Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 10:57:40 -0700
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Re: HELP! Which Westy to buy for engine swap?
In-Reply-To: <69CE434267EFD1119E4F0000F863199D0F8FEA@SY3026.AmMobile.com >
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At 11:26 7/19/98 -0400, Mike Ray wrote:
>Hi all, I'm new to the list and have wanted to buy a Westy for about 10
>years. Well, the time is soon to come but I need to know which years and
>options I need to fit my specific needs. I'm interested in getting a
>Vanagon body Westy and swapping motors to a (oh my, shall I say it?) non
>VW application. At present, I race an `84 Ford w/ turbo 2.3l motor. I've
>been doing some research on the web and a lot of you have fantastic
>sites on performing motor swaps in Vanagons. I'd like to put a Porsche
>motor in but I'm under budget restrictions and currently have a complete
>Ford 2.3 SVO motor w/ all electronics. This was a 170hp motor that would
>work well in a Westy with some minor engineering changes. For the
>purist, look at it this way: it's a German motor believe it or not!
>I was originally thinking of doing a GTI motor swap, but I sold the Euro
>GTI motor that I brought back from Germany (kicking myself for that) and
>ran across Pat's web page at: http://home1.gte.net/pdooley/Vanagon.html.
>I need to contact him to get some info on how his swap has gone. Is he
>on the list by any chance?
I'm sure was is (was).
>1.. I need a Westy! What do I buy? I assume it has to be a Diesel or
>Wasserboxter to get the radiator and water tubes in the vehicle. Are
>there differences in the vehicle cooling systems between L4 & boxter
>motors (other than motors, ie Rad sizes, coolant tube diameter etc)?
>Would one be a better choice if given an option?
The Diesel is easier to perform the swap in because you don't have to but
adapter plates or make new motor mounts. Diesels are a lot rarer though.
Both rads are oversized for the engines you are thinking about puting in.
>2.. Has anyone done a swap w/ an auto tranny? Is this even an option?
Auto trannies should work fine, but you will have to play around with
shifting RPMs to suit your new motor.
>3.. What was the first year for the Wasserboxer? Do the earilier
>diesel's use the same front end as the later boxters? Can you tell which
>is which buy looking at the front end grill design?
The wasserboxer came out mid way throught 83. All water cooled Vanagons
have a grill between the signal markers where the air cooled ones do not.
>4.. What was the first year for the non-woodgrain interior in a Westy?
>Around `85? Just personal taste here, but I like the newer interiors.
>5.. Do the liquid cooled vehicles have traditional "heater core" setups?
>How does the heat get into the vehicle?
"Traditional" heater core.
>6.. Can the transmission be lowered, (if so how far?) while retaining
>the original CVs shafts. Helmut Zeidler
><mailto:Helmut.Zeidler@ntc.nokia.com>'s Audi L5 conversion shows the
>mounts moved down about an inch under the tranny.
There is some play to be found in the 2WDs, Syncro have the transmission
lowered about 3" to make room for the gastank that is located above the
transmission.
>7.. I'm interesting in mounting a turbo intercooler (OEM Ford) in the
>hole behind where the plate (tag) goes. I want to duct in fresh air for
>cooling the IC from the pass. Side of the vehicle. Maybe using an MR2
>side cowl or something like that
There is all sorts of moving air back there as they were originally
designed to be air cooled. I'm sure you will find a spot.
>8.. I've read about the diff in gearing between the the deisel and gas
>motors. What is the going rate for a used gas tranny? This may deter me
>from getting a deisel vehicle.
I used a 5.26 final drive for my swap (Syncro), but this seems to work out
well when you are using larger tires to bring the RPMs down. I use a
Diesel transmission in my Rabbit PU with a 150hp 2.0L motor and it really
moves and get about 6L/100km at the same time. Diesel transmissions are
really good for torquey engines.
>9.. I'm going to try and reach Pat with some of the specific 2.3
>questions, but if anyone out there has experiance, PLEASE let me know.
>Using the Esslinger adaptor plate, which flywheel & starter do you use
>(VW I assume)? Does the input shaft have to be modified? Are spacers
>needed? Can all the Ford assesories be used on the motor. Do they fit?
Don't know
>10.. Anyone have advise for creating the crossmember and motormounts?
>Anything out there that's good to use as a base? Maybe audi parts? Do
>off the shelf swap kits exsist for other engines for the Vanagon?
I suggest taking a look at the web site that deals with my swap. I had the
same amount of questions as you did (actually more!) and things worked out
quite OK. My site is at http://www.volkswagen.org/Vanagon/EngineSwap.htm
This starts you off at my Q & A page and it has links to just about every
Vanagon swap site on the Internet. Mine is listed there too
http://www.volkswagen.org/Vanagon/SyncroSwap.htm
If you have any questions please let me know!
>OK, I'm done for now. Thanks all! Hope to hear from you soon.
>Mikey
>Falls Church, VA
-- David Marshall, Quesnel BC, mailto:david@volkswagen.org --
-- 78 1.8L VW Rabbit, 80 2.0L VW Caddy, 87 Audi 5KQ --
-- 85 1.8L VW Cabrio, 88 1.6L VW Syncro Double Cab --
-- Volkswagen Homepage http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- USE DAVID@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG WHEN SENDING PMAIL --
