Resto/Life Problems and slow progress!

[Bay_Buster]

Hi everybody,

It's been a long time since I've been on the forum. 5 years ago I was diving head on into my first resto project, and getting on ok I think with all things considered (Old thread here). Then life decided to shit on me a little - a large scale family feud erupted which ended up with locks changed to houses and more importantly, the garage my van and all my tools were in. Took me 3 and a bit years to get access and retrieve all my stuff. Finally now things are getting going again on the resto, though I don't have the same luxury of time and a nice garage to complete my own work in any more. So my beloved nightmare of a bay is now currently being worked on by a friend in his workshop, with me delivering parts and chipping in whenever I get chance...


The first job we tackled was chopping out what remained of the old knackered engine bay chassis area and torsion tube.


The 'new' chassis/engine bay cut went in way smoother than I could have hoped.

Now things are moving along pretty well, I have questions and problems to try solve ahead of time before the actual resto progress catches up to them (if that makes sense). The old engine bay had been chopped out a fair bit at some point in the past to accommodate a T3 engine (at least that's what I was told when I bought the van years ago)...



Now the engine bay has been somewhat restored to original spec, I will eventually need a 'proper' T2 engine, including all auxiliarys and associated tinware, the lot. I don't suppose any of you guys have any suggestions? A 1641 has been suggested and seems to sit right with me. If I wanted to zoom somewhere fast I won't be going in the van (presuming I do eventually get this project finished). I've seen you can get 1641's from Heritage without any exchange, though seems I'd still need to buy a lot of stuff and fumble my way through building it all up. I do have this 'T3' engine that could be exchanged, but my thinking was that it may be some good to sell to a T3 owner, with all the associated gubbins? I have a fair few more questions, but I think this will do for a re-introduction for now. Any suggestions and help would be much appreciated!

 

[sparkywig]

Hello, welcome back.
Sorry to hear about your family troubles, but at least you've got your bus back.
The basic type 3 engine case is the same as the type 1 case with the addition of the oil filler tube being at the base of the case.
A bus case is slightly different in that it has the threaded bosses for the engine support bar bolts, although the couple of type 3 cases I've got have these as well.
A type 3 engine will fit a bus by changing the tinware, fitting an upright doghouse fan housing, fan, oil cooler mount and generator, and oil filler. And you'll need a few other bits like an engine support bar, etc.

 

[Bay_Buster]

Hi Sparkywig,
Thanks for the reply, all good info. I was originally considering rebuilding this T3 engine into an upright, but I seem to remember finding out an oil pressure sensor tapping wasn't drilled/tapped on the T3 cases? Also if I do end up attempting to rebuild this one I would have to find some extra storage space somewhere for the defunct T3 parts/tinware. I don't like chucking stuff if it could be useful to somebody! Lots to think about.

 

[sparkywig]

You could always advertise them on the various facebook groups, or the type 3 & 4 forum.

 

[Bay_Buster]

So I've had a couple of people message and sing praises for the VW Engine Co, so I'll send them an email soon. If anyone on here has ever rebuilt a T3 engine into an upright I'd be very interested in hearing how it went though!