as I sit here at work with a raging caffiene buzz, I was thinking about diesel conversions for my beloved(yet trouble plauged) 'zuk. 

since the samurai has a divorced T-case, why couldnt I just swap the whole engine/tranny combo from a north-south rear wheel drive VW into my samurai after welding up some custom engine mounts, modified tranny crossmember, and getting the tranny to T-case driveshaft modified to fit?  is the VW tranny too long?  or are there other problems beyond having to plumb a hydraulic clutch system?

Call acmeadapters or get on the samurai diesel  yahoo group.

Looks like the way to go if you can afford it , It may pay out , what with the price of gas .
The main problem I can see in your idea is that I don't belive VW ever used a north/south transmission.
The Rabbit / Jetta / Golf / Passat are all transverse FWD
The Vanagon / Bugs / Beetles are all rear engine transaxle
The Fox has an inline engine but is FWD with a transaxle .
The only option I can see is to buck up for the kit .
If you find a better / cheaper solution I would love to know . 

excellent point, I didnt think that those crazy germans would use a front transaxle, it seems they did.  I assumed a n/s engine orientation meant rear wheel drive.  loooks like I'm going to cough up for a kit any way I look at it.

Call acmeadapters or get on the samurai diesel  yahoo group.

good info on that board but the Yahoo format SUCKS. Zuwharrie has a diesel board and its easy to navigate

Just make a custom bell housing for the Sammy Tranny and the VW engine and mount it north/south.

-Steve

I have a VW diesel in my Kick and it is sweet...

Here is the link to a thread about it....We just bought an intercooler for it and gonna put it in here soon.

http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=8322.msg83540#msg83540

Ok so the Kit is 700.00 bucks, and if you went to WVO to save on fuel cost the conversion is gona coast anouther 600.00 the motor is going to cost close to 1k, but the swap should be pretty straight forward. you get more HP more Torque, more fuel milage, the power is nice and low in the RPM were you want it.  you can run 33in tires with stock gears and get good speed - power - milage      tis the way I plan to go