VW Vanagon owners need your engine!

[Aerotech]

Since I'm a member of two groups that have a common interest, I'm going to make a love connection here...

If you have a running car in bad shape, or a motor in the garage, etc. be aware that the VW Vanagon community has a large contingent of folks who are swapping Subaru 4s and 6s into their vans, and they need healthy engines, donor cars, and parts...to do a swap requires a complete engine, ECU, and complete and uncut wiring harness. Due to the many ECUs Subaru produced, it's preferred to get everything from one car, or at least the same model.
For those unfamiliar with the van, it's the 1980-1992 VW Vanagon, originally equipped with a 2.1L watercooled flat-4 from '84 up.



Plagued with crappy headgaskets, underpowered, basically a 1930's-design VW Beetle motor with a waterjacket. Awful motor in an otherwise brilliant vehicle. In the case of the Syncro camper shown above, a 112hp engine pushing close to 5000lbs of vehicle. Rebuilding the VW motor is prohibitively expensive, and very little extra power can be milked out of it without blowing it's guts out through the side of the van.
Using an adaptor plate for the transaxle, the Subaru motor is the perfect fit, being a modern, efficient and very durable flat-4.



SVX 3.3s also fit. Zoom!



If you have a donor car, motor, etc, please consider advertising on www.thesamba.com and www.vwvortex.com , specify Vanagon Swap motor for sale. Check out www.smallcar.com , www.subaruvanagon.com , and many more for info on the swap.

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/subaruvanagon/

is the groups BBS. You'll have to join to advertise there, but you are welcome on behalf of the group.

Here's a WRX-powered Vanagon putting the smack down on a Corrado, and then a Syncro, also Subie powered. Note the added ground clearance on the 4WD...Tough to see it, but it looks like he ran 14.48.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZOsytXs6ZMM

Thanks!

[Legacy Rally Guy]

My dad has one and I noticed that his engine bay would probably accommodate my subaru engine, guess what, I found an online page that sold adapterplates, fitment kits and everything. So I've been on the lookout for a good used Ej22E for his christmas present one of these upcomming years for his westfalia camper vanagon.. "Id actually be able to pass people?" was what he said.. hehe I told him heck yeah, especially if he had a turbo model..

This seems like a great conversion for sure!

I hope people get into this, sadly I've been saving for college classes, so no extra engine-gifting from me at the moment..

[Aerotech]

I bought my van back in '98, and had previously owned a breadloaf bus camper with a Corvair 6 in it, and had seen several Carrera-engined Vanagons. I knew about the SVX and it's beautiful motor, but no one had used one for a VW swap yet...I thought, "That would be the perfect van"... but the engine was running fine, and I sort of forgot about it for a few years. Fast forward to 2006, the ol' bus ain't running so good any more. Can't complain too loud, I got up to over 200K on the original motor.
I was still contemplating the SVX, but the mileage isn't the best (but, perversely, STILL better than the 15-17mpg I was seeing from the 2.1). I decided to run a EJ22, and turbocharge it after the fact with leftovers from my Legacy SS experiments. Less weight, power on demand. The big hurdle here is, on the Syncro, the gas tank lives where the turbo and IC want to be, so some creative exhaust work is required...I'm also planning on setting up a Water/Methanol injection system instead of an IC.
Summit Racing has a kit specifically for the WRX....

[DLC]

Good info, thanks for the post!

[Legacy Rally Guy]

...The big hurdle here is, on the Syncro, the gas tank lives where the turbo and IC want to be, so some creative exhaust work is required...I'm also planning on setting up a Water/Methanol injection system instead of an IC.
Summit Racing has a kit specifically for the WRX....

Um, if you run the Water-Air intercooler, couldn't you run some creative piping, so it's in a fairly suitable location? The regular WRX intercooler wouldn't be so great I'd think, not knowing how much air would circulate up to the top of the EJ22T, to cool the regular intercooler...

Well, if this doens't makes sense, I'm running on little sleep.. and I apologize..

[Aerotech]

Not so much an issue of air, as it is clearance. 2WD vans have a big space behind (well, in front of) the firewall. Trim away the firewall sheetmetal, you have all sorts of space for a AWIC, or tubing for an air IC, above the transaxle. The 4WD Syncro uses that space for a plastic gas tank, it was moved there because the front tank space was taken up by the front differential.... lots of after-the-fact engineering in this van.
There's just enough room to fit the Subaru intake tube. The SVX is a tight fit, but do-able.
A few folks have reversed the intake manifold to get around this.

[Aerotech]

One bump for posterity.

[Bheinen74]

holy shit H6. by the looks of the H6, you would have to pull the motor out to change even an alternator.....how do you get to the oil dipstick to check oil?
what a pain in the arse to work on one huh?
on a side note, how do the transmissions hold up to subie power? lol

[Aerotech]

The rear license plate mount is on a hinge, it folds down to check oil and coolant on the original engine. There are a few schemes floating around to modify the Subie dipstick to allow this.
Otherwise, you're opening the engine compartment lid every time you need to check anything. PITA on a road trip...

The 3.3 is a snug fit, but no cutting is needed. You do need to plan your coolant hoses carefully. The van's a real rocketship with that motor. I can't wait 'till the 3.6 Tribeca motors start becoming available; that would be a sweeet setup
The transmissions are pretty tough, unless they have Uber-miles on them. The Auto's are pretty much bulletproof, if outfitted with an oil cooler. The Syncro trans is expensive to rebuild, but holds up well when updated and power is respectfully applied. A bit brittle for Moab, but you can harden it for severe use via shops like Weddle and AA Transaxle.

[greg donovan]

sounds like a EZ30 or a tweaked EJ25 would be a good swap too.

do people swap subaru motors into the older ones?

[SubaruNation]

NO!

[greg donovan]

NO!

no what?

[Legacy294]

Aerotech,
We've done one of the Ej22 NA swaps into a Syncro vanagon. It ran great with the 2.2. Have also seen the H6, EJ20, and STi in one. Pretty sweet set up vs. stock. The biggest pain was the coolant crossover pipe and just getting the system bled once you had coolant in it.

At any rate, I have a complete Ej22 Turbo set up for sale w/ wiring, ecu, complete manifold/sensors, if you have anyone looking. It's all the stuff but the adaptor plate, a vw guy needs for the swap.

Also have a ph 1 DOHC 2.5 that needs a rebuild and a SOHC short block.

Post, Pm or email if you'd like more info..

[subaru legacy turbo]

I have a 97 3.3 JDM motor complete (less P/S pump)

25k.

looking for $900
I'm in the toronto area
ian