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Ninz306
Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2021
Posts: 21
Location: Arizona
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 Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 11:38 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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Been busy working away on the van. I local van came up for sale in my area and I couldn't pass it up. Ya'll know how that goes. I bought it mainly for the transaxle.
My plan is to send the transaxle away to be rebuilt. In the meantime I will remove the subaru engine from the donor Forester and start prepping it for the vanagon. I will request a regear of the transaxle and mate it to the subaru engine. This way I can still use the vanagon while I'm assembling its new powertrain.
I bought the towing gear from Harbor Freight. I drilled 1/2" holes on the towing gear and I used a set of Grade 8 bolts to mount the brackets to the van. This avoided any drilling into the van. She towed fine. |
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Ninz306
Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2021
Posts: 21
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 11:50 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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I don't have pictures of the before, but the cabinet above the bottom bed was in very rough shape. The trim was missing, so i removed it from the donor van and repurposed it.
I utilized speaker box upholstery for the inside of the cabinet. The cabinet was sanded, painted, then cleared. The door latches without any issues.
The interior of the cabinet came out great as well.
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markswagen
Samba Member
Joined: January 28, 2018
Posts: 1555
Location: san diego
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 12:31 pm Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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l've done 14 total, 3 air-cooled to subaru conversions, the last went from 4 speed manual to 3 speed automatic while l was at at.
none of which l cut the lower grill out, firstly use the thicker of the two radiators available, although the first one l did, the customer bought the thinner one, it's been fine 7 years in, still zero issues.
the second thing l do, as you need to add in wiring for a fan, use a late model 70amp fan rather than the earlier one,40amp.
there's no need not to, for power to the fan relay l take a fused 8awg wire directly from the battery, over kill maybe.
_________________
markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.
619 201 0310 |
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GoEverywhere
Samba Member
Joined: December 13, 2020
Posts: 862
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 12:47 pm Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| markswagen wrote: |
l've done 14 total, 3 air-cooled to subaru conversions, the last went from 4 speed manual to 3 speed automatic while l was at at.
none of which l cut the lower grill out, firstly use the thicker of the two radiators available, although the first one l did, the customer bought the thinner one, it's been fine 7 years in, still zero issues.
the second thing l do, as you need to add in wiring for a fan, use a late model 70amp fan rather than the earlier one,40amp.
there's no need not to, for power to the fan relay l take a fused 8awg wire directly from the battery, over kill maybe. |
I'll add that my aircooled to Subie conversion dyno'd at 540HP. Still no lower grille cutout, you don't need it. Airflow is fine. |
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Ninz306
Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2021
Posts: 21
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 9:50 pm Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| markswagen wrote: |
l've done 14 total, 3 air-cooled to subaru conversions, the last went from 4 speed manual to 3 speed automatic while l was at at.
none of which l cut the lower grill out, firstly use the thicker of the two radiators available, although the first one l did, the customer bought the thinner one, it's been fine 7 years in, still zero issues.
the second thing l do, as you need to add in wiring for a fan, use a late model 70amp fan rather than the earlier one,40amp.
there's no need not to, for power to the fan relay l take a fused 8awg wire directly from the battery, over kill maybe. |
Thank you for sharing that information. I’m still gathering the parts required for the swap. I think I have a pretty good list. So far I’ve acquired the stainless coolant pipes. |
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Ninz306
Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2021
Posts: 21
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 9:52 pm Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| GoEverywhere wrote: |
| markswagen wrote: |
l've done 14 total, 3 air-cooled to subaru conversions, the last went from 4 speed manual to 3 speed automatic while l was at at.
none of which l cut the lower grill out, firstly use the thicker of the two radiators available, although the first one l did, the customer bought the thinner one, it's been fine 7 years in, still zero issues.
the second thing l do, as you need to add in wiring for a fan, use a late model 70amp fan rather than the earlier one,40amp.
there's no need not to, for power to the fan relay l take a fused 8awg wire directly from the battery, over kill maybe. |
I'll add that my aircooled to Subie conversion dyno'd at 540HP. Still no lower grille cutout, you don't need it. Airflow is fine. |
It’s good to know you haven’t had cooling issues. I think if the radiator is set up properly then there should be no issues. |
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tnarey
Samba Member
Joined: October 19, 2024
Posts: 8
Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 2:52 pm Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| JohnL99 wrote: |
Twins! Started as a 1980 air cooled. I did a E25 Sub also. We use this thing all the time. Congratulations! |
If you don't mind me asking, do you recall how much it cost to get to get the lower grill cut out and installed onto your van? I've a previously air-cooled '83 westy, which had the Subaru swap done. I've had a lot of cooling issues and have come to the conclusion, after exhausting all other avenues, that I will have to bite the bullet and get the lower grill installed onto mine. |
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GoEverywhere
Samba Member
Joined: December 13, 2020
Posts: 862
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 9:00 pm Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| tnarey wrote: |
| JohnL99 wrote: |
Twins! Started as a 1980 air cooled. I did a E25 Sub also. We use this thing all the time. Congratulations! |
If you don't mind me asking, do you recall how much it cost to get to get the lower grill cut out and installed onto your van? I've a previously air-cooled '83 westy, which had the Subaru swap done. I've had a lot of cooling issues and have come to the conclusion, after exhausting all other avenues, that I will have to bite the bullet and get the lower grill installed onto mine. |
Counterpoint. I'm running a 540HP turbo EJ20x in my originally aircooled. No lower grill. Stays perfectly cool. You don't need the lower grill. Something else is wrong. |
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4Gears4Tires
Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2018
Posts: 4140
Location: MD
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 7:41 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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I wouldn't regear the trans for a Subi swap. In fact, I think the stock VW gearing is better suited for an EJ25 than a WBX. There's a weird gap at 3rd gear with the stock hp that is no longer present with an EJ.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition |
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tnarey
Samba Member
Joined: October 19, 2024
Posts: 8
Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 9:40 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| GoEverywhere wrote: |
| tnarey wrote: |
| JohnL99 wrote: |
Twins! Started as a 1980 air cooled. I did a E25 Sub also. We use this thing all the time. Congratulations! |
If you don't mind me asking, do you recall how much it cost to get to get the lower grill cut out and installed onto your van? I've a previously air-cooled '83 westy, which had the Subaru swap done. I've had a lot of cooling issues and have come to the conclusion, after exhausting all other avenues, that I will have to bite the bullet and get the lower grill installed onto mine. |
Counterpoint. I'm running a 540HP turbo EJ20x in my originally aircooled. No lower grill. Stays perfectly cool. You don't need the lower grill. Something else is wrong. |
My van runs fine around town for the most part. However, once I hit the freeway and the outside temp is decently high (I live in LA). the temp will steadily climb past 200 up to around 220. I don't let it get that high and will turn on the heater in order to get the coolant temp to come back down. It shouldn't be going past 180-195. Everything is brand new as I've had all the work done in the past year.
My mechanic has done dozens of Subaru swaps and many of them to formally air-cooled vanagons like mine. I even took it to a pep boys to have them vacuum pump the coolant in order to make sure there were no air bubbles in the system and it's still doing it. |
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GoEverywhere
Samba Member
Joined: December 13, 2020
Posts: 862
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 9:44 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| tnarey wrote: |
| GoEverywhere wrote: |
| tnarey wrote: |
| JohnL99 wrote: |
Twins! Started as a 1980 air cooled. I did a E25 Sub also. We use this thing all the time. Congratulations! |
If you don't mind me asking, do you recall how much it cost to get to get the lower grill cut out and installed onto your van? I've a previously air-cooled '83 westy, which had the Subaru swap done. I've had a lot of cooling issues and have come to the conclusion, after exhausting all other avenues, that I will have to bite the bullet and get the lower grill installed onto mine. |
Counterpoint. I'm running a 540HP turbo EJ20x in my originally aircooled. No lower grill. Stays perfectly cool. You don't need the lower grill. Something else is wrong. |
My van runs fine around town for the most part. However, once I hit the freeway and the outside temp is decently high (I live in LA). the temp will steadily climb past 200 up to around 220. I don't let it get that high and will turn on the heater in order to get the coolant temp to come back down. It shouldn't be going past 180-195. Everything is brand new as I've had all the work done in the past year.
My mechanic has done dozens of Subaru swaps and many of them to formally air-cooled vanagons like mine. I even took it to a pep boys to have them vacuum pump the coolant in order to make sure there were no air bubbles in the system and it's still doing it. |
3 weeks ago I drove mine from Portland to Idaho and back, a trip of 2000 miles. I climbed over a mountain pass, never dropping below 80MPH on a day it was 105F out. My temperature hit a peak of 195F.
Its not the lower grille.
Are you using an old radiator? Maybe your installer didn't route the coolant properly? I've seen installs where they don't get coolant to the back side of the thermostat and they don't open properly because the thermostat itself doesn't get warm enough. |
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tnarey
Samba Member
Joined: October 19, 2024
Posts: 8
Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 9:53 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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I'd think not. Like I mentioned he's done quite a lot of these conversions and mine seems to be the one that is having issues. Though it seems to be mostly when I get up to speed. I did convert it from a manual transmission to an automatic, however I doubt that is reason for the overheating issue.
My next plan of action was to heat-form an air dam using 1/8" ABS plastic sheeting, behind the grill, to focus more air towards the radiator. As a side note, the radiator fan does indeed work and often.
Last edited by tnarey on Mon Jul 14, 2025 10:45 am; edited 1 time in total |
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GoEverywhere
Samba Member
Joined: December 13, 2020
Posts: 862
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 9:56 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| tnarey wrote: |
I'd think not. Like I mentioned he's done quite a lot of these conversions and mine seems to be the one that is having issues. Though it seems to be mostly when I get up to speed. I did convert it from a manual transmission to an automatic, however I doubt that is reason for the overheating issue.
My next plane of action was to heat-form an air dam using 1/8" ABS plastic sheeting, behind the grill, to focus more air towards the radiator. As a side note, the radiator fan does indeed work and often. |
Do you not have the factory air dam installed? There should be plastic parts that mount around the radiator to direct the air through the radiator, not around it. |
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tnarey
Samba Member
Joined: October 19, 2024
Posts: 8
Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 10:45 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| The Air-cooled version doesn't have that. It never needed it |
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GoEverywhere
Samba Member
Joined: December 13, 2020
Posts: 862
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 11:16 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| tnarey wrote: |
| The Air-cooled version doesn't have that. It never needed it |
When you switch to watercooling the watercooled vans DID have that. You need it if you're putting a radiator up front in an aircooled rig. Without it a lot of the airflow bypasses the radiator. |
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tnarey
Samba Member
Joined: October 19, 2024
Posts: 8
Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 12:20 pm Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| Yup, hence the reason I was going to manufacture my own before moving onto cutting the front of my van to install the 2nd lower grill. It's my hope that I won't have too. Though I suspect the original German designers did put one in the waterboxers for a reason |
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Ninz306
Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2021
Posts: 21
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2025 9:44 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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| 4Gears4Tires wrote: |
| I wouldn't regear the trans for a Subi swap. In fact, I think the stock VW gearing is better suited for an EJ25 than a WBX. There's a weird gap at 3rd gear with the stock hp that is no longer present with an EJ. |
I did further research and I think I'm going to use the trans that's in the van now with the stock gearing. I pulled the trans from the junk van and I plan on keeping that one on standby in case the current one fails.
Thank you for confirming that its a better choice. |
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Ninz306
Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2021
Posts: 21
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2025 9:48 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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Recent work on the van consisted of replacing the hookup covers and fabricating brackets for the Land Rover mirrors.
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Ninz306
Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2021
Posts: 21
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2025 9:57 am Post subject: Re: 1981 Vanagon Westfalia |
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I also got around to removing the back driver side window with an aluminum cut out. I replaced the seal and painted the aluminum. I honestly want to weld in sheet metal for the two rear windows and the rear glass. I eventually will, but I have other things that need my attention. I also removed the rear cabinet as it needs some attention. I began installing Killmat while its out. I will also be installing new insulation.
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