Date:         Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:16:33 -0700
Reply-To:     Rob <becida@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rob <becida@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Idle Vanagon Question - upgrading engine
In-Reply-To:  <44A47CDD.5020501@verizon.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

In the SubaruvVanagon files is a wealth of info about the change
including time & cost spreadsheets.
If you really want to get a 'good' idea join the list and read the files.

I just did one and can offer some of my experiences, I have not sat
down with the receipts yet and done the math.

The "two week" time limit that includes EVERYTHING I'm not happy with.
I had to look for awhile to find my donor, it took 3/4 of a Sat to
get it home (90 some miles away, a friend's truck and trailer). It
took me another 3/4 of day to pull the engine and harness out. I
wouldn't count 'getting' the donor as part of the 2 weeks.

Converting the harness was not difficult, it's not rocket science.
That said it took me several days to do the harness.

Waiting on parts... I went to BD for a new clutch, cat converter, oil
psi gauge & sender & front wheel bearings, they were backed up and it
took over two weeks to get those parts. These are VW parts that I
needed so they are not really part of the conversion.
 From KEP I got the mount and header (they were backordered on the
adapter/flywheel), that was  $340 plus shipping. 8 days from ordering
to arrival.
Smallcar was out of adapter/flywheels too, I went to Mastercraft in
Santa Barbara and they sold me a KEP adapter/flywheel and their
throttle kit ($540 for the adapter/flywheel and $50 for the throttle-
plus shipping) That took 8 days also.

Later I drove to SmallCar and bought the power steering hose ($50). I
bought what hoses, clamps, etc I needed locally. I already had a good
soldering gun.

At this point, I had a working '91 Subaru 2.2 engine with 134k miles
acceptable compression that ran and did not overheat with a long idle
(couldn't drive the car, the kid put it in a ditch and the right
front tire/strut/cv/transmission were damaged). I had the compleat
harness and the necessary parts to swap the car. (I'm using the stock
Subie intake and charcoal canister)
I could have put the engine into the VW at that point and drove it.

I elected to cut the oil pan down, reverse the water manifold, use
Tom Shiel's thermostat housing and change the Subie timing belt, &
assorted gaskets & seals. These were choices I made.

Let's see ... two weeks to pull the Subaru engine & harness, convert
the harness, order and receive the necessary parts, pull the VW 2.1 &
harness, install the 'new' harness and engine. Figure out and hook up
the water lines, bleed it and drive it? I think you could do it.

If I was going to do it again today I'd also get the coolant pipe
from Mastercraft, that would be $100 well spent.

Mastercraft http://www.vanperformance.com/
SmallCar http://www.smallcar.com/
KEP http://www.kennedyeng.com/

Mastercraft & Smallcar do Subaru conversions as does East Coast
Vanagon http://www.vanaru.com/, plus there are several individuals on
the SubaruVanagon list who do conversions too.

Ton Shiels http://www.subaruvanagon.com/ has a lot of good
information and does Brent http://www.weidefamily.net/vanagon/ .

This is probably a lot more than you wanted to know... <shrug>. I
really like being able to drive my Vanagon at the speeds everyone
else drives, especially up hills and on the on ramps.

One last thought. When my 2.1 tossed the rod if I'd had $8k I might
have written these folks a check http://www.bostig.com/ . Put the
engine in, hook up 6 hoses, 7 wires, add fluids and drive.





Rob
becida@comcast.net

With a '91 Subaru 2.2 in an '87 Vanagon in western Washington.