Anyone ever seen a vw diesel in an S10

[Slave2School]

Any good machinist's shop can make an adapter plate; you don't have to buy them from a company pre-made.

I believe there's a member of the forums who had a special plate made up to put a 1.9TD in an old Land Rover, which I doubt is a readily available plate.

I designed it and had someone make it. Not very readily available as I have the only one as far as I know.

Sounds like a business oportunity  I envy you guys with skills, garages and the guts to do these conversions.

[jimfoo]

Might be except 2.5" thick 18"x18" aluminum is pretty f-ing expensive. Luckily mine was almost free.

[Patrick]

I vaguely remember (a LOT of years ago, maybe mid to late 70's??) an article in "hot rod" magazine that talked about a kit that was available at the time to put a volks engine in a Vega. The early engine was a real problem in these cars, they were pushing the volks engine as a solution.  REALLY wish I still had the mag..........

The kit would look after hooking the volks engine to a GM driveline. All but the earliest Vega/Astres had the standard GM trans mount, usually a saginaw 4 speed, occasionally the aluminum 5 speed. Had one I put a 3.8 Buick in a lot of years ago............ had the bad engine, only the last ones came with the "iron duke" 2.5l engine.
love to hook a 1.9 or mtdi to a GM rwd trans, think small blazer, S10, maybe the 82 firebird I've got sitting in the back yard. Currently has a 400 smallblock with the same saginaw trans that came in the vega.......

[fastvicar]

Too much work. Just pick up an Isuzu 2.2. The mounts are available from GM. Matter of fact, all the incidentals are available from GM as the s10 came with the diesel as an option to 1987.

Yes, the 2.2 Isuzu was available for a couple of years in the S10.  We had one (an '84).  I've only ever seen one other one since then.  It really was a fantastic little truck.  Dead slow, but the economy was always in the mid 30s-- loaded or highway, it didn't seem to matter.  The Isuzu was a good little engine, but the parts prices got steep.

If you can, I'd go for the 2.2TD out of a Trooper or P'up.  It should be a much easier conversion, since the factory already did it.