Engine swap pictures

[user 612]

Right,
as requested here's a couple of pictures of my engine swap. There aren't many as I'm crap at documenting stuff but there's enough for you to get an idea of what i did ( i hope)

this is the poor girls engine bay before some sicko decided to rip her heart out

in a short time I had the old lump (and the old gearbox) sitting on the tarmac and a gaping hole where they used to live

The new box is a 5 rib item. Not sure if the ratios are any different but i hope the extra ribs will give it a bit more strength. Not that i've built it for thrashing about of course

in a short time the new box was in it's new home......

The new engine waiting to be heaved into place

and as if by magic.............in she goes. Mounted on a KEP adapter plate with a kennedy cush lock clutch and various new seals and release bearing on the box

The main problem was the throttle body was right up against the firewall. This was cured with a manifold adapter from the extremely talented Mr Turbo Thomas similar to this one but in nice shiney stainless steel

For the exhaust I was lucky enough to have one supplied with the engine when i bought it from a guy off VZI. It had to be cut and shut to make it fit the bus but wasn't too difficult to achieve. Has the catalytic convertor included and is nice and quiet, even when sat at a steady 80 on the motorway.

 

[Tim]

Nice work 8) , I've not been brave enough to take an engine out...
Think I should to sort thr engine bay out :?

 

[user 612]

Bit of a huge gap now as I did a load of little jobs and didn't bother to take any pictures in the process.

The next ones I have are of the whole project in it's all but finished state

The radiator is from a newish Transit Duratorque and was a found brand new on ebay for a bargain £45

Incidentally that aluminium plate the fans are mounted on was removed as it stopped a load of airflow through the radiator when the fans weren't running.

since these were taken I've put a new alternator on it and tidied up a few of the loose ends in the engine bay.

Initial road tests put a whopping smile on my face. Loads of torque and the engine pulls like a train The temperature holds nicely at around the high 80's in normal round town driving but on the motorway i have the fans running constantly through an over ride switch on the dashboard and that setup keeps the temp at around low to mid 90's (which is apparently normal for a subaru engine)

 

[lobus]

Thanks for the pics, I think you have a done a great job of documenting the progress. I am the worst at this. it takes all of my brain power to just do the job at hand without managing the photos.
What is the new engine?
Looks like a sweet fit.
David

 

[slammedkustom]

looks like a 2.2 subaru? ive got the earlier style 1.8 hidden away
one day when ive finished the flat and garden and the garage etc.... :lol:

 

[gninnam]

Dooster - cheers for the pics and info - looks like a job well done and I am glad that you are
happy with the end result.
Did you do it all yourself or did you have to get expert help in at any stage?

Looks very professional I must say

 

[user 612]

Thanks for the pics, I think you have a done a great job of documenting the progress. I am the worst at this. it takes all of my brain power to just do the job at hand without managing the photos.
What is the new engine?
Looks like a sweet fit.
David

The engine is a 2.2litre Subaru Legacy unit. Ideal engine as it's a flat 4 design, same as the original VW and there's absolutely no cutting of the body work needed. (If I decided to go back to aircooled It's just a matter of changing a few wires and pipes.) Has electronic fuel injection, and kicks out something in the region of 130 to 140 bhp. If you're nutty enough there's the option of fitting either the 2.0 quad cam turbo engine from the imprezza wrx or a twin turbo from a more powerful version of the legacy. Both put out about 240 bhp give or take a bit but this my missus insisted was taking the piss in a campervan so I was limited to the non turbo version :roll: .

Cooling is always an issue when you stick a water cooled engine in an aircooled Vdub and my present solution, although effective, is by no means Ideal. For one thing you'll never get proper airflow through the radiator as it's right at the back of the bus and probably more importantly there's a big ugly radiator visible below your back bumper. Although it's nice to see the look on peoples faces at the traffic lights when they ask "What engine you got in that mate?" :lol:

 

[user 612]

Dooster - cheers for the pics and info - looks like a job well done and I am glad that you are
happy with the end result.
Did you do it all yourself or did you have to get expert help in at any stage?

Looks very professional I must say

I'm proud to say I did it all by myself but did do shed loads of reading on the various VW alternate engine forums. Any problems I had during the installation were quickly sorted with the advice of people who've done the swap before. It really was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

 

[Justin & Muttley]

Nice work Dooster - looks like a very good conversion!
Would it be possible to mount twin radiators inside the half moon vents to keep things looking tidy and increase airflow?
Also, did you buy the adaptor plate new and if so, where from?

 

[slammedkustom]

how did it go with the insurance, thats the only thing worrying me.

my mate had a scooby conversion but they hacked his engine bay to bits.
like you said it isnt needed
im gonna make a removable rear to make life easier, those scoobys are heavy lumps! :shock:

 

[user 612]

Nice work Dooster - looks like a very good conversion!
Would it be possible to mount twin radiators inside the half moon vents to keep things looking tidy and increase airflow?
Also, did you buy the adaptor plate new and if so, where from?

Hi J&M

yes you can mount a pair of radiators where the battery and leisure battery usually go. This has been done a couple of times and I couldn't say for sure how good it cools. It's certainly one of my options when I get fed up of looking at that radiator hanging out the back.

The adapter plate I was really lucky with. A guy on VZI was selling the whole lot, engine, adapter plate, loom &ecu, exhaust, clutch etc as he'd bought it all to put in a fastback but never got round to it. Had the entire lot for £850.

how did it go with the insurance, thats the only thing worrying me.

my mate had a scooby conversion but they hacked his engine bay to bits.
like you said it isnt needed
im gonna make a removable rear to make life easier, those scoobys are heavy lumps!

The insurance I was gobsmacked at too. Changed from Footman James to Adrian flux because we heard F/J don't do modified cars. Indeed they wouldn't insure my rodded '57 Ford pop. Got a quote that was £45 lower than with a standard 1600 aircooled. How awesome was that

 

[slammedkustom]

WTF :shock: thats mad!

 

[gninnam]

Well, think I'll spend £1000 on a new scooby engine plus installation if I can save
£45 a year on my insurance :lol:

Only joking :shock:

Sounds like a good deal actually, especially when you look at the increased performance
of the van.
What have you done with the brakes :?:

 

[user 612]

The brakes are pretty good as it is. We were lucky enough to have a servo system on the bus already and they do a good job of hauling it to a stop. Despite that it's going into Volksmagic to have a rear drilled disk conversion and the front ones uprated too along with having the front end dumped a couple of inches to level her out and a top respray.

 

[lobus]

Thanks for the info, a lot of the suby conversions I have seen have got the radiator mounted under the body, with a cover and thermo fans, they seem to work OK. I will have a look around some of the Australian sites and see if I can find some pics for you.
David