engine swap, vitara gearbox?

[sj j]

Got a 1600 vit engine to replace 1ltr sj, will it take my gearbox or do i need to change this as well?

[Henry]

You need the sj413/sammy gear box.


Have you thought about using the vit box? Would save on conversion plate, clutch and flywheel swap and starter ect.


Henry

[ScottieJ]

here's roughly how to use a vit gearbox in an sj with the sj tcase! shamelessly stolen from another forum (hope you dont mind baloo) It looks like quite a lot of work to make it all fit and work though I'm not even sure if baloo ever got it finished????


remove vit transfer case from gearbox


remove all the black bolts from the tcase to take of the front section


pull this bearing and shaft out and replace with a bearing of the same outer diameter (72mm) but with a smaller internal diameter (32mm I think)


you also need to swap the oil seal for one that fits the sj to transfer box prop.




make a blanking plate out of 4mm steel/ally



You'll need to shorten the intermediate prop as well as modify the gearbox crossmember to sit the gearbox lower.



Or you could go the traditional route :
*413 gearbox, flywheel & clutch
*adapter plate (from muddyzook)
*skinny starter (or grind the block/starter)
*modified engine mounts
*possibly the 413 sump and oil pick up modded to fit (I didn't need this when i did mine though??)

I think thats everything???

[sj j]

Cheers for the advice fellas,my head is hurting a little trying to work it out, but with the pics in front of me i'm sure i can work it out.

[ScottieJ]

It's deffo easier to go down the 413 gearbox route but if you can fabricate stuff the vit gearbox route might be cheaper!

[spanish sammy]

This was an interesting article thanks for the link scottie but is anyone or has anyone you know of used the vit engine and manual box in a similar way to this? Will i need to cut the body to take the gearboxas surely they are not much bigger if the basic motor is the same on 1.3 / 1.6

[ScottieJ]

It should be pretty much the same to do this with the manual gearbox, also I think you might just about be able to squeeze the vit gearbox into the transmission tunnel without widening it, but it is very tight, you could probably open it up enough with a jack? you will have to move the gear lever hole though, I run a vitara gearbox with dual transfer boxes, here is a pic showing where it sits.

[spanish sammy]

one more stupid question?? does the bell housing detatch from the gear box on the vitara?

[ScottieJ]

one more stupid question?? does the bell housing detatch from the gear box on the vitara?

Yes i think it does.

[spanish sammy]

sorry im going to drive you all mad but im thinking..option 1: use the vitara bellhousing flywheel clutch etc etc on the sammy gearbox ...option 2 vitara rear axle vitara engine box complete.. are either possible ? with option 2 i cut and weld the axle to fit leaf springs and everything should be inline no??