Date:         Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:00:04 -0400
Reply-To:     Jim Akiba <syncrolist@BOSTIG.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Akiba <syncrolist@BOSTIG.COM>
Subject:      Re: Engine swap
In-Reply-To:  <543F06B1.90806@turbovans.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Hi John,

There's plenty of info online on making this decision. The more
homework you do, the better off you will be as well. You will find
Scott's sentiment of "subaru is the way to go IMO" to be very
prevalent, however it is an oversimplification that can lead directly
to misunderstanding and failure. Subaru doesn't make a conversion of
any kind to put into a vanagon. There are however Subaru based
conversions, each one a little different from one to the next and
while some will have great results, some will fail completely.

You want to be in the success camp no matter what you choose to do,
and the very first step is to fully understand that you can spend
quite a lot of money, do exactly what you've been told by others that
have succeeded themselves, and still have nothing to show for it but
wasted time. This is the auto aftermarket where typically very little
works as advertised, and the real scale of the project won't be
understood until you're neck deep.

  Once you've understood that you should assume nothing and it's
entirely possible to fail badly following perfectly good advice,
you're ready to move on to the next step: defining your own goals.
Your success in an engine swap also depends on you focusing on
achieving your goals, and not letting the project creep out and not
getting sucked into areas that will not help you to meet those goals.
Be honest with yourself about the goals as well.  What is your
ultimate reason for wanting a Vanagon? Why did you get one to begin
with?

I started writing a research and buying guide this year, but only have
a draft of the first pages that I've written from the outline. No idea
if they are helpful at this point, but if they are or you'd like to
see more please let me know. That encouragement is valuable in
focusing my attention to write more!

Here is the link to the pdf:
https://drive.google.com/a/bostig.com/file/d/0B04yoy_oHWKeZ3h2YlpFNVV4LXM/view

Cheers and remember this research phase is the most important part of
the project,

Jim Akiba

On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 7:43 PM, SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )
<scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
> IF mean non-waterboxer engines to use in a vanagon with auto trans..
> subaru is the way to go IMO.  Works quite well.
>
> big project though..
> done well it's either a lot of work or a lot of $.
>
>
>
> On 10/15/2014 1:08 PM, John Rodgers wrote:
>>
>> I know my '91 Carat will need a new engine out there in the  not  distant
>> future and am wondering what good combinations are out there for an
>> autotranny match up.
>>
>> Anyone actually  own such? What is your experience?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> John
>>
>