- Joined
- May 27, 2024
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 22
- Location
- Willenhall, West Midlands
- Year of Your Van(s)
- 1971
- Van Type
- T2 Danbury
Hi,
Just introduce myself, been a long time lurker of this forum, owned my van for around 12 months a 1971 Danbury, had some wonderful times with her and some not wonderful times, So i'll start with the not so wonderful times.
When I first bought her I drove her back from Cheshire to my home in the West Midlands, got her home and noticed oil in the engine bay, took to a specialist near to my house who confirmed that the standard 1600cc engine was on its way out, and could last months/weeks/days but its not in the best condition. So I decided there and then to take it home and strip the engine down and send to a engine builder for a 1776cc build, 6 months later(i know) and a very long wait my engine was ready to pick up and fit into my van.
While running in the engine we had a amazing holiday to Snowdonia and Cotswolds and the van was amazing, so much compliments/pictures where ever we went, and she did me proud, and has so much room inside compared to my previous T6.1 California Ocean and T5.1 campervan, and everything was going great, and the hard work and late nights of fitting my new 1776cc engine was worth it.
Fast forward to last week and after 1000miles, driving down the M6 10mins from my house, a loud bang and loss of power and a trip back to my house on the back of the AA recovery truck, dropped the oil, and my worst suspicions metal parts in the oil, So stripped the engine down and a massive hole in the engine block near the back where it joins onto the gearbox. So back to the drawing board.
So the 1776cc engine is going back to the engine builder (12 months warranty) and in the meantime I bought a Subaru Impreza Blobeye GX, and im going to probably ruin the originality of the van, but I'm going to go the EJ20 Impreza engine route, As pretty as the van is I want to enjoy it without worrying about the air-cooled engine every 5 mins, even when we went away camping I was constantly checking the engine making sure everything is OK, I'm hoping the Subaru engine will take the stress away and enjoy the van how I intend to.
Just introduce myself, been a long time lurker of this forum, owned my van for around 12 months a 1971 Danbury, had some wonderful times with her and some not wonderful times, So i'll start with the not so wonderful times.
When I first bought her I drove her back from Cheshire to my home in the West Midlands, got her home and noticed oil in the engine bay, took to a specialist near to my house who confirmed that the standard 1600cc engine was on its way out, and could last months/weeks/days but its not in the best condition. So I decided there and then to take it home and strip the engine down and send to a engine builder for a 1776cc build, 6 months later(i know) and a very long wait my engine was ready to pick up and fit into my van.
While running in the engine we had a amazing holiday to Snowdonia and Cotswolds and the van was amazing, so much compliments/pictures where ever we went, and she did me proud, and has so much room inside compared to my previous T6.1 California Ocean and T5.1 campervan, and everything was going great, and the hard work and late nights of fitting my new 1776cc engine was worth it.
Fast forward to last week and after 1000miles, driving down the M6 10mins from my house, a loud bang and loss of power and a trip back to my house on the back of the AA recovery truck, dropped the oil, and my worst suspicions metal parts in the oil, So stripped the engine down and a massive hole in the engine block near the back where it joins onto the gearbox. So back to the drawing board.
So the 1776cc engine is going back to the engine builder (12 months warranty) and in the meantime I bought a Subaru Impreza Blobeye GX, and im going to probably ruin the originality of the van, but I'm going to go the EJ20 Impreza engine route, As pretty as the van is I want to enjoy it without worrying about the air-cooled engine every 5 mins, even when we went away camping I was constantly checking the engine making sure everything is OK, I'm hoping the Subaru engine will take the stress away and enjoy the van how I intend to.
