My middie

[thummmper]

I now have 2 years to get this right till my next smog test. The e/t is out and has a new home in san diego as of today.
the dough I got for that will buy the 94 new yorker donor on tuesday. one hand just keeps washing the other here.
It's not that I got a lot for the e/t, its just that a whole chrysler new yorker sedan is bought for less than that.

all that and clean underneath too. since this is the cleanest vanagon underside I have ever seen here on this site,
with exception to daisy's front floor, I must be serious. shockingly so.

oo

[smokin_dodge]

i must say you have me intrigued - but concerned at the same time.

im guessing in order to mount the chevy v6 your going to have to cut away parts of the frame/body - while in a normal car this would be fine, but vanagons are unibody design - the body helps support the structural integrity of the vehicle

im also intrigued as how you are going to mount the v6 tranny? ive read a few posts on other forums of people who have modified the pivot angle of the transaxle mount (either moved it forward or backwards) and only ended up blowing up the cv's or snapping the halfshafts from the torque and acceleration from 200+ hp

do you plan on making a center pivot for the tranny in the back? im guessing make a mount to go between the frame rails?

also how to you plan on mounting the engine to the body?

i will say this project very much so intrigues me (after reading about gearheads puting 350's in beatles back in the 70's) but im also very skeptical.... and IMHO i think ur just pissing in the wind....

then there is the safety factor at hand...what happens if you get in a front end collision and the motor mounts snap? you no longer have a firewall and transaxle protecting you from the engine flying forward - so potential for the engine to be sitting on top of you... or even flying into the other vehicle...

[GeeZ12]

I have also been thinking about this conversion with the 42LE automatic transmission instead and not in the mid-ship configuration. The 42LE transmission has a chain drive transfer case already built in the rear. I have been thinking of cutting some gears to replace the chain drive that would allow 4 forward and 1 reverse gear when mounted in the standard Vanagon configuration. This would also allow the automatic to be used with the Syncro.

Just my 2¢

Gary

[thummmper]

smokin dodge is really a cool avvy. This will fit under the deck with 9" g.c. Originally, the ceo of the then newly acquired
american motors headed up the LHS project and personally pushed the fwd longitudinal configuration through. Iacocca was
planning his retirement and they were going to out do him with this totally cad-cam generated design [avoided mockup for the
first time in modern automotive history].
anyway, this ceo wanted it to be designed available to awd if sales supported it. the outback was building inside the legacy
and the quattro dominated the 80s with awd in racing.
I'm sure they had drawings for driving the rear wheels. so a longer output shaft and tailcone with a bearing and seal would be a
good start. the syncro would enjoy the traction control as well. this is egghead stuff. software adapting the awd sensors and such.

the subframe horseshoe or forward structure will be fitted to interface with the vanagon structure. There are some tricks I learned
on the wing dock back at douglas aircraft. I know how to stem frame stress. how to manage it. when the center cross beam is
severed, the van will want to
bend into itsself. the edges of the floor around the inboard pins would fatigue downward from the wheels upforce.

so a strong bridge must be inlaid, probably with reciever sleeves WITHIN the cross member, spot welded thru multiple holes,
spreading the load over a broad area of thin steel. laminating or lapping is then appropriate for the surface to weld the
subframe to, all flushed in. the factory mounts will be used [the latest revised versions], bell housing joined and the rear cross
member for the trans. all quiet design.
I may have to shift the e/t to the left 1" to compensate the diff offset. [one halfshaft is 6" longer than the other] or so. not enough
to throw her sideways in a bind.
I just got a chrysler sedan today, officially. A jeep eagle vision [american motors div] one of the 5 LHS sedans under different
division badges. got her from an air force lieutenant at march afb in moreno valley, ca.
just today for $750.00 with a new cam belt and rebuilt trans. just cant do much better than that! these are magical days

[Silence262]

Unfortunately, unlike a Vanagon, the drivetrain-deprived Eagle will have almost no value. Glad you were able to buy it right.

Makes me want to start looking for a nice late-model Vanagon with a bad automatic transmission. Sell the good WBX, use that to buy a rusty but smooth-running LHS, and jin the movement.

Damn you! Thanks to you, not a day goes by when I don't think "wow, I want a 3.5L in this thing!" I am already dreaming of the Chrysler 16" wheels in my Vanagon wells, wondering what mods will have to occur...My 1995 LHS had cool spiderwebby aluminum wheels.

(Yes, I'm Bob M from the group VanagonLHS. You should have a check by now!)
_________________
Silence
"Knowledge, sir, should be free to all." - Harry Mudd

1987 GL Automatic, 16" GoWesty wheels, Full stainless exhaust.

[thummmper]

thank you bob--
that paid for the pre smog test and a 12 pack of coronas for the smog guy. It equaled a half price deal. now I have a smog
printout to show the ref later. Ths eagle is up on stands now and I'm plotting the removal.

[thummmper]

I actually started CUTTING the floor today, after hauling 4000.00 worth of STUFF to goodwill--sayonara!!!! I can clear my mind to
attend to the hole that is growing in the middle of my 89gl. the longitudinal subfloor beams arent placed as precisely as I would
have expected. they vary from center as much as 1/4"

It's amazing, all the prep work it takes to get to this point. everything runs down the middle through this area and needs
pulling back. the harnass is unlaced to the fuel tank and is hanging through the closed slider window on the drivers side.--turtling on...

[D Clymer]

Todd,

I'm glad to see the prep and initial layout work are all going well. Thanks for keeping us updated on here on your progress. I'll be very interested to see just how much usable drivetrain space there is in front of the rear axle line.

David

[ALIKA T3]

Alea jacta est

[thummmper]

Uh, yeah! corpus delecti verbatum!

I'll have a money shot this week-- I drove it to san diego this am and logged 23 mpg. I drove 80 most of the way down and 65 back.
this car weighs 900 lbs more than the GL.
the 16" wheels with tires stand 25.5". She cruises 2100 rpm at 70. [3.9 r/p]
Just measured the track width on both vehicles. Guess what?
THEYRE BOTH 60" to the center of the tire. the halfshafts are 28 splines. I just have to measure the diameter. I know they are metric.
the tripot joints on the inboard sides have 3" of linear travel. thats almost 3x the travel of the ball/cup CV's. quite a bit of flexibility.
I want to see if a wheel will fit the gl...
During the day I do the dirty work and at night I study the wiring. I have 60 days to kick butt before I lose my shop, so I'm on it. exillerating.

[thummmper]

abrasive wheels are quite effective. theres 23" in between those trailing arm pins.
wednesday the V6 comes out for prep and mockup / dimensioning.
I went to my state smog ref and he gave me his blessing after I showed him the smog test for the LHS. He has no surprises for me. just get it running and make an appointment for inspection and he will smog it on the dyno. The inspection is free.

[thummmper]

tidbits--
the halfshafts are about 1" diameter, same as the vanagon. this will save a lot of dough in reusing the LHS shafts.
the wheels interchange to a degree. the lugs all go on but the LHS has a larger pattern diameter. like 5mm. 4-5/16" side centers.
the tires are 8" wide on 16s. nice shoes! I wanna use them.
I need to archeologically extract this powertrain with lots of catalogueing. apparently, the radiator fan is operated by the ecm,
so that may be a reduction of vw relays there.

got the LHS on a liift today and photographed the belly. the 20 gal tank is abs plastic. the forward muffler is a flat weener type,
very amenable to the van. then it has an aft resonator. a little throaty, but nice and quiet.

[240Gordy]

[D Clymer]

Todd,

The Chrysler wheels have a bolt pattern of 5x114.3 like many american cars. So the holes are only 1.15mm further out compared to the Vanagon wheels. Close!

David

[240Gordy]

how about an overhead shot of that chasm there fella? I am curios how it looks before you cut the cross beam.
_________________
Tencentlife said,
"So, now that you know what you're doing, go to town."
2010 GOLF TRENDLINE 2.5
1985 GL now with more! a 2.1L
H&R SPORT(RED) Springs FRONT , SLAM SPECIALTIES RE6 AIRBAGS REAR

[thummmper]

left side

right side

full face

It never occurred to me to paste an image- I thought I was cluttering the board up if I did.

[ddonnell]

A very neat project. Quite an undertaking! What'll be the HP at the wheels with the new engine in?
_________________
1990 Vanagon Carat-SOLD
1995 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 V10
1966 Baja "The Beast"

instagram #bajabugproject

[thummmper]

a hypothetical 214. she has 174000 miles on her, so her factory
freshness is a little stale, but it only costs 2500 for a moparts crate motor.

[240Gordy]

[levi]