Little Blue Truck gets a new engine - FAS 2.0 engine conversion

[Vanagon Nut]

[VicVan]

Bad news. Somebody here on the forum sent this thread's link to FAS, and I immediately got an email from Chris at FAS. He told me, upon seeing the picture of the debris in the coolant tank, that the coolant system was way too contaminated, and that I need to change heater cores and radiator.

First, thank you to the anonymous link-sharer, and thank you again to Chris for his reactivity and attention to detail. FAS has always been reactive to my emails, answering within a few hours, 24 max, and answered all of my questions so far.

But now I need to change the heater core, which means removing the dash, which means we won't be able to take the van for our Christmas Holiday vacation. That's a bummer, but it is what it is.
Also, I need to change the radiator, which is a Behr unit I installed exactly two years ago and has less than 10,000 km (6,000 mi) on it. Bummer again.

Not much left of the existing cooling system after that...

So tonight I'll be sourcing a good quality radiator, and reading the threads on heater cores that djkeev initiated.

I'm grateful this was caught early on, and not discovered on the side of the road one day, when the water pump of the brand new engine inexpectedly gives up!
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[Vanagon Nut]

[VicVan]

Thanks Neil for the tip. Saw your pic in another thread, I'll give it a shot.

Meanwhile, some progress has been made:

Fiirewall insulation inspected: no rust at all underneath. The foam is old but still holding together nicely. I'll keep it in place. I'll just treat the rusted retainers and paint them

Met a friend while admiring the surface rust. I'll treat the rust, prime, paint.

This thing (accelerator cable socket on the transmission) is a pain. It is recommended to have a spare throttle cable in the van just in case, but I have no idea how I would remove this ball from its socket on the side of the road. Now it's on my bench, I'll use a Dremel.

Removed the plastic coolant lines and put the stainless steel ones. Dropped the fuel tank an inch or two (could not drop more, the filler tube was hitting on the bottom of the hole, and the handbrake cable, which runs over the crossover fuel line, was putting some tension on the latter.

Adjusting the two tubes properly in place was a pain in the %&^&%

Today was Tranny Day, so I set it free:

It's shedding a tear as it's saying goodbye to its friend of 30+years. Back when they first met, Germany was still divided in two...

Fabrication of a seal remover tool, reference number VW-IKEA-SEAL

Yup, I think the ATF leak was indeed coming from the torque converter seal. Yuk. I'll be putting in two seals.

Anything else to check on the transmission while it's out in the open?
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[Abscate]

You can flush out A two year old radiator with a mild soap solution amd hot water, fill and sit, fill and sit, fill and sit.

If it flushes clean it’s good to go

Same with the heater core.
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.ssS!

[mikemtnbike]

Careful with that AT linkage, the arm is unobtainium. Vanagain had some but I tried to order a spare after having to get a replacement because I butchered mine in your same situation, out of stock, fortunate I got the replacement I did.

Really enjoying your thread.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[Vanagon Nut]

You're welcome. A single person can remove the dash but the rope trick just made it easier to control dash movement. I left that side top vent loosely in place to allow hook insertion but removing-reinstalling that passenger side vent was easy on my '81 and likely same for later model year Vanagons. I'll find out soon enough.

I bet a new ball-socket could be found online. McMaster? Swage that to a manual tranny cable? Or, buy something like this?

https://www.efihardware.com/products/1822/cable-end-to-ball-socket-heavy-duty

Watching with interest.

Neil.

[VicVan]

Thanks for the heads up on the linkage arm. I started prying the thing with a hammer, but thought of the Dremel and stopped.

Re the socket, I have a new accelerator cable to install and it has a socket on it.
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[VicVan]

Yesterday was the scheduled delivery date for the crate, as per Fedex tracking system. It got updated to "not happening - who knows when it will"

I don't like it.
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[0cean]

I use FedEx alot for my business. A couple of days ago the site said out for delivery on a part I ordered, then later that day it said in transit and no delivery 0time. The item showed up the next day.. Take the FedEx site with a grain of salt.
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I'm not a mechanic, I just play one on the internet

Cluster Rebuild:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569920&highlight=

Left for Dead the Resurrection Story Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=613669
(Number of Different Donor VW Vans Body Parts Used: 12)
(Number of completely different vehicles parts used: 3)

[VicVan]

[khughes]

[VicVan]

New torque converter seals installed. Spring facing the transaxle (i.e. towards front of van), two seals. This is my fisrt time doing this, how does this all look?

Torque converter bushing shows no sign of scratches or scoring:

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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[skills@eurocarsplus]

you want the steel TQ seal unless you want the one in there to pop out

pretty well known issue. do a quick search....

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7946148#7946148
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[VicVan]

Thanks Skills
I thought doubling them would alleviate the issue, but clearly not!
I just ordered one at Napa.
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[VicVan]

All I wanted to do was change the engine... And here I am, contemplating the lubrification of the wiper shafts...

Does one need to remove the wiper motor and linkage from the body to lube them or can it be done in place? What kind of grease would you recommend?
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[Zeitgeist 13]

You want to pull the assembly and disassemble, clean and polish the posts. I use Bosch distributor grease.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[VicVan]

Time for an update.

Removed and replaced the radiator, Behr/Mahle South-African unit from Werke1/GoWesty:

Rigged a Reflectix heat shield in the meantime:
(more pictures of this here: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9770829#9770829)

Heater box: rebuilt with GoWesty heater core, lube tube, Jeep resistor, new foam on all flaps:
(more pictures of this here:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9770824#9770824)

Sound dampening (Fatmax, bought at GW a few years ago) on the nose/front panel:

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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[wesitarz]

You've been busy. It's f'ing cold out now.

[VicVan]

Yup. I was out yesterday evening to install the wiper shafts and grommets. My fingers were cold enough...

Good news: Engine has arrived in Victoria. I have very little free time during the holidays, so I'll leave the crate in Seawing's safe and warm warehouse for now. I'll retrieve it early January for the final leg of the project!

Also, I’ve reached the tipping point. I am officially starting to put things back together. Old stuff has been removed, broken stuff has been replaced, unsatisfactory stuff has been improved. Now, new and improved stuff is going in. It starts with the wiper shaft grommets, it should end with the new ECU connector or something.
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)