Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 09:51:00 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@gi.com>
Subject: RE: '73 Toyo-Westy
> I am hoping to pick up a Westy pretty cheap. Today I went to look
>at a '73 Westy I saw in the paper for $900. Trick is that the engine came
>out of a Toyota a Toyota. The current owner says it came from a mid-sized
>truck, but she's only had the bus for a couple of months and doesn't know
>for sure.
> Anyone ever had experience with this sort of configuration?
Grab it!
Toyota engines are the most reliable you can get. Best thing that ever
happened to the Chevrolet Chevette, is when GM started buying 1.8L
engines from Toyota and putting them in-- reliability shot upward.
If this is a 22R engine, it is the sweetest engine Toyota has. Pretty
torquey for a 4-cyl, smooth powerband all the way up to the redline,
which is itself pretty high. It's a DOHC engine. Check to see when the
timing belt was replaced-- in the truck or car, it's no more difficult
to replace than any other timing belt. But, depending on the installation,
it may be kinda tough to get to in this VW conversion (I had to unbolt
the rear engine mount and raise the engine about an inch in the V6anagon,
just to adjust the alternator belt!).
Check also how the engine is restricted from torsional rotations. Most
engines sit on rubber mounts, which allow a small amount of rocking.
But the setup in the V6anagon (designed by the PO-- KEP lets/requires
you to do your own thing for engine mounts) is ridiculous, and is high
on my list for redesign.
Other things can be easy to clean up-- throttle stiffness, choke, radiator
fluid recovery, etc.-- but Murphy's Law can't be flouted for long. Unless
the PO was VERY contientious and meticulous, an engine conversion car is
a project car, and will be for quite a while.
I had/have some vibration problems with the V6anagon, and have been looking
for the cause for quite a while now. Current suspect is a possible bent
transmission-input shaft-- balance and alignment of the conversion is
right on the money, it turns out. But it's gone thru two clutches in
6,000 miles, breaking the center out of the clutch disc each time (see
pix in my web page, http://www.wp.com/IrishMafia). And it still vibrates
now. A project car, as I said.
But it's a blast to drive. That Toyota conversion should be sweet, if
the PO didn't do too badly on the installation. Is it a Kennedy Engineered
Products adapter? They make dozens of them, including one for Toyota
22R engines.
Where's the radiator? The V6anagon has the radiator fromthe same donor
car ('81 Citation) as the engine, with electric cooling fan, up front.
It has long hoses (actually 1" heater hoses) running thru the ex-heater
ducts, and it runs cool as a cucumber. The cooling fan almost never
comes on, except during long idles in traffic jams.
Good luck-- hope this helps.
_______
/\ o o o\ Steve Maher smaher@gi.com 75461,1717
/o \ o o o\_______ San Diego, California
< >------> o /|
\ o/ o /_____/o| '80 VW V6anagon
\/______/ |oo| '66 Mustang Coupevertible
| o |o/ '89 Son Sherwin
|_______|/
http://www.wp.com/IrishMafia
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The economy's not failing-- there are plenty of jobs available!
I have three of them!
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