Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 22:08:37 +1300
Reply-To: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject: New member from New Zealand
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I loved VWs when I was a kid in Victoria, BC, Canada. After coming
to New Zealand my first 4-wheeled vehicle was a 1957 36hp VW panel van, and
I was hooked; as soon as I could afford to I fitted a single-port 1600.
This was followed by a 1600-equipped 1966, then a Koni-fitted 1975 1800
(with 1916 kit), and when a piston failed, had an aluminum pushrod hemi
3.6liter Toyota V8 fitted; the work was botched totally and the vehicle is
now derelict. I also have a 1969 with Corvair and Powerglide 2-speed (slow
or what?).
In October 1998 I bought a tidy exAustralian 1984 Caravelle GL,
equivalent to the Vanagon GL. It was fitted with a 175hp 1990 Holden VN
Commodore (an enlarged and widened Australian development of the largest
Opel) 3.8 V6. It went very well, easily reaching 180kmh (112mph) and still
accelerating. It was smooth and quiet, though the heavy iron engine caused
excessive understeer on twisty roads (I like to drive hard, and really
enjoy bendswinging). I had hopesc that the 094 5-speed, fitted with NZ-made
taller 4th & 5th gears, would last long enough for me to find and fit a
Porsche 915 transmission.
It was not to be. Only about 3 months later, as I reached
Christchurch, 365km (228mi) north of my hometown Dunedin (on the SE coast
of the South Island), the trans began to hum. A teardown showed that
hardening was coming off the 2 top gears, and a mainshaft bearing, the
bugbear of rear-engined transmissions, had collapsed. It was not economic
to fix and the beefed 091 from the V8 van proved (the hard way) not to have
any interchangable parts.
So the bus has been sitting in Chch ever since, gathering dust,
while I tried to find a 915 trans. Finally I brought one in from the
States. Now I had another problem: nobody makes adaptor kits to fit the V6
to either VW or Porsche trans (both trans fit the same adaptor plate). No,
the Holden is different to any other GM V6, so no option there. I didn't
wish to pay someone to make mistakes, so decided to ditch the V6. What
other option? Toyota 3C-T 2.2 turbodiesel from an Estima or Masterace bus?
Fast but too expensive. Porsche 3.0? Too expensive, horrifically so to fix,
and aircooled (I had had enough of road dust blown in through the vents and
lack of heat). thatr left Subaru.
Now, in NZ more secondhand-import-from-Japan cars are sold than
new, and many of these are unique-to-Japan tasty versions. for instance,
almost everything sold in Japan is available with diesel and
four-wheel-drive, except that Honda & Subaru don't make diesels and coupes
are never diesel...yet. Coronas, Corollas, Estimas (narrow-bodied Previa),
vans etc, all 4WD & diesel. Lots of engines are also brought in from wrecks
in Japan. I tried to locate a 250hp 3.3 flat-six Subaru EG33 from an SVX in
Japan, but a year of trying didn't turn one up. I was offered a 290hp EJ20
2.0 turbo, with 5-speed trans and all electrics, from an Impreza WRX Type
RA with 55000km (34000mi) for 165000 yen or at the time $1500US (if anyone
is interested, it may still be available from Takeji Uchiyama
<tu3979@st.rim.or.jp>; tell Takeji-san I sent you). But finally I
rediscovered an EG33 I had thought was sold long before and bought it for
$1250US.
So now I need to find out what tricks are needed to fit a Porsche
915 trans, from a 1982-or-so 911. Can anyone help? Tony Newman of
Transporter Spares in England knows folks there and in Germany who have
done the swap, but though he keeps saying by phone that he'll e-mail me
their addresses, he never does. He did say the rage in Germany is to fit
Tiptronic transmissions! Now I need to save for a KEP engine adaptor kit
and an aftermarket engine-management computer.
I would like to get in contact with anyone who has done or is or
intends to fit a Porsche trans or Subaru engine.
Other modifications I will or want to make:
-big chromed electric mirrors from a Japanese-market Hilux Surf SSR (=Four
Runner); I have had aluminum adaptor mounts cast to fit the VW mounting
points (got)
-Electric-Life electric windows and remote central locking (got)
-Sony radio/cassette headunit, 10-disc changer, Alpine 10" subwoofer etc (got)
-automatic lighting (I was going to fit system from a 1985-88 Nissan
Skyline, but my 88 diesel Skyline was such a mechanical & electrical
nightmare, a Honda Legend or Toyota Corona system will be preferable);
possibly fit entire steering column from donor car
-used power steering (RHD)
-aircon
-cruise control
-good radar/laser detector & jammer
-rear discs/front upgrade
-South African 4-round-light grill and full-width lower seal grill (been
tying to get these for well over a year)
-aftermarket dash with extra top-mounted gloveboxes, hidden locations for
headunit and radar detectors; may have to try making one from fiberglass
-Mercedes steel wheels with 15" lower-profile tires for better handling
-Koni or Bilstein dampers (anybody got some for sale?)
In New Zealand the Type 25 (Caravelle, Vanagon) was never sold new;
all are private imports, and I guesstimate about 30 are in the country;
therefore no secaondhand parts, no new parts stocked.
If this vehicle ends up like the V8 job i will have to go the
Japanese route. This would have to be an early-1990s VW-sized Toyota Hiace,
the Shooter's taxi mentioned by Zoltan Kuthy in South Africa. The version
I'd go for is the Japan-only Super Custom 3.0 turbodiesel full-time 4WD.
These really fly. They all have metallic paint, luxury seating, full
electrics (windows, mirrors, dual climate-control, dual sliding sunroofs,
hot & cold box, curtains (yes!)), 5-speed or auto, rear torsionbars; all
for about $17000US. An an old-model 1984 2.4 turbodiesel I saw even had an
electronic digital dash.
Oh, by the way, the Vanagon name was only used for the US market,
and possibly Canadian.
Andrew
| 
