Subaru conversion: RMW or Smallcar or other? Recommends?

[RocketBox]

looking for suggestions? RMW conversion kit for a subaru 2.2 into a 1980 Riveria. I know i have to drop in a cooling system... aside from that, i'm looking for feedback on RMW or Smallcars or maybe kennedyengineering's conversion kit... RMW is about 2x the price of the others, but all the kits seem to contain about the same pieces... any compelling reasons to go with RMW vs the other conversion kits? Thanks!
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84 Vanagon - tintop, 1.9L wbx. Complete Rebuild done August 2014. 2000~ miles on it so far... SOLD

80 Vanagon Camper ASI Riveria - subaru 2.2 conversion project. 1993 Subary legacy donor car + Riveria = AWESOME!

[t3 kopf]

Kennedy makes it to order so it takes about 3 weeks but the stuff i got is great quality.
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'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[JeffRobenolt]

When you add up the price of the Smallcar kit it is about the same as the RMW.

With your air cooled trans, you will need to make a new trans mount and modify your shift linkage with RMW.

Not so with Smallcar.

Not sure on Kennedy.

Tom Shiels throttle body wedge is very helpful.
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[ALIKA T3]

[sk8architecture]

The RMW engine carrier bar is made to hug around a point on the frame where the frame gets wider in a sense. If you moved the bar forward the 1.25" it will not "hug" this area and will have no support to bolt it one.
While the Small Car kit uses the traditional mustache bar which can slide forward because it sits on a straight portion of the frame.

I just used some simple angle iron to extend the the nose mount of the trans to get to the mount. Slide the shift linkage where it couples together past the gas tank out a bit for proper feel. put paint marks on everything to check movement. After almost 3 years the only issue I had was loosing a bolt on the extended trans mount. So put some locktitie on and has not moved.

[JeffRobenolt]

[crDaniel]

The other part of the equation is the support that you get during the build: I purchased my conversion kit from Small Car Performance and they answered any and all questions that I threw at them -- and in a timely manner.

They are STILL answering my questions even though it has been a year since I completed the conversion... (e.g. I wanted help interpretting some engine codes from the OBDII reader).

The competition may be equally great, but I can at least attest to SC being a darn good partner to have when you are actually doing the install and beyond.

[sk8architecture]

Mike at RMW was very helpful as well. I got responses in a timely matter too. A year after my conversation the exhaust bracket broke they sent me a new one free of charge.
I don't think you can go wrong with either vendor. There will be struggles along the way but thankfully there is the samba and the yahoo subaru conversion group to help. Enjoy the road of learning and take a break when you get too frustrated

[geodude]

My Kennedy mounts and exhaust are high quality and I'm happy with them. The way the mounting bar is made if they don't have one for the aircooled transmission position it shouldn't be a problem to have it made to fit. You can also use the subaru hydraulic mounts with them which is nice. I'd call them (email takes a while with them). When I ordered mine it took less than 2 weeks to get the stuff.
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1988 GL Camper
1991 Multivan — the basket case