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Fri Dec 29, 2006 7:06 am

If anyone has done a Aircooled Vanagon to Subaru conversion would you mind posting your story?

I have a nice clean 82 Westy and am considering it......but would like to hear from any folks who have actually done it.

thanks

Fri Dec 29, 2006 7:53 am

I converted my 1980 aircooled to a Turbo Diesel.

all depends on your level of mechanical/electrical/custom expertise..

you will need a H2o donor van for items like the front to back coolant lines, heater core (depending on your climate) radiator and fan including fan wiring (it'll modular come out of the donor harness)

in the back the aircooled FI removes modular as well, and leaves you with the few key wires for basic operation.

mouting and installing the suby into a AC van would be quite similiar to into a H2o van.

you should drop the tank (R&R it wile you're there) but you can slip the steel water lines over it if you have patience. I cut my H2o lines in half to make them easier to handle (back 1/2 was rusted anyways)

Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:42 pm

Most shops won't want to touch it if it has a problem. You will need both VW and Subaru skills. I would say if you do the conversion yourself by the time it is running down the road you will have those skills. I would stick to VW myself. We had a 80 camper with a 3.0 porsche 911 engine and 5 speed. The conversion was done by Callaway in CT. Now theres a conversion. It would mop up a 6 cylinder bmw, but you could drive your grandma to the dr. in it. Since it was aircooled no plumbing to deal with. It was a head turner.

Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:14 pm

wolfej1 wrote: If anyone has done a Aircooled Vanagon to Subaru conversion would you mind posting your story?

I have a nice clean 82 Westy and am considering it......but would like to hear from any folks who have actually done it.

thanks

You need to go to the Yahoo Subaru Vanagon group and read through the database, files, and post archives. It has definitely been done, although routing the cooling system and installing a radiator probably adds a good bit of work.

And as far as a shop touching it, if you do the conversion yourself, you shouldn't ever have to worry about a shop touching it. You should be proficient enough to take care of it yourself.

BUT, on the off chance that you do develop a problem that you can't handle, any Subaru shop can handle an EJ22 whether it's in a Legacy or not.

Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:15 am

You read so much of H20 van conversions but not air ones. I want to hear more of porsche conversions. Are there kits out there? Info?

Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:09 am

Basilbomb wrote: You read so much of H20 van conversions but not air ones. I want to hear more of porsche conversions. Are there kits out there? Info?

http://alpha.fdu.edu/~kennedy/toybox.htm
google "porsch powered vanagon" and you will get several results, a couple of companys offer kits.
This was a real popular conversion.
The bad part of this conversion was that you had to cut a hole in the engine hatch for it to fit, which kind of screwed up the bottom bed in the Westy, and porsch parts aren't cheap.

Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:06 pm

mightyart wrote: "porsch powered vanagon"

I have had people chew me out for droping that “E”. Now every time I see it spelled that way I want to hide. That was the worst birthday ever, I had an awful grandfather!!

If your going to convert your air cooled to water cooled just get one with a radiator. I was thinking the same thing but I think in the long run it would have higher resale value if I didn’t cut it up. Plus they only made the air cooled Vanagons for three years. I am hoping one day the word “rare” will be associated with them. HOPING….. . . .

Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:42 pm

I dream of this stuff because it sounds like a fun and funky project (like that beetle with the rocket engine in it), and yet I love the character of the AC vanagons. I mean, people can complain about their shortcomings, but there really is nothing like them out there. An AC engine in a beetle, even those tin tubs called busses, makes sense -you aren't surprised when one goes rattling past. But in a hulk like a vanagon? It's a chimera; part minivan, part bus, old world blending with the new. Why try and create a one-off when the engineers already did it for us? If you want a better designed rig, buy one. If you want a freak of the design and engineering wold, get an '80-83 vanagon. Because of his I can totally see them being collector items, if for no other reason than they show the sudden evolution in Volkswagens.

Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:35 pm

May be more practical to go here and do a camper special with a couple of mods.....

http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/vw_camperspecial.htm