TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Dec 27, 2013 2:45 pm

hey all, now that i have a dependable car to drive everyday, i am retiring the baja from daily driver duties. the stock sp1600 has been slowly dying over the last few months and i have my heart set on a subaru swap.
i am going to retain the vw transaxle, so i am not looking for a high hp turbo motor. just something reliable and 3x the output of my stocker.
i love the look of the stock lines, and do not want to do any exterior modifications such as cutting sheetmetal,exposed engine, etc. however, i have no problem cutting and rearranging interior (non visible) metal.

now, i hear that the sohc engines fit almost like factory, with only very minor trimming of the inner panels to clear the cam gear covers. from what i understand the dohc engines must have the entire powertrain moved forward or else the engine has major interference issues with the rear body sheetmetal. that is a little more than i want to do.

i should also mention that i have a 3" body lift. i was just curious if anybody knew if the body lift would give me enough clearance to run a dohc engine without having to cut any exterior sheetmetal.

also if anybody can help me out as far as which donor vehicles i should be looking for. everyone tells me get a sohc ej22, however all of the ones i am finding are between 90-94 model years. people keep telling me they made them until 99 or so, but every newer model i come across at the junkyard seems to be dohc.

id prefer the ej25, due to the longer stroke..i feel the extra torque will help me during hill climbing with the 30" tires im running.

any advice would be appreciated. thank you

Sun Dec 29, 2013 1:26 pm

If you are going to install a turbo Subi in your bug, a little less stroke isn't going to hinder your climbing ability with 30" tires.

Mon Dec 30, 2013 11:31 am

actually id prefer to go the non turbo route.
so i am looking at either the 2.2 or 2.5 NA engines.
120-150 whp is more than enough for what im doing... this is a 95% street driven vehicle. so no real need for big power. the little 1600 had enough go to get me around the desert just fine. so i think double to tripling that out put with the NA engines should be awesome in itself.

just hoping that the dohc engine will clear with the body lift.
so if anybody has any insight on thatit would make finding the donor a lot easier.

Mon Dec 30, 2013 9:54 pm

You might want to do a search on " German look" . "Those guys ", are doing a lot of stuffing of subaru
and other engines into stock bodied bugs. I think the oil pans hang low.

That would totally cool to have a Subaru in the back of class ll style. I've considered it after seeing what it cost to get a decent air cooled engine thes days

Tue Dec 31, 2013 1:03 pm

thanks dirt keeper... ill look into the german look forums.
ive tried about every google search i can think of on the subject without much luck..
we did happen to have a new sti in the shop the other day and i measured the dimensions..sure seems tight but i believe it will fit. might have to figure out a new way to attach my rear bumper though. but i think the body lift gives it enough room to clear.

heres a pic of the car for anyone who might be interested.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020016255...ater[/img]

and i totally agree on the cost of rebuilding a vw for performance these days..
i already got burned $800 bucks on a 1776 i bought on craigslist. i should have just bought the subaru engine from the get go. i cant think of an easier way to get fuel injection, more power, and reliability for less.

Wed Jan 01, 2014 6:47 pm

Couple of good threads,

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=517041&highlight=subaru

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=217081&highlight=subaru

Fri Jan 03, 2014 3:06 pm

thanks for the links dan.

there is a lot of good information on those pages.

hopefully i can find a decent donor soon and get to it.

im gonna try to leave the 1600 in there as long as possible, so i can still drive the car while im working on it.

im going to start with the the radiator setup up front and work my way back.

if there is any interest ill make a build thread once i get started.

Fri Jan 03, 2014 4:15 pm

Quote: if there is any interest ill make a build thread once i get started.

Always! Bring it on!