our 4.9 car.-and am very happy with the results.
you would have to work out the obd2 issues---which may not be easy. However, a tdi in a new beetle gets better than 45mpg on the highway so it would probably do very well in a Fiero. Also, diesels have a reputation for lasting a very long time if properly maintained.
Measurements would have to be made to see if the unit would fit on the cradle and into the Fiero bay.