Date:         Sun, 17 Apr 2005 15:19:13 -0600
Reply-To:     Mike Morley <cloakofcarrot@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike Morley <cloakofcarrot@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Successful install of a new Boston Bob 2.1l Engine! (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Greetings! I have been lurker of this list for some time now, and I have
long been a fan of the Vanagon since a friend of mine got one for mountain
bike road tripping a few years ago.

Vanagons are the ultimate road trip vehicle for mountain biking. I live in
Calgary Alberta Canada, so during summer several times a week we will be out
in the mountains riding. Weekends are dedicated to driving out to Golden,
Fernie, Invermere to ride trails. Long weekends – we go further to Nelson,
Kamloops, Then there is the big annual road trip where I will loop around
through Chillewack BC, Vancouver and the North Shore, Squamish, Whistler and
Pemberton. (http://www.cloakofcarrot.com is my photography site where you
can see pictures from trips etc)

After being on a few road trips in my buddies Vanagon equipped with bike
rack, solid stereo and seeing how much more fun it was than sleeping in a
pickup truck: I saved up and got one myself. It is an 1985, and we knew the
old 1.9l waterboxer was on the way down - coolant leaks and so on, but the
body and interior etc were all in very good shape (and it has the extra
chair): and we got it for a good price as the engine was clearly close to
being done.

I knew based on talking to our local Westy expert, Tony's auto, that I would
get maybe 1-2 years out of the engine which was winding down at 220,000km.
The engine did survive a year and a half, a run out to Nelson and the big
run out to Whistler - which is a very tough 10 hour drive over every major
mountain pass - Golden, Rogers and the infamous vehicle killing Duffy Lake
Road, but finally one of the cylinders packed it in the fall - leaving the
engine with a 110, 105, 101, 75 compression ratio, and leaking coolant from
just about every possible hose, gasket etc.

I had already been doing some research into new engines, and saving up money
for the job.

Another local shop in Calgary does full engine builds/installs. The cost
estimates though to have the work done ranged from a minimum estimate of
$7000 up to $12,000 for a TIICO to $14,000+ for a subagon conversion. I
thought about it, but decided I wanted to do the work myself mainly for the
experience, but also to save a bit on cost.

A friend of mine who is a mountain biker as well, recently put a TIICO in
his 92 van by himself. The TIICO install he did was a great success, and his
van rips around very well. He did the install himself, and aside from a few
minor complications, it was a pretty painless process. However, it was about
$9000 or so by the time he was done with the conversion (he did some other
things as well though), which was more than I wanted to spend on my 85, and
I wanted to stay closer to original parts as much as I could.

Another friend of mine is quite an expert in engines and has rebuilt his own
83 air cooled already himself. So after a few beers and talking to him, he
pointed me in the direction of Boston Engine Works
(http://www.bostonengine.com/).

I spoke with Bob Donalds just after Christmas, and we had quite a good chat
about things, so after that and seeing the reviews of his work on the
Vanagon list, I decided that was the route I wanted to go.

Bob then built up a 2.1l engine that was bolt-compatible with the 1.9 for
me.

Bob arranged all the shipping – all I had to do was get a customs broker (1
phone call). The whole shipping process was painless and went great. From
the time of shipping from Boston to here was 2 days. The shipper brought the
engine right to my front door, where we loaded it in my pickup truck.

Bob also set me up with the parts I would need – including complete gasket
sets, new bolts, and installed the a clutch assembly for me as well. I
ordered a replacement hose kit from Vanagain.com to fix up all the old hoses
at Bob’s recommendation as well.

After a few phone coaching sessions on the process with Bob, a thorough read
of the Bently manual, I drove the van over to my friend’s garage where I was
going to do the work, got everything setup and then started taking things
apart. It was pretty scary at first, especially once the engine was first
out – as then there was no turning back.

Bob helped me all the way through, even though it was Easter weekend (4 day
weekend here, so lots of time to do the work) whenever I got stuck or had a
question.

Everything went very smoothly, and I had the engine out (with help from my
buddy Daver!), apart and redressed and reinstalled in 6 days (I had to order
some new exhaust parts that took a few days to arrive). The details if
anyone is interested are posted on my photography site
(http://www.cloakofcarrot.com
http://www.cloakofcarrot.com/gallery/1985Westfaliavanengineinstallation)

After having my work inspected at Tony’s auto, we went through Bob’s engine
startup instructions and everything worked perfectly first time.

The guys at Tonys were very impressed with the engine – and it has been
running great. I am about ˝ way through the break in phase now, and am
looking at getting out for longer trips very soon. It will be really nice to
have a solid reliable engine in the van for this summer’s biking season!!

So I would highly recommend Boston Engine and Bob Donalds for both an
excellent engine, and excellent support before, during and after the
installation process…Thanks man!

Mike Morley (aka mimo)…
http://www.cloakofcarrot.com