'67 Subaru Powered Fastback "RELOADED"

I am square

I'm starting a new post in continuation of the previous owners post of the same car. As seen here...
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=547640&highlight=subaru+fastback

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

I purchased the car back in March 2014. Drove it from Cali to it's new home in Phoenix. I was able to drive a few months before the car started exhibiting some overheating issues. Long story short...blown head gasket. Which is very common on the Subi 2.5 DOHC.

Summer is my busiest time at work so the car sat in the garage all summer until September or so when I decided to completely redo the Subaru conversion and do it right! It seemed like a good idea since I had to tear down part of the motor anyway to replace head gaskets. BTW, the PO (Bliss13) did not do the conversion so he is not to blame. lol The conversion was functional I'll say that, but it did not look clean.

I start with the front of the car. The radiator was a China Aluminum deal with one electric fan (not gonna be enough for the heat in Phoenix!) It was being held in by plumbers tape of all things.

To make room for the chunk of aluminum the "Conversionist" hacked the front apron, "peeling" metal and using a hole saw to allow air flow.

Time to get to cooking dinner, I'll update some more soon!
_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

I am square · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 5:39 pm Post subject:

What follows next is a little cutting to clean up the previous metal work. I do not claim to be a metal fabricator but I'm sure I'll do a little better job than what was previously done.

I have a dealer installed AC unit for a type 3 so I needed to take into account the fact that I needed room for the condenser. With that said, I'm using a stock Subaru radiator/condenser with stock dual fan set up.

Since I will be adding a condenser, I moved the two vertical support brackets back about an inch. I'm not going into major detail on how this was accomplished as it was a wee bit of work to get it right after a few test fits. Basically I drilled out the spot welds to remove the support brackets, filled in the holes, shortened the brackets and test fitted a few times and secured into position with hardware so it could be removed if need be.

_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

I am square · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 5:49 pm Post subject:

Next up! The Grill! Again, although functional, it wasn't clean. I had seen a pic of a bronze colored T3 from Europe I think, that had a type 4 water-cooled motor. He grafted bug deck lid lovers to the front above the bumper where the license plate would be. I liked this idea of keeping it Volkswagen-esk. SO I found a few beat up deck lids for 10 bucks and got to work. I ended up useing one complete louver and grafted the center portion from another to make one complete unit.

_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

I am square · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 6:01 pm Post subject:

progression pics....

_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

I am square · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 6:17 pm Post subject:

A little body work and paint, well sort of. Since the spare tire tub is going to be exposed to the elements due to the radiator/grill and all, I decided to spray the area with truck bed liner. As to painting it red like the rest of the car, I'm undecided at this point.

_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

I am square · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 6:25 pm Post subject:

I haven't decided on the location of the overflow reservoir. Previously the window wash bottle was used in its stock location. I had to remove it to make room for the AC condenser.

Also the trunk release tube had to be lengthened and rerouted to the other side of the break resevoir to make room for the radiator. I thought I had better pics of that but I don't, sorry. I used brake line for the additional length.

Radiator and brackets I made...

You'll notice in this pic I insulated the gas tank as a precaution. It gets really hot in Phoenix and I didn't want any vapor lock issues.

_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

MonT3 · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 6:47 pm Post subject:

Nice looking fasty. Like the mod as it looks well done.
_________________
MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

ataraxia · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 6:49 pm Post subject:

Looks like this car found a good owner...it's got a lot of potential.

vlad01 · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 6:52 pm Post subject:

Ha! fucking brilliant use of a beetle!

very nice! Surprised

_________________
The best of VW engine development!
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71 Aussie notchback, the money pit
92 VP vacationer, old faithful never die
95 VR executive, Restored beyond factory
92 VP S Pack, bought it new old

vwfye · Samba Member Joined: April 15, 2000 Posts: 7751

Coolio! I'd love a suby daily driver notch!
_________________
64 No'back Speedster "Pearl"
LME "Little Giant Killer 3"
1974 Ghia "PUK"

I am square · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 4:18 am Post subject:

Thanks guys. Very Happy

Tonight I hope to get this post updated to where I'm at now.
_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

TMI Products · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:12 am Post subject:

I wish I could (too lazy to try) do this to mine.
_________________
Mario De Leon
1965 Turbo Mustang Fastback
1966 Type 3 Fastback
VW Division Sales Manager
[email protected]

TMI Products
1493 Bentley Dr.
Corona Ca, 92879
1-800-624-7960
951-272-1584 FAX

VWporscheGT3 · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:29 am Post subject:

Fantastic, looks very good!
_________________
If you have any questions about Forged ICON 4032 VW pistons just shoot me a line.

kooldub · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 10:31 am Post subject:

nice to see this fasty getting some love!! Cool

strong work on the grill. i'm thinking of opening up my "grill area" a bit more, might borrow this set up.
keep the pics coming... thanks

kris
_________________
64 Notchback
68 Fastaru
68 Camper
70 Squareback
73 Thing

grantndub · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 11:11 pm Post subject:

I like where this is going
_________________
Zek Dee Wagen, a 69 square

vlad01 · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:57 am Post subject:

Nate M. · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:26 am Post subject:

I'm really diggin' how this is going!! Keep up the great work!!
_________________
Regards,

Nate M.

Squarsche build
Heavy Metal Affliction feature

For heaven's sake, put a type4 and a Porsche 5-speed in there. . . It's the right thing to do!!

I am square · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:34 pm Post subject:

On to the head gasket. I took the heads in to a machine shop. They said I caught it early and they needed very little milling.

_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

I am square · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:39 pm Post subject:

Here are some useful links that were helpful to me. A few yrs ago I was picking parts of a Subaru and I met this guy named Mike who turns out to be a Subaru Guru. He has some great how to videos on youtube that gave me the encouragement to do the job myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddFsFfiyOvg

Next link is from a shop in WA that has a lot of good info and head gasket kits for a great price.
http://www.smart-service.com/mikescorner-headgasket.html
_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan

I am square · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 5:05 pm Post subject: Subaru trans prep

Subaru trans prep: Since my first bug back in the 90s I've wanted to do a Subaru swap. Rewind a couple years back from now: I had a square back that needed and engine rebuild why not try a the swap then I thought? SO I collected all the parts, only thing missing was the time. Then I found this Fastback already done.
Well, one of the things I managed to accomplish in preping the square back was an IRS swap. I had a stronger bus trans I was going to use and had it in the back of my mind I'd some day need IRS for the Subarugears kit.
So here are pictures of my IRS conversion. (I still have some clean up work to do like filling in some of the gaps that I had to cut out to ad the brackets)

Basically I made a Jig from a later type 3 sub frame:

Not a great pick of it all together, but here it is coming out of square:

_________________
Dustin

'73 Thing
'86 Syncro Doka
'85 Vanagon
'08 R32
'14 Tiguan


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