Beetle engine in Vanagon?

[alidabiri]

Hi fellow VW owners.
I am looking to buy a 1985 VW Vanagon in very good shape that its water cooled engine was shot and the owner has put a VW Beetle 1600cc engine in it. It runs and drives fine. The only problem is the fan shroud sticks out of the back engine compartment and the engine compartment lid can't be put in place. He told me the he can put a type 3 flat engine in it that the fan shroud would not interfere with closing the back engine compartment lid. My question is:
would any of these engines (Beetle 1600cc or type 3 1800cc) be powerful enough to pull this heavier Vanagon?


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1987 Porsche 944S
1972 Super Beetle

[bsairhead]

A stock 1558 cc engine can push a 7000 pound Zamboni around the rink. If your O.K. with 60 mph and no get up and go, sure it will work.

[Buggeee]

85 Vanagons are a dime a dozen, so it's easy to get one that has the correct engine.

If a beetle engine has been put in there, it is likely that the pinion shaft on the transaxle has been cut shorter to get the engine mounted to the transaxle, so this is now a beetle engine truck forever unless the transaxle pinion shaft gets replaced. Also, the beetle engine will have to have the tin reach to the edges of the engine compartment to seal the cool air above from the hot air below. There is a tin kit to make this happen in a Bay Bus, but not in an 85 Vanagon that was made for a waterboxer engine. If that beetle engine is just floating in the open air of that engine compartment, then it is getting cooked from its own heat.

I have owned beetles, splitty busses, bay busses, aircooled vanagon and watercooled Vanagon. I would never ever buy a Vanagon with a beetle engine in it. It will be so under powered as to be dangerous, will blow up the engine even faster than in a bus, and will have zero resale value.

Of the Vanagons, my favorite driving experience is in the late model T3 Vanagon, which can keep up with traffic fairly well. My T3 is an 88.

So, my honest opinion is pass on this one and put your money towards a stock unmolested Vanagon, if a Vanagon is what you want.
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Big Time 1988 Vanagon Westy
Release the Krankenwagen! 1966 Sportsmobile Camper
Dr. Kompressor 72 Super Duper
61 Turkis Pile (adopted out)

[dhaavers]

First get a feel for it: test drive an 80-83 air cooled Vanagon, then subtract 20%.

You will not be impressed... <shrug>

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[Red Ryder]

As others have opined, this is a dead end “conversion” that will likely leave you very dissatisfied with 1600cc as your powerplant.
_________________
“Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I am not quite all there myself.” — Cheshire Cat, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

“Scarlett” — 1990 Vanagon Carat Wolfsburg Edition (Tornado Red)
“Nigel” — 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible (Alpine Green Metallic)

[vanis13]

if its good in every other way you can put a Subaru engine and transmission in it.
_________________
83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[syncrodoka]

A DP 1600 puts out about 25hp less than a stock (83 hp)1.9L motor makes.
Type 3 engine configuration makes no more HP.

[zerotofifty]

If the price is right, do it. recall the vanagon was sold new with an anemic diesel engine that had about 55 hp, about what a 1600 Bug has.


Id price it about like a Vanagon with a dead motor, all else equal. The plus is you can test drive it!!! the minus is it is the wrong engine, weak, will be noisey with no engine lid, not smoggable, I assume it has no power brake nor power steering provision, and of course no heater/ defroster seeing as this was a water cooled and heated van to start with.

if the van is very sound, great paint and interior, and it is cheap, then get it, and then go get the correct engine. figure the cost for the correct engine 1.9 liter ( or upgraded 1986+ 2.1 liter engine) if the bug motor runs, it can be sold. so figure the cost to do the correct motor, and make your offer accordingly.

remember the old vw microbus, the 1963 model with the 1500 was 50 hp, it was slow, but it was also geared for that motor. the vanagon you is looking at is geared for the 1.9 liter, geared for an engine that makes 80 to 90 hp.

So consider to install a correct motor if in you buys it.

[GoEverywhere]

You could actually get the Vanagon with a 1600cc Type-1 engine in Europe. We never got it here but tins to mount it properly exist, you'd just have to import them.

Now, HONESTLY the aircooled 2L you got in the early Vanagons was pretty slow a 1600cc would be even worse. Unless it was a REALLY good deal I'd pass on it for a properly setup ride.

[0to60in6min]

the Beetle 1600cc engine already have problems with the weight of Beetle body... Now put it into a Vanagon.... err... problems multiply by 3...?

[jimf909]

Candidate for best Samba answer of the month (although no one has yet asked what other oddball mods have been done to this van).

[vanagonjr]

I’d run away. What was yanked out (or modified) the water cooling hoses, t-stat, coolant tower, bleed ring, power steering reservoir, fuel
Injection system, wiring harness?
_________________
John - 86 Wolfsburg Westfalia "Weekender"
Flint reversed 1.8T W/Passat 5-Speed

Complete SA Grill Set-up for sale!
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2748907

FAQ thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=525798

[Wildthings]

Take the van for free or nearly so and gather up the money to do a Subaru transplant.

[Phishman068]

Vanagons were offered with a type 1 1600 motor!
That's a real thing, and there's real tin and accessories to properly fit that exact motor to a VW T3 (vanagon) platform using only VW parts.

With the ability to easily build out a type 1 motor to ample horsepower, there are even advantages over the type 4 motor we received in the US as our only Aircooled option.

It's a weird conversion, but just letting you know- there should be a full set of parts diagrams and part numbers for the tin and what not needed to fit that motor correctly.
here's a thread with some pics:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9364654

You're looking for "CT" engine code.
_________________
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=559766&highlight=winter+rust
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482402&highlight=sunroof+syncro
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569774
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6864936#6864936

"Along with the ability to go fast, one looses the desire to hurry."

[dhaavers]

[Sodo]

[?Waldo?]

IMO unless you can ascertain exactly what was wrecked in the conversion, it would be most appropriate to price it as though it is an air-cooled Vanagon body in similar condition with a blown engine.

Plan to swap in another engine.

[alidabiri]

[GoEverywhere]

[?Waldo?]