1.8T DIY Conversion Stephans Auto Haus Kit 1985 Westy

[ThankYouJerry]

[Bills85Westy]

[ftp2leta]

Nice of you to have started this thread... for some reason I missed it!

Is it just me or there is not much pictures on his web site as to conversion part on converted van?

I like thread like yours, people sometime think that conversions come out already done in one big Cracker Jack box

In my case, 1 on 4 engine come with battery acid all over them. A deep cleaning is a must.

And after seeing his pricing list (turn key)... I'm raising mine....

Ben
_________________
Working with rust, grease, dirt and dust is a sad truth.
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[Bills85Westy]

I spent the day yesterday working on the intake side of the 1.8.

Stephans kit includes a new thermostat & thermostat neck, a new PCV system with all hoses (this PCV set up is much nicer than the original - more durable), a new dipstick tube, and a new oil pressure sender.

To just change these parts is pretty straight forward, but in order to get things really clean, I find that I have to take things further apart to get good access. The plus side is that i'm finding where some small leaks were and am now changing gaskets & o-rings while i'm in there. The downside is that i've got everything taken apart and am now waiting for parts so I can button things back up.

I started to change the timing belt & waterpump yesterday. Got the new waterpump installed. Realized that the timing belt kit for the 1.8 did not include the tensioner. Mine is leaking a little bit so I'm waiting for that now too!

Some might as wells that i've opted to do because I took it all apart & "might as well".....
- New oil filter stand gasket
- New oil filter base to oil cooler housing gasket
- New fuel injector seals
- New fuel injector cups

My buddy Andrew who has owns a local auto repair business specializing in German (Napa Autowerke), came by yesterday afternoon to visit. He pointed out that many of these motors they see have a visible build up on the intake valves, in the valve cover and in the oil pick up tube. I'm guessing this is from lack of maintenance (oil changes). Good news for me is that this motor appears (on the inside anyway) to be pretty clean - in the valve cover, each of the intake valves is extremely clean (looking down the fuel injector port). The old oil was very clean as well.

I was planning on replacing the oil pan gasket & the oil pick up tube, but it doesn't leak & if the motor is this clean, should I bother?
_________________
89 Tristar Syncro Doka - White
85 Westfalia Syncro (conversion)
SAH 1.8T Conversion - 2005 AWP
Engine Conversion Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612144&highlight=
85 Doka L345 Grey - 1.9L

[Bills85Westy]

AWP or not AWP. That is the question.

Okay so a little bit of a confession....
I purchased this motor as a 1.8T AWP out of a 1995 Jetta GLI. I have a video of the engine in the wrecked car.

When the engine arrived, I confirmed that it was indeed the same engine that I had in the video.

However, all of the typical locations where the motor is marked with type and serial were missing.
- The upper timing belt cover
- The engine type is stamped on one of the lift locations on the head, front of motor
- There is a bar coded sticker on the back side of the engine above the flywheel with engine type noted. I didn't help that every website says "Just look at the upper timing cover"

Now all three of these were missing & I was actually stressing a little bit about the type of motor I had. There are three variants of this motor. The AWP being the highest output. I was actually worried that I couldn't confirm the correct motor type & serial #.

Some further internet research did note that after a certain time, that most AWP motors were not stamped on the head. Meaning that, if the motor carries no markings then it is almost certainly an AWP.

Anyway, after some deep cleaning yesterday, I found the following engine serial:

One more thing not to worry about.
_________________
89 Tristar Syncro Doka - White
85 Westfalia Syncro (conversion)
SAH 1.8T Conversion - 2005 AWP
Engine Conversion Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612144&highlight=
85 Doka L345 Grey - 1.9L

[TequilaSunSet]

I'm enjoying the detail you are putting into this thread... especially since I have trouble tying my shoes
_________________
Don't harsh my mellow...
1985 Hightower Vanagon 1.8T- Gone
1972 Panel Bus- Gone
1967 Bug- Gone
1964 Euro Sunroof Bug- Gone
1969/72/63 Sunroof Bug- Gone
1975 Brazilian Bug in the Philippines 🇵🇭- New to me

[Bills85Westy]

[Vanagon Nut]

I'm really enjoying this thread. Posting details of "little things" like coolant pump differences are really helpful.

FWIW, though a much less complex engine, I had zero regrets about doing a similar engine refresh on my swap. One of which pointed me toward an update VW had done for the timing belt.

That's great that your motor is not showing gross signs of negligence re: oil changes.

I doubt I'll ever do a 1.8T but appreciate your posts. Thanks.

Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[luVWagn]

[ftp2leta]

[luVWagn]

[Bills85Westy]

['88MoneyPit]

Activating the computer based anti theft is fast and easy. I figured given enough time a switch would be found. And the chipping is fun too

Awesome pictures on the rebuild!

S

[ThankYouJerry]

['88MoneyPit]

I saw stephan's diagrams for the switch. But i figured I'm paranoid. Anyway, the other cool thing about the chipping is that it can be deactivated so it runs on stock programming

S

[Bills85Westy]

Okay, So I am long overdue for an update. I've made a lot of progress in the last two weeks so need to catch up here......

I completed the service on the 1.8 - installing a new timing belt & tensioner along with the items included in Stephan's kit. I also ended up replacing the following gaskets either to get at the block to clean it or because of evidence of minor oil leaks there before:
- Valve cover gasket
- Oil cooler to block gasket
- Oil cooler to oil filter mount gasket
- Fuel injector seals


Stephan's kit comes with a new center timing cover because the stock cover is set up to accept the motor mount on that side. In addition, I was missing the upper timing cover along with the manual transmission heater hose piping. A trip to the local dealer and I had them in hand the following day (surprisingly). However, the seal on the heater hose pipe to engine block was not readily available even through World Pac or Napa through my mechanic so I just raided their german O-ring stash until I found the right size & thickness.

Two of the wiring connectors on my engine had broken tabs (yes, I broke them). One at the coil which Brembi sells a repair kit for either to splice in a new connector or remove each wire from the connector and install in the new supplied connector. The repair kit comes with a pin connector tool.

The other connector was at the throttle body that I had to order a new connector from the dealer. I definitely want a solid (read "new") baseline when I complete this project.

One other anomaly is that there are apparently 2 different size injector seals for this motor. The first time, World Pac sent 3 of the correct size & 1 of the wrong & the next time only 4 wrong ones. There are two grooves on the injector. It almost appears that you could use either seal depending on which groove you install the seal on & the cup seems to seat both, but I'm not going to reinvent the wheel....

I decided against changing the oil pan gasket, just because it wasn't leaking and the engine looked so clean. Here is everything put back together and ready for installation:

My final task on the motor is to install all new clamps where I've removed them for cleaning. Rather than just install a ton of generic size german clamps, I've compiled a list by size so that everything looks correct. I hate hose clamps with long tails!

I will post another update later today to get us up to current. Removing the waterboxer, clean, clean, clean & finally installing the new wiring harness

Bill
_________________
89 Tristar Syncro Doka - White
85 Westfalia Syncro (conversion)
SAH 1.8T Conversion - 2005 AWP
Engine Conversion Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612144&highlight=
85 Doka L345 Grey - 1.9L

[insyncro]

Well done Bill.
I too am really enjoying all that you are showing.

Just had a lengthy conversion with a client today who's Syncro Westy is getting a full restoration this spring at my shop and he wants one of Stephan's kits installed.

Watching your build doesn't feel like going to school, but it is for many.

Thanks for the info, good pictures and jump start on my first 1.8T

[Bills85Westy]

Happy New Year to all.

I made a lot of progress last week and this pulling the old motor, getting the engine bay prepped and installing the 1.8 SAH components.

Following Bentleys to make sure I had everything disconnected & pulling the engine and transmission as a unit. Built myself a platform with some OSB and a furniture dolly.

Put tension with my hoist on the rear engine lift tab

Loosened the front transmission mounts so it could tilt, lowered the rear of the motor onto the dolly and then supported the transmission with a floor jack while I removed the mounts then lowering to my dolly. I found that I only had to lift the right rear wheel to get enough space for the top of the alternator to clear the rear apron of the Vanagon

I know a lot of home hobbyists raise the nose or rear of their vehicles when pulling motors. Even if jacked and braced correctly, I still don't like moving that kind of weight around working by myself. This was pretty easy for me to manipulate the van without having to work under the van suspended.

It was only a couple of hours to get everything pulled and then I spend the rest of the day and the entire following day cleaning!

The most interesting difference between my expectations for this project & reality is where i am spending my time. I would say that:
1/2 of my time has been spent inspecting, removing & cleaning things.
1/4 of my time has been spent:
1. Scratching my head trying to understand the intent of the instructions & what the finished product will look like.
2. Figuring out exactly how i'm going to go about a project and getting set up to do it
3. Working out minor differences between my parts and the pictures in the instruction manual. It is really clear to me now that during the production run of the water cooled Vanagon & differences between 2WD and Syncros, and THEN add to that the minor differences in production run of the AWP motor that you literally have 100s of potential differences in your specific installation. Once I realized that I'm not just following instructions, but also needing to understand and really work some things out on my own that I was able to make some good progress.

Finally the last 1/4 of my time is spent actually performing the install

Basically, the installation is set up so that you are modifying or removing components from the van, installing the new mechanical components and then installing the wiring harness. Items that I am sharing here are where i've deviated from Stephan's instructions either because it's worked better in my application or i preferred the modification.

Here is where the engine bay is at now.

The turbo intercooler is installed with the new fan. The kit supplied self tapping screws for the forward two screws. I found that the rear most screw (back of van) interfered with my rear bumper bracket. I ended up drilling a new hole up at an angle and installing the screw that way.

The coolant reservoir, hose, & bleed hose are installed just in front of the intercooler, & finally, the power steering reservoir & piping sits in front of that. The kit called to modify the power steering lines by bending them quite a bit. I found that I did not need to do that in my application. The high pressure line seems like it was built to be that way.

The new wiring harness is installed. This wiring harness is specifically the reason why I wanted to use this kit. I really like how it is integrated with the Vanagon & seems more like an "update" to the van rather than something I put together in my garage. Plus, I am more confident in the wiring connections & the finished product. The kit called to install the wiring harness from the back wheel well. I presume this is to work around the Syncro fuel tank which I don't have so I had plenty of room to lay it out on the floor under the van & bring it up just where I wanted it.

I've completed the wiring changes up front including the ODB plug mounting & the drive by wire throttle assembly. The kit called for me to splay the original throttle cable mount, but I found that in my installation, I flattened just the one side

Also, my 85 has a bunch of wiring to the right side of accelerator pedal that I had to move temporarily to do this work.

also had to remove one of the carpet buttons from the footwell to accommodate the pedal assembly bracket

One other deviation i've made from instructions is on the ECU mounting. The kit came with a modified ECU box from a later Vanagon. Plus, the template to drill the hole in the correct location was not in my kit so I made my own plan.

The space between the rear heater and cabinet on a Westy is a small well. We used it for game storage for camping. It's now been sacrificed to mount the new ECU, relays, & new fuse blocks

Note that I used a 2" bimetal hole saw for the metal and then a 3" hole saw to cut the insulation from underneath to create a neat path

Here it is with wire pulled. I am looking forward to setting this up as a nice clean, & accessible place for these components.

The new tach adaptor is installed in the old fuel pump relay box. I've read in other threads that these can be noisy. I don't expect a problem with it mounted here.

I have a bunch of questions for those familiar with this install and will post those here shortly. They are basically items where instructions aren't quite clear & i'm interested to see what others have installed.

If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to do my best to answer them.

Thanks,
Bill
_________________
89 Tristar Syncro Doka - White
85 Westfalia Syncro (conversion)
SAH 1.8T Conversion - 2005 AWP
Engine Conversion Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612144&highlight=
85 Doka L345 Grey - 1.9L

[rmcd]

thanks for documenting the build. for future reference there is a great 1.8 engine builder and supplier that services the vw and audi community. ive purchased rebuild parts kits from him for my audi 1.8 big turbo build.

good dude and lots of knowledge. www.qedpower.com bobs kits bundle typical rebuild parts that you would need if refurbishing or bore/stroking a 1.8, 2.0, 2.2 and are motor specific between the classes from amu to awb or .... whatever.
_________________
VW LT40 build. Like a Vanagon but 30% larger in every direction and 40% slower even in metric.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749359&highlight=

[Bills85Westy]