Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 07:26:57 -0400
Reply-To: EMZ <vw4x4@FYI.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: EMZ <vw4x4@FYI.NET>
Subject: Re: Subaru was: 2.1l engine for sale too $900.
In-Reply-To: <51008500.24fd911a@aol.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
After all this.... IMHO..... this is why I say keep it stock!
VW did this "weeding out the bugs" in there engineering Dept.
But if your in to custom stuff, and have tons of time and money,
and don't mine finding out the motor you have in the vehicle is
300 lb.'s heavier than stock and now you need to change the rear
spring and beef up the brakes........do it.
Eric 86-VW4x4
vw4x4@fyi.net 72-240z
Pittsburgh, PA USA 1936-Chrysler
On Tue, 31 Aug 1999 KENWILFY@AOL.COM wrote:
> I spoke with the guy for about 30 mins about the conversion since I had
> considered and investigated it before deciding the 5-cylinder was the way to
> go. However I know that all people are different and that maybe some folks
> want to go the Subaru way and that's OK by me.
>
> Anyway the Subaru swap sounds really good when you talk to the folks at
> Kennedy Engineering about it and the price for thier kit, and the parts looks
> good. However, as I found with my 5-cylinder kits, no conversion is cheap.
> It is either costs money or it costs time (time= money for those of you who
> don't know). In the guy that I spoke with case it cost him lots and lots of
> time. He got a motor for around $1000 and he said the wiring harness was a
> nightmare. The whole thing took him several months and finally he had to
> take it to a local Subaru shop to get it running. Then he had a problem with
> some coolant lines catching fire.
>
> All in all when you do a swap like this you are on your own. You get the kit
> and some sketchy instructions from Kennedy (some things aren't included in
> the instructions) but you are essentially a test case. You turn your van
> into a test vehicle. You experiment around with what coolant hoses to use,
> where to route them, how to route your wiring harness, your intake setup,
> everything.
> Now you drive the van a while. This part falls off, that part breaks, it is
> a test van after all.
>
> The final result (after sinking over $6000 into the conversion) is that the
> guy is happy with the end result (would you admit it if you weren't?) He
> says that he would like to re-gear the tranny a little though as the engine
> makes it's power in the higher rpm range and the van tranny is not geared
> quite right.
>
> I chose the 5-cylinder swap over this one because of two main factors. One
> is has been throughly tested and is the OE setup in South Africa (VW thought
> it was a good idea). Second it keeps the van all German and all VW/Audi.
> Now you can take the van to a VW dealer anywhere on the road and get it
> worked on because they are actually more familiar with the 5-cylinder engine
> than they are with the waterboxer.
> That's my 2 cents on this subject. Anyone else who has done a Subaru
> conversion is encouraged to speak up on this topic.
> Thanks
> Ken Wilford
> Van-Again
> John 3:16
>
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