TheSamba.com :: View topic - And so it begins

Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:24 am

One thing to remember, and this will be far on down the line...

The Vanagon engine carrier bar is NOT SYMMETRICAL. Make sure you install it right the first time, with the bar leaning in towards the front of the Vanagon. If your VW motor mounts are all twisty, you'll know it's backwards...

That's one of those little things that I learned the frustrating way.

Good luck!!!

Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:11 am

I didn't notice this before but take a look at one of the random stickers that came with the car (previous owners are new age hippies...and pretty cool folk)

Look at the left lower cheek of this fun CareDEATHbear

Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:40 am

Good compression numbers, and this with a 200,000 mile motor!
Now, have fun pulling that harness. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:06 pm

levi wrote: Good compression numbers, and this with a 200,000 mile motor!
Now, have fun pulling that harness. :lol: :lol: :lol:

AHEM.....180,000 miles....20,000 miles represents three years of driving for me..... :roll:

I'm pretty amazed at the design, smoothness, and stout nature of this motor. It's really amazing to me that Volkswagen couldn't design something even remotely close to it. Regardless, I'll be yanking the "old" 2.2 GoWesty probably Friday to sell it hopefully over the weekend. I'm too busy with the kind of work that pays money until then....how annoying....and weird :-s

Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:11 pm

Well, I'm just about as far as you, freakness. I am planning on being done in two weeks working nights and weekends. We'll see how that goes.

Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:32 pm

Looking like a great start. Keep the pictures coming. I want to do a swap !

Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:13 pm

fuzzymath wrote: Well, I'm just about as far as you, freakness. I am planning on being done in two weeks working nights and weekends. We'll see how that goes.

Dude...you are at least a month ahead of me. I haven't ordered anything from Kennedy yet.....d'oh

Is your old wbx motor still in the van; out of it?; sold ?; if sold, how much ?

Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:37 pm

Keep posting pics, folks! As the original poster said, it's SO much easier following stuff here than on the Subaru/Vanagon list. I too just got a 2.2L wrecked donor, and the harness is almost out. But I'll probably not drop it in until after camping season....

Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:49 pm

loogy wrote: My opinion? Order as many parts from Vanaru as you can and if your not going to do your own wiring harness, have Tom Shiels do it or at least test it when it's done. Go with the shortened oil pan. It is not a detriment to the engine (you still run the same amount of oil as you would with a full length pan) and you don't have the pan hanging down as a liability just waiting to connect with a semi truck tire chunk laying in the middle of the freeway.

I am not the biggest SmallCar fan. I feel that some of their parts are just OK/barely good enough. There are better parts out there. I know that I seem to be in the minority on this so let's just leave it at that.

I've been in touch with Vanaru and they told me....FORGET about them as a source for conversion parts. Since I'm in California the ONLY thing I can purchase from them that would pass inspection is their reverse manifold

cooling system. I like the fact that they were straightforward about it and they recommended I go with as much of the Kennedy products as possible. This is due to Kennedy's CARB certification for 2.2 conversions.

Ahh.....life in the GOLDEN State :roll:

Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:03 pm

freakness wrote:
I've been in touch with Vanaru and they told me....FORGET about them as a source for conversion parts. Since I'm in California the ONLY thing I can purchase from them that would pass inspection is their reverse manifold cooling system. I like the fact that they were straightforward about it and they recommended I go with as much of the Kennedy products as possible. This is due to Kennedy's CARB certification for 2.2 conversions.

Ahh.....life in the GOLDEN State :roll:

Sometimes I forget the troubles that you Californians have with this issue. Hans and John (Vanaru) are great guys though.

Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:47 pm

freakness wrote:
I've been in touch with Vanaru and they told me....FORGET about them as a source for conversion parts. Since I'm in California the ONLY thing I can purchase from them that would pass inspection is their reverse manifold

cooling system. I like the fact that they were straightforward about it and they recommended I go with as much of the Kennedy products as possible. This is due to Kennedy's CARB certification for 2.2 conversions.

Ahh.....life in the GOLDEN State :roll:

Interesting -- someone pmailed me from the SubaruVanagon list and said this KEP and California thing is overrated. He said that you need the OBD light free of error codes, that difficulty for approval was dependant upon the examiner, that you may get even get more scrutiny for a KEP kit. Others have said you need to use the Subaru cat if you don't use a KEP kit.

Since people have gotten all manner of engines to pass, it can be done.

I live within a few miles of California, so want it to be easy in case I sell the vanagon to a Californian or move there. But I really don't want to go 100% KEP.

Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:13 pm

RichBenn wrote: freakness wrote:
I've been in touch with Vanaru and they told me....FORGET about them as a source for conversion parts. Since I'm in California the ONLY thing I can purchase from them that would pass inspection is their reverse manifold

cooling system. I like the fact that they were straightforward about it and they recommended I go with as much of the Kennedy products as possible. This is due to Kennedy's CARB certification for 2.2 conversions.

Ahh.....life in the GOLDEN State :roll:

Interesting -- someone pmailed me from the SubaruVanagon list and said this KEP and California thing is overrated. He said that you need the OBD light free of error codes, that difficulty for approval was dependant upon the examiner, that you may get even get more scrutiny for a KEP kit. Others have said you need to use the Subaru cat if you don't use a KEP kit.

Since people have gotten all manner of engines to pass, it can be done.

I live within a few miles of California, so want it to be easy in case I sell the vanagon to a Californian or move there. But I really don't want to go 100% KEP.

From what I'm learning, a hybrid kit is the way to go but yes, it's a bit of a random process when the van is inspected. I'll go by what the Buslab dudes here in Berkeley say since, they convert and pass them all the time. I do know, however, that they use Kennedy as their base conversion platform.

Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:15 pm

Having done this last year and living in CA I can give you my experience, which is also in the archives of the subievanagon group.

mine is a 2.2L obd1. I went with the whole Kennedy enchilada but I don't think its necessary at all. In fact I am thinking about doing my other syncro and the kennedy engine hanger will not work with the skid plate. There is no way an inspector can tell or would even look at the adapter, flywheel, engine carrier or reverse manifold.

Mine (referee) pulled out the whole book of diagrams (mostly looking at the emissions) for the kennedy conversion and from what I could tell only really wanted to see the vanagon vacuum container (glad I had not used the subie like most everyone else is doing now) and lines as per the kennedy approved conversion. Getting the diagram helps, not sure what you have to buy to get it.

I failed the inspection because I put in switches in place of the green and black diagnostic connectors and "modified the emissions". I just put the plugs back on and it passed.

I cant imagine he even noticed the cat numbers or the muffler numbers.

What you don't want to do is answer any questions they don't ask.

NO codes is also not important, you can have three, but off the top of my head I dont remember them (33 and 34 and ?). They go away with the speed sensor that is not totally needed but helps for sure. I had codes till the sensor.

as they say, don't worry, its a breeze and the conversion rocks.

peter

Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:06 pm

2Dokas wrote:
Mine (referee) pulled out the whole book of diagrams (mostly looking at the emissions) for the kennedy conversion and from what I could tell only really wanted to see the vanagon vacuum container (glad I had not used the subie like most everyone else is doing now) and lines as per the kennedy approved conversion. Getting the diagram helps, not sure what you have to buy to get it.

peter
By "lines" do you mean wiring? Or plumbing? Or vaccum lines (like to the charcoal cannister?)

Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:25 pm

:oops: sorry, yes the vacuum lines to the charcoal cannister, I was a little loose with the terminology.

cheers

peter

Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:38 am

Update #5

Well dudes,

It's Saturday, June 23rd, 2007....and I've begun pulling the GoWesty 2.2 motor from my Transporter. I knew it was low-mileage but it's only 7,000 miles old ?!! Check out the classified add under PARTS/TYPE 2/BUS - VANAGON-UP. It's also on the GoWesty website classifieds >>>>>>> [url]
DELETED[/url]

I'll post some pictures of the aftermath tonight or on Sunday.

Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:33 pm

Update #6

Dudes,

Well, some progress has been made.

View of the "old" GoWesty 2.2 motor still in the engine bay about to be pulled. Everything connecting the van to the engine has been disconnected (well, sort of). It took me four, slow, casual hours to get to this point where I could place the car jack under the engine and disconnect the bolts holding the engine to the transmission and the bolts holding the engine carrier to the frame of the van. I was being very mellow

Ahhh.....the motor is out. I left the transmission in and simply removed all rear cooling tin so that I could disconnect the engine from the transmission by moving it towards the rear of the van. It was one of those jiggle/wiggle/hit engine carrier with mallet/jiggle/wiggle/move car jack down a bit/jiggle some more/move jack up then down again/and a final pull.....kind of engine removal procedure. I am definitely going to get an ATV jack for when I install the Subaru engine. Using a regular car jack is inherently unstable and although I didn't have any problems, I don't want to do it that way again unless I absolutely have to.

View of engine bay sans motor. A lot of clean-up and removal of miscellaneous bits will be next on the to-do-list. Notice the nice shiny new clutch slave cylinder on the left side of the transmission. So much easier to get to now. After the clean-up I'll paint the engine bay a nice off-white which is what the rest of the van will be painted....

I'm quite proud of myself for hardly dropping even the smallest amount of coolant and generally doing a first-class job so far....... :roll:

I inspected the solid coolant lines that run to the radiator at the front of the van and found them to be in decent shape. At least the portions that are plainly visible. This is a California van after all. I am considering, however, to changing them to stainless-steel lines considering the van IS twenty-three years-old and it IS going to Hawai'i at the end of the year. Hmmmm any thoughts on the best solution? Photo shows the ends of the solid coolant lines as they enter the engine bay and connect to the familiar black rubber flexible hoses on top of the engine.

Another view of the ends of the solid coolant lines

I'll clean-up the transmission area to see if I can find anything worn or suspect but it seems o.k. for now

The day I pulled the motor a check arrived in the mail so the engine is now SOLD. Nice feeling actually. I'll be ordering from Kennedy pretty soon and I KNOW I want to purchase MasterCraft Motor's throttle linkage kit so I can retain the stock throttle cable.
http://www.vanperformance.com/Product3.htm

As soon as the old engine is picked up I'll shut down the Subaru donor car for the last time and begin pulling the wiring harness to send to Tom Shiels in Canada.

Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:14 pm

Good work dude! no turning back now 8) I called Seth at Mastercraft last week about the throttle cam and says he does not have any more right now because no one is sending him back the cores so you might want to inquire about that. I think I will try to make something up myself as I've got access to a MIG/argon welder. Tom Shiels will take care of you nicely with the harness.. He's a super nice guy and a good friend of mine.. lives like 45 min away from me.

As said in Spaceballs "May the schwartz be with you."

Later

Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:24 pm

Haven't you got that finished yet?
:wink:
Those coolant lines are metal on the 84 huh? I cut mine, both of em, about 1-1/2 ft down. Connected with a piece of standard 1-1/2" flex line. And I took a sawsall to that metal which is holding your stubs. But, I didn't use a reversed manifold.
Don't see any reason to replace em when they look good. If it was an east coast van you'd want to replace them I s'pose.
Lookin good. You sure you want to do this? Maybe it's a mistake!

:) :) :)

Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:40 pm

levi wrote: Haven't you got that finished yet?
:wink: You sure you want to do this? Maybe it's a mistake!

:) :) :)

d'oh #-o