Annie-other Subaru Swap - Build Thread

[Shonandb]

[deathman68]

The lock kit is a universal eBay special. It’s 4-doors and the same fob as VW uses so win-win. Jury is still out on the amount of fab work required since I've only gotten as far as wiring and testing. Install comes next once some of my door trim pieces arrive later this week.

Thought about intermittent wipers but decided that I’m done with adding electrical projects to my plate. Maybe for v2.0 in a decade or two…
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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[deathman68]

Really been in my groove of-late and so thankful given all the previous challenges with all the customization going on with this project.

Been waiting on new outer German outer scrapers. As with virtually every delivery lately, it was packed by a bunch of monkeys as evidenced below:

For the uninitiated, the newer repro scrapers come with half as many clips as the original and they are designed differently making it nearly impossible to get them to snap into the holes on the door. I saved a bunch of my old clips which made the job easier, but still a royal PITA.

I use tape markers on the outside of the door skin to indicate where the holes in the door are so I have a guide for correctly locating the clips. I then use stacked paint sticks to hold everything in place before giving each clip a gentle tap with another paint stick and mallet to fully seat it:

With the outer scraper in place and all the kinks gently massaged out with a hammer and dolly, I got all the guts back into the driver's door including rekeying my new handles:

Next up, I performed some minor surgery by removing part of the lip in the door opening and cutting a slot to accommodate the central locking actuator for my power lock kit. Pretty slick and barely clears the glass on the inside of the panel:

Unfortunately, the wimpy ebay special lock kit actuators only pull about 5lbs, so I had to order some 12lb actuators from Summit. That should do the trick!

Similarly, I tried installing my SPAL power window kit from the late 90s (still new in box from my Mustang fastback project) and was dismayed to discover that the motors don't have enough torque to turn the window lifter mechanism. I've got all new felts and everything aligned to the point where with the window crank handle the glass goes up and down with minimal effort, so I know it's not the mechanism. Ordered some "high output" motors from Summit as well, so we shall see if they are torquey enough when they arrive in a few days. Until then, I'm going to rinse and repeat on the passenger door and start hacking away at the passenger seat to go 3" lower like I did on the DS.
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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[metahacker]

[deathman68]

Thx for sharing metahacker. Admittedly it had been a minute since I last looked into intermittent wipers and this seems like a clean and easy approach.
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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[Shonandb]

[metahacker]

doesn't get any easier than that!

did you guys check out the video? it's pretty rad.

it uses a microcontroller and software logic to avoid adding any physical complexity to the bus... no extra switches or b.s.

everything is instead done in software. just that little tiny black box that sits in the middle of the existing wiring, reading the inputs from the switch.......

first wiper position becomes the delay setting..and you can flick it to the 2nd position and back to speed it up, or do the opposite to slow it down... the 2nd position of the wiper always works like stock. you can flick it on off twice to make position 1 act like stock too.

pretty elegant hack IMO
car looks totally stock, none of the wiring or dash or stalk are messed with, but works in new fangled ways

[deathman68]

It took me three attempts, but I found a practically OEM solution that I wanted to share an update on since I haven't read much on this since the early 2000s...BMW E30 power window swap!

My first two attempts at converting to power windows using the existing crank and an aftermarket cable-driven electric motor resulted in windows that were underpowered. It was surprising esp with the SPAL kit I've had in a box since my 1968 Mustang Fastback project in the late 90s...made in Italy with "hipo" motors...oh well! Here's a shot of that setup for reference:

Read on for detailed instructions/how-to using the power window regulators/motors from an E30 BMW (1984-mid-1987. Note that although the E30 model extended past 1987, they switched away from the worm-drive setup mid-1987, so these motors have different gearing and will not adapt to the VW regulator mechanism):

Total cost: $150

Parts required:
- BMW power window motors and regulators (including the guide tube) from a 1984-1986 E30 (some '87 models will work). I used two LH motors since RH are unobtainium (I bought five whole assemblies for $120 that were tested and good). Doesn't matter which side of the car since both can be made to work on either side. Same goes for front or rear.
- Window switch kit. $30
- Some outer scraper felt clips (free in my case as I had extras). You will break at least one in the process, so have some extras on-had.

Time to complete: ~4h


1. Ensure you have replaced all felts with OEM/German quality...believe me, I went through four sets before I could get the windows to move up and down fluidly and with little effort using the stock window crank. Felt/seal quality makes ALL the difference here folks. I also use an 8mm wood stick which I beat into the felts to ensure that they are spread properly since sometimes they will get crushed in shipping.
2. Remove the vent wing hardware and lift the vent wing up and tape off all the sharp bits. There are plenty of write-ups on the forum how to do this and it's a huge PITA and source of frustration to do this without scratching your fresh paint. I did not have to completely remove it to get the stock window regulator out...just pulled it up and angled it out of the way so the tube could clear.
3. Remove the window regulator mechanism...plenty of write-ups on this as well, so not going to give details.
4. Now for the fun part! Drill out the rivets holding the stock mechanism together:

5. Open up the end of the VW guide tube so you can slide out the worm-screw in order to be able to work on the tube itself without damaging the drive screw:

6. With the worm screw out, use this opportunity to completely degrease 50+ yrs of old grease from the tube and screw.
7. Now, look at where the original regulator crank bolts on and notice that the opening in the tube is the same as on the BMW e30 window regulator. Measure carefully and use a grinder to slice off just the section of tube from the BMW regulator that holds the power window motor captive. Do the same on the bus regulator tube

8. Being incredibly judicious, align the BMW guide tube section with the VW guide tube and tack weld in place. Note here that there is NO room for error. If your weld penetrates the guide tube, you will have to spend a LOT of time filing down the ID so the worm-screw turns slowly...ask me how I know.
9. Depending on how short you cut the new section, hack off one of the motor captive pieces and reweld it to the bus tube:

10. Enjoy your handy work and test fit the power window motor after your reinstall the worm-drive screw. Take this opp to relube everything with a high quality high pressure molybdenum grease. You can see I also notched the motor housing to accommodate my sloppy weld on the tube's OD:

11. Now that you've got everything put back together, test the whole assy BEFORE reinstalling it into the door. It should move freely up and down without binding or making any weird noises.
12. Reinstall the regulator mech into the door. Before installation:
- Open up the central hole in the door by about 2mm in diameter since the window motor center diameter is slightly larger than stock.
- Make new holes to mount the motor. You may be able to get away with using one of the existing ones depending on good of a job you did matching the original shape before you welded on the BWM guide tube section. My drivers door lined up perfectly with the stock opening for the most part, but the passenger door was a little off.
13. Reinstall the vent wing w/your shiny new OEM felt. Note: I used talcum powder which I applied via a small syringe into the felt BEFORE installing it on the vent wing. Pure talcum powder is hard to find locally and comes in different levels of granularity. Amazon is your friend here.

14 Reinstall your shiny new OEM top/rear felt using the same method as above.
15. Before reattaching the window to the lifter, use your hands to manually move the window up and down SEVERAL times to ensure your felts are all seated properly. Once you're confident the window is seated properly and goes up/down, reattach it to the lifter mechanism.
16. Hook up the motor to 12V and enjoy! You can get aftermarket switches/kits from amazon to really do this right. Enjoy your new power windows!

Link

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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[Shonandb]

Nice work (& patience)! Can you make them voice controlled?
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76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
Click to view image

[deathman68]

Most anything can be made to be voice controlled these days. Think I'm still too traumatized from Space Odyssey's HAL9000 to go down that path..."I'm sorry Dave..."
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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[deathman68]

Add another project to the list of things I NEVER want to do again; however, I'm amazed with myself for the final product (pats self on back).

I got all the door wiring tidied up and made sure my windows went up and down without any interference. Got my 4" mids and 6.5" woofers installed in the doors and also added baffles to avoid moisture. I cut the baffles along the bottom so the sound gets full "flow." Added a 6 mil vapor barrier for good measure:

Note to self: just buy the mdf cards from one of the bus part vendors. It took me ages to print out the pdf, lay everything out on ply and then get it all cut out. Even then, my holes weren't perfectly aligned so it took another ~2h/door to carefully reorient the door panel clips AFTER redrilling all the holes to accept the larger OD clips. I then built an endoskeleton for door cards which allowed me to recess my MLV/CLF...voila! Built in sound deadening!

With the slightly thicker door panels, had to space out my door handles:

Then I set about hacking up some beautiful mahogany and coating with 10+ coats of poly and then buffing to mirror finish to match my steering wheel. There were a thousand other steps here since I made all the "chrome" molding from raw aluminum and polished it to a mirror finish as well (sausage making steps not shown). If you look really hard, you can even seen the embossed panel on the aft lower part of the doorThe final result speaks for itself:

Finally got my kid in the driver's seat, turned the key and everything works as intended...central locks, power windows...even put a USB charger in the passenger side door switch.

Now I can finally turn my attention to hacking down my other seat.
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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[deathman68]

Finally done w/the front cab area. The headliner turned out great using foam backed headliner material from Sailrite. The rear view camera works like a charm and I FINALLY got the passenger seat hacked down 3" and the swivel installed:

You can see here that after I was done removing height from the seat frame, I had to add 4" to the rear of the swivel base to accommodate the longer seat rails from the BMW seat. Dropped it off at my super economical powder coater and the results speak for themselves. Oh and also I realized that the center console couldn't be easily removed w/the seat installed, so had to remove it and modify it as well. A coat of fresh grease on the swivel parts and she's ready for final assembly:

And then came the moment....I realized that the passenger seat mounts asymmetrically on the swivel base, so when rotated backwards, the seat is CLOSER to the door meaning that the arm rest I installed on the seat contacts the door arm rest and you can't close the passenger door by a mile:

Enter the removable arm rest! I used a heavy duty camera battery mount that is made from milled aluminum billet. Super slick and now I can remove the passenger seat arm rest with a simple push of the button. I had to remove all the upholstery (again) to weld a new steel mount to the seat frame. You can stand on the arm rest and it holds just fine. Best part is now I can close the passenger door w/the seat backwards:

So close to being road ready!:

Just need to quit getting distracted by small garage side projects like adding a bigger compressor and installing HVAC soon!

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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[markiemark9]

[quote="deathman68"]Will finally get the dashboard buttoned up this weekend and turn my attention to building out the interior. Very excited to be "done" with the big stuff!

I got my new gauges installed and calibrated. Added three leds: one for a visual on ignition since my fingerprint reader doesn't stay illuminated, one for battery and used a pull-up resistor so my alternator charges, and one for brake (had to redesign the stock unit from scratch using helpful diagrams from thesamba to wire up the transistor and resistors correctly...works great!). Don't worry about that hole between the two leds, that's for my gauge dimmer which I quickly broke trying to pop the knob off the potentiometer...new one on its way:

@deathman68 I too have Speedhut gauges for the subyswap I did in my 69 bay. Great work!

We’re you able to use a preset ohm setting for your gas gauge or did you have to custom empty and full?
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My '72 Super Beetle Build Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7684856#7684856

[deathman68]

[deathman68]

Spent the last few days planning out the interior layout in my head and decided to jump right in by using wood 2x2s as an inexpensive proxy for the 80/20 extruded aluminum which has the same dimensions and will be used for the final product. I’ll sheathe everything in 1/2 Baltic birch ply and then laminate on top of that. Yes I know it’s overkill but I’ll feel good knowing all the aluminum endoskeleton will be thru-bolted to the floor with grade 8 hardware and big fender washers when it’s all said and done.

My brain definitely hurts after going through MANY iterations and getting the family to weigh in.

Started with the basic kitchen components:

My fridge is HUGE. We never had enough space with the old norcold unit in our last riviera so we decided to go big or go home.

Unfortunately my 5 gallon Jerry cans aren’t going to work so I reconfigured the whole cabinetry and moved the fridge closer to the front which will also help with weight distribution. It was serendipitous….the internal dimensions under the sink at perfect for this 7.4 gallon can I got off Amazon

After a few more attempts here’s where I landed:

This setup maximizes cabinet space and will still give me the original 74” bed length when folded out.

Next up I’ll be building the slide-out (optional) stove cabinet and the rear “closet” cabinetry. Also contemplating an overhead locker but we shall see.
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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[andrewtf]

Sorry -
You mentioned the headbanger - and after Big Emma was lived in, this cabinet was both a blessing for storage, but a curse for interior maneuverability. And it is hard to put crap in it.

In both of our busses, we shortened the headbanger.
On Murphy its really only deep enough to over the hatch hinge stuff, but it still holds some miscellaneous stuff. Its something like 10" deep.

This may - or may not - really be visible in any photos
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'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' - Travel Beast
'77 Riviera - 'Murphy' - Daily driver in nice weather
'78 Westy - New to the family
'63 Austin Healey - sitting alone in a museum

[deathman68]

Had my fill of Amazon tools:

Quick trip to HD and what took 2-3 min and flung saw blade teeth everywhere suddenly turned into a hot knife through butter:

Maybe a little overkill but this thing is solid:

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1973 Riviera “Annie”
Build Thread: 1973 Riviera+Subaru 2.5+5 Speed
EJ25+5 Speed Conversion Part/Cost Tracker

[W1K1]

Yoinks… what kink of blade was that?
That’s looking downright dangerous

The frame is certainly sturdy, I looked at building with that stuff, but don’t like the chunky frame when space is at a premium in the cabinets
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/jim_martin_engine_build.php

1973 super
1965 squareback 1500E
1971 bay window westy- subi swap

[panel]

Does that just all interlock ? What is that product called ?
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My '65-Subaru EJ20 Turbo conversion

[deathman68]