Major disaster with Small Car oil pan upgrade ~ HELP!!

[AceDanger]

[J Charlton]

I can't speak to the experiences of others, only mine. I was one of the first to use their bell housing on my suby conversion - there were "teething" problems and I was into V3 before it was all resolved. Through it all, I found Brian and Mao to be available, helpful and thorough. Last year in August, I had a clutch pressure plate fail - Mao got me the parts I needed in Amarillo Texas within 24 hrs - back on the road within 48 hours of breakdown - the SC shortened pan fit my 2.5 fine and I have had no issues with it. I'm adding this to the thread because I just got off the phone with SC - the bracket holding my VSS came loose, sensor touched the rotating magnets, sensor is toast - Mao know exactly whyat I needed and its on its way - I'd use their stuff again - I wish they did a complete selection of stuff for diesel conversions - I'd use it.
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NAHT hightop availability May 18 2023 -
Bend Oregon - for Oregon, California- (7 tot , 3 available), Kennewick Wa (6 tot, 1 available), Small Car Performance Fife Wa. (7 tot 4 avail ), Fairbanks Alaska (1 tot 0 avail)
Future availability TBD : Springfield Mass. Staunton Va, Florida, Colorado, Grand Junction Co., SLC probably late 2024

[ftp2leta]

Ben... shut up.
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Working with rust, grease, dirt and dust is a sad truth.
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Subi conversion: http://www.benplace.com/vanaru_eng.htm
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[Sodo]

Does anybody know what those two large ports are ABOVE the pickup tube? They are outside the oilpan, blocked with 12mm allen plugs. Are those ports for an oil cooler?

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'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop, EJ25, cooled filtered (original) gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

All Vanagons should do this:
Add direct starter-to-chassis cable THEN delete ground strap at front transaxle mount.
The best time to do this mod was in 2010. The second best time is TODAY.
If your starter is slow, this is MORE important.

[syncrodoka]

That's the oil pump.

[AKWesty]

I have been meaning to post these pictures for a while. I had not come across this thread before and could not believe what I was reading. If you get a small car pan and you have an early noninterference EJ22....Do not remove the PLUG! ( unless you have an oil pressure gauge). Seems like a crap shoot

I have a 91 EJ22 and Tom Shiels thermostat housing. Here is the work you can expect when installing your oil pan.

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84' Westy 2wd
EJ22 - 4spd - Peloquin TBD
GW +1.5 Springs
215/70-16's

www.CatchTheKraken.com

"Never go to Alaska as a young man because you'll never be satisfied with any other place as long as you live." -John Muir

[dobryan]

Yes, I had to clearance my Tom Shields fitting the exact same way. No real problem, it is plenty robust. Just an issue of trying to fit two aftermarket parts together. Thanks for posting this so others do not think they did something wrong when it doesn't fit out of the box. 😀
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[Sodo]

Sorry for off-topic,,,, but I thought this 2011 post was run out. Strange that there could be some engines with a plugged port (inside) and some with just a "dummy plug". And that Smallcar had not yet come across an engines where the plug was a galley plug. Good for AKWesty to clarify that on early non-interference engines you cannot remove that plug. Anyway it looks like some good info has been added since I revived it from dead.

Hoping to catch members who knew stuff about the EJ oiling system, or know of modifications. Has anyone re-plumbed those ports for an oil cooler or additional reservoir? I'm more interested in adding another quart to the engine. I know it's sort of the wrong place to add capacity but just trying to get ideas.

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'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop, EJ25, cooled filtered (original) gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

All Vanagons should do this:
Add direct starter-to-chassis cable THEN delete ground strap at front transaxle mount.
The best time to do this mod was in 2010. The second best time is TODAY.
If your starter is slow, this is MORE important.

[tschroeder0]

Orin- sorry to hear about your experience and you have handled the blasting by the forum members well.
I personally know of three people who have had the exact same fitment issues with the SC pan and one who was told to remove the plug as you were. He did and realized that this was going to be a problem and avoided disaster. But he was told to do it and he is not a seasoned mechanic, hence the phone call in the first place.
Should you have questioned the no oil pressure, of course, can we all make some really dumb mistakes when we are in the thick of something we dont know that much about and have been told to do something by a pro that we think we can trust, absolutely.
when you pay good money for a product you should get good instructions and a product that fits. Small car makes some great products, but my recollection here and personally is that the oil pan has had issues for a long while.