Date:         Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:53:03 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Subject:      Neil's from scratch motor swap...and pre-Friday ramble
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  Quite a bit of work, eh?  But you are getting there now.  I still wonder
why you chose that route but then it's all good anyhow.
 I was looking more closely at the conversion in my Van...the Diesel motor
hangers...specifically.  People always tell me..Oh yah, those kits, if you
can find em are about $600 bucks, if you don't already have a diesel van and
have to buy the whole kit...(for putting an inline four gasser in exactly
like the original diesel vans were installed.)  But looking at the motor
carrier bars in mine...these are dead simple.  You could have some made at a
race chassis shop for about $100 bucks...Just two bends in some steel tubing
with plates welded to the ends.  A good chassis builder or someone who
builds roll cages could make a pair in an hour, max....  The motor mounts,
from the carrier bars to the block, those are cast and you might be better
looking for junkers or perhaps those are still available as aftermarket
parts.  You could probably also make those..but not so easy as the engine
carrier bars... The Kennedy Engineering adapter plate...again not too
expensive..
  The best part of doing a conversion like this is that it has been widely
done before and you could likely find one to copy pretty easily or borrow a
diesel van and copy that..No 'reverse engineering' needed.

  Recently, the rear end of my SO's 70's  beamer 2002 rusted pretty much
off...The shock mount and spring perch was a stamped extension of the
trunk...and it rotted away leaving a rear wheel kinda floppy...She really
loves that car so I took it to my local race fabricating shop and we figured
out a new rear suspension...a couple of tubes, some plates, etc.  Ol' Russ
welded and bent...and now she is happy again for just $175!  Works better
than new, too, except stuff in the trunk gets all wet and dirty if the road
is wet...
  The point being, with a bit of creativity, you can do almost anything to
these simple old German cars, and they are certainly worthwhile to keep on
the road.  Almost any "normal" American, what with our "disposable mind-set"
would have just paid to have the cute little Beamer box smooshed...But not
Marie..."I just put a rebuilt engine in that car" she said (almost 4 years
ago) "And it's got a new tire!"..."can't you fix it?  You built a racecar
that goes 200mph, you should be able to fix a simple bit of
rust...."....Yes, dear...Sure, honey...
  Don Hanson