Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 12:36:08 -0700
Reply-To: BenT Syncro <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: BenT Syncro <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: New Vanagon owner with newbie questions - technical,
r. whl brng, tranny, engine conversions
In-Reply-To: <OF90E75ACD.030E3225-ON85257076.0068BD07-85257076.0068FC73@fairchildsemi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
On 9/8/05, Howard Allen <Howard.Allen@fairchildsemi.com> wrote:
>
> Hi; I am brand new to this group and am in the process of buying my
> first VW since 1977. It is a 1984 Vanagon with the 1.9L gas engine
> (yeah, you knew that!). It has 188,000 miles on it, the engine rebuilt
> 35,000 miles ago. The waterpump is gone (leaking and bearing shot) and
> the rear wheel bearing on one side (probably the other too) is loose.
> I am mechanically adept, do all my own work (mainly my K-Cars and
> Rampage L body). How much of a job is it to change out the rear wheel
> bearings?
> Another question - is it possible to replace the automatic tranny with
> a 5-speed out of a Porsche 914 or 917? Gas the way it is it seems like
> it could only help. I have done an automatic to 5-speed conversion in
> my wife's 1989 Plymouth Vovager and it turned out pretty good, so I
> have an idea what is involved.
> One last question - I hear that some folks are replacing the VW motor
> with a Subaru Legacy motor. This makes me believe there is a
> significant amount of interchangeability with the VW transmission, but
> there must be a challenge with all the engine management systems.
> Anyone out there know of a website that talks to this point. For now I
> want to keep the bus "all VW" though.
> Thanks all for any responses!!!!
> Best Regards
> Howard Allen
> S. Portland, Maine
Howard,
There's a few engine swap links on this page:
http://members.aol.com/bentbtstr8/vanagoncafelinkspage.html
Tom Carrington has more at:
http://volksweb.relitech.com/convert.htm
The 914 transaxle is essentially a 911 transmission truned the other way
around. These are usually 901 trannies which are not are not as strong as
the later 915 & G50 trannies. Since the 914 is intended for mid-engine use,
you cannot use it unless you flip the irng gear othe other side lest you
want 5 reverse gears ro put your engine where your backseat is.
Subaru engines do not bolt on to a Vanagon as easily as it sounds. As with
most engine swaps, they require an adapter plate as well as other
modifications to fit. Best to look at some of those websites above as this
has seen much coverage in the archives. It would be too tedious to put it
all in this posting.
Of the seven Vanagons I now own, one has a VW line-4 turbodiesel, two have
inline-4 GTI engines, one has a turbo Subaru engine and balance Wasserboxers
(WBX). There are lots of choices oth there. some folks have even installed
Audi 4's, 5's, 6's & 8's, Nissan Maxima, Ford Focus, Rover V8, Chevy V6's &
V8's, Porsche this and that. The choices are only limited by your
imagination, talent, and/or wallet.
Welcome to the cult... errr... I men club. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.
Welcome to the club.
BenT
http://members.aol.com/bentbtstr8/myhomepage/
BenT
| 
