My Bostig RG6 build

[Guybrush]

Glad to have helped!

[Reck]

[mpl]

Hi Bostig peeps!

Sorry about my radio silence. For some reason, I wasn’t getting Samba alerts about new comments on this thread for the past several days. I just checked on the thread and noticed all of your comments! Will try to respond to ’em all in one shot:

• Reck and JudoJeff, I’m glad that you liked this hose reduction idea!
• Reck, my overall intent for this hose reduction approach was to eliminate coolant hose runs that seemed duplicative after I removed my rear heater core. I considered your idea about feeding the front heater core from a tee off the 1-1/4” radiator hot send hose near the front of the van. But then I realized that I wouldn’t have anything to connect to the 3/4” hot send port from the Bostig thermostat housing. So, I left that hose, but without the rear heater core, it’s now a direct line from the 3/4” hot send port from the Bostig thermostat housing to the 5/8” hot input on the front heater core (as you can see in this diagram). Once I removed my rear heater core, there no longer seemed a need to have the 5/8” cold return line running from the front heater core to the rear of the van, so that’s why I put that tee at the front of the van, connecting to the radiator return hose. Really, it was more of a process of elimination than anything else…
• JudoJeff, I’m glad that this approach was helpful to you. Your prior Bostig install notes have been a huge help to me, so I’m glad to repay your advice! And yep, the aluminum tees came from Jaguars that Run.
• For what it’s worth, my coolant bleeding techniques have been a mixture of all that’s been discussed. Like Bassyaks, I’ve done my initial bleeding and air removal by jacking up the rear of the van so that the Bostig coolant fill tower is higher than the bleed port on the top of the radiator at the front of the van. I fill up the coolant through the Bostig fill tower at the rear of the van, then close the Bostig fill tower, and run the van at idle until the thermostat starts cycling. I then open the radiator bleed port and (as Guybrush warns) keep everything else closed until coolant starts dribbling out of the radiator bleed port. At that point, I close up the radiator bleed port, bring the van down off the jacks, and as Guybrush suggests, keep the coolant levels topped off through the reservoir tank.

[mpl]

[Reck]

Hi mpl, thanks for the clarifications. The hose reduction makes a lot of sense in your configuration (no rear heater). The general idea makes one wonder why VW went with a whole second circuit making those long trips forward and back.

I now understand the coolant bleeding pretty well. I kept water in it for about a week, practicing with the bleed-and-fill routine before putting in coolant. I've found that, if you're patient enough and just keep the grille off for five days, then guybrush's (Bostig) approach works well. My start-up gave me pause, as I got zero heat from the front during the whole initial routine. I think the whole front heater core was a big bubble, but it's resolved and I'm getting copious heat from both cores now. As guybrush says, it sorts itself out step by step, if you bleed at the front hot and running, then top up at the back cold, and repeat several times. I can see how elevating at the back initially could shave a couple steps off all that.

I've been on the road for a week and a half now, and have had very few hitches. I had some trouble with the shift linkage, but it was easy to sort. The thing's just running like a sewing machine. It's simply a blast to have that 3k - 4k range of acceleration anytime you want it. I haven't explored 5k yet.

In general I'm very happy with the sound of it. It's just loud enough to give feedback as to where my shift points are. There's a little of the sports car sound to it, without being intrusive. I do have a bit of vibration/harshness if I let the revs drop way down, which is easy to do with the old waterboxer habits. The old motor pulled way down in the 1500 range in a way the Zetec doesn't like so much. I think my airbox may be vibrating against metal and transmitting some of that vibration. Needs a little more padding.

Another very happy Bostig customer.
_________________
'84 Westy 2wd, TBD, Bostig RG4 completed 9/16.

[mpl]

Reck, awesome! Glad to hear that you're rolling and making positive headway. I definitely had a few days' worth of shakedown tasks as well (which I still need to write about! ). I'm about 5,000 miles into my conversion now, much of which was a cross-country trip. Loving it so far! And I feel so much more knowledgeable and confident in taking care of my van, too. Eager to hear how your adventure continues!

[mpl]

SK-In: Wrap-Up [May 20, 2016]

At this point, the finish line approached rapidly as I completed the remaining steps of subkit SK-In.

1. Connect the brake booster line. I started by using a utility knife with a sharp, new blade to carefully cut the hard, black, nylon vacuum line in the engine bay, just to the right of the black distribution box.
   
   
   
   
   
   Now I had the brake booster check valve, ready to reuse in the Bostig installation.
   
   
   
   
   
   I pulled the brake booster line from the top of the engine bay, routed it along the bottom of the engine bay, and connected it to the Zetec’s intake manifold using the instructions on page 77 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual. The following photo from CampWesty also provided a helpful model for connecting the brake booster line to the Zetec’s intake manifold.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Fill the oil. I had already long ago drained the old oil out of the Zetec and installed a fresh oil filter. So, I filled the engine with fresh Mobil 1 10W40 motor oil, following the instructions on page 89 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual.
   
   
3. Replace the spark plugs. Having previously cleaned and dried the Zetec’s spark plug galleys, and with the engine now fully installed, I removed the Zetec’s cam cover once again. I replaced the crusty old spark plugs with new Bosch 8114 spark plugs.
   
   
4. Verify the cam timing. While I had the cam cover off of the Zetec, I verified the cam timing using the instructions on pages 90-92 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual. Thankfully, all checked out okay. CampWesty wrote some terrific instructions and captured a helpful video about replacing the cam timing belt and verifying the cam timing that I had intended to use. Frankly, I was relieved to not be slowed down at this point with having to adjust the cam timing.
   
   
5. Free the fuel injectors. Using the instructions on pages 94-95 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual, I used an 18V drill battery to pulse the fuel injectors and free them of old fuel. This was rather time consuming, but in retrospect I’m glad that I did it as it likely avoided a no-start. Two of my fuel injectors were stuck, only making a faint click when pulsed with the battery (as opposed to the free injectors that make a slightly louder, slightly more metallic “tinck” sound). A few hundred battery pulses later, all four fuel injectors sounded reasonably consistent.
   
   
6. Install valve cover gasket and spark plug wires. With the cam timing successfully verified, I installed a new valve cover gasket (Fel-Pro part number VS50553R).
   
   
   
   
   
   I reinstalled the Zetec’s cam cover back on the engine, then installed new spark plug wires using the photo on page 84 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual to guide me on the correct wiring layout.
   
   
7. Fill the coolant. As described on page 67 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual, I filled the cooling system with straight water in preparation for my first start. I filled the cooling system from the Bostig fill tower; once that was complete, I ensured that the coolant overflow tank had sufficient water in it as well.
   
   
8. Load the ECU tune. I requested my ECU tune from Jim at Bostig, providing him the serial number from my SCT X4 Flash Programmer.
   
   Once Jim provided the tune, it was a snap to load onto my ECU using SCT’s video instructions.
   
   I ran into one bump here when I first tried to flash my ECU. I originally forgot to connect the ground cable from Bostig’s circuit board to my van’s chassis when installing the Bostig wiring bracket, so the SCT couldn’t connect to my ECU. Once I connected this ground cable, all worked smoothly as expected.

[mpl]

First Start [May 31, 2016]

Wahoo! At this point I was ready for the first key-turn on the Bostig conversion.

Following the instructions on page 95 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual, I pressurized the fuel system with a few key turns in order to run the fuel pump a few times. I then made sure that I had a fire extinguisher handy, took a deep breath, started an SCT datalog, and cranked the Zetec for the first time. And… SUCCESS!! The Zetec roared to life.

Here’s a video of the first start. You’ll see that the Zetec only ran for a few seconds as it coughed out ~10+ years of sitting in a wrecking yard.

Here’s a video of the second start. This one went much more smoothly, and led to a successful idle.

As described on page 95 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual, I let the engine idle for about 15 minutes until the thermostat started opening and coolant began flowing to the radiator. At first, my coolant temperatures cruised right past the safe ceiling temperature, so I shut down the engine. There was air in the cooling system, so after letting the engine cool, I used a few starts and idles to burp the cooling system and remove the air. Eventually, I had the coolant temperature oscillating slowly between about 210 F and 220 F at idle.

I sent this “successful first start” SCT datalog to Jim at Bostig for his approval before the around-the-block test.

After six months, I was super psyched for my van to be a runner once again!

[mpl]

Around-the-Block Test [May 31, 2016]

After Jim at Bostig gave his thumbs-up on my “successful first start” datalog, he asked me to send photos of the overall conversion for his final approval before the around-the-block test. Here are my “final exam” photos of my Bostig RG6 conversion.

First, an overall photo from above the engine bay.

Looking at the left side of the engine bay from above, we can see more clearly the intake, wiring, and throttle cable setups.

Directly above the Zetec’s valve cover, we can confirm the spark plug wiring. After viewing this photo, Jim asked me to rotate downward the lift hooks on the top of the engine.

Looking at the right side of the engine bay from above, we can see the coolant hose and exhaust setups.

From underneath on the left side of the engine bay, we can see the airbox, brake booster, and alternator wiring setups.

Centered underneath the engine bay, we can confirm the serpentine belt routing.

Finally, a photo from underneath the right side of the engine bay.

Jim gave his thumbs-up on these photos. So, I started up a new SCT datalog, cranked the engine again, and went for an around-the-block test following the instructions on page 96 of the Bostig RG6-RevA factory manual.

I sent this “around-the-block” SCT datalog to Jim at Bostig for his final approval. He responded with his thumbs-up… Hooray!

[mpl]

Installing the High Capacity Oil Pan [May 31-June 2, 2016]

I ran into one last speed bump before I was able to consider my conversion complete. After finishing my around-the-block test, I noticed that my stock Focus oil pan was dripping pretty badly; the oil drip only presented itself after the system was pressurized. Luckily, I had already purchased a Bostig high capacity oil pan (HCOP) and had it on hand. I was hoping to enjoy some miles on the conversion before needing to install the HCOP, but realized that I’d need to do it now.

CampWesty has a terrific write-up of the HCOP installation. I can’t do better justice to the process than he already did, so will simply link to his instructions. I also found LemonCove’s installation write-up and Ranger Shad’s installation photos (from a broader installation thread) to be very helpful.

I started by draining the fresh new oil that I just installed into a clean container so that I could later refill it. I then used a thin steel paint scraper to remove the stock Focus oil pan, taking care not to score the bottom of the engine block.

I removed the stock Focus oil tube and left the engine block to drip dry overnight.

Once dry, I used brake cleaner and elbow grease to remove the remnants of the old silicone oil pan gasket.

From reading prior Bostig installation threads on TheSamba, and from discussions on the Bostig Facebook community, I understood that some prior installers found the HCOP to be very difficult to install once the Zetec was mounted in the van. I actually found the HCOP installation to be one of the easiest parts of the Bostig conversion. For what it’s worth, my approach was to use a wheeled dolly to raise and position the HCOP under the engine block. This minimized the distance that I needed to raise the HCOP with one hand while I bolted it onto the studs with my other hand.

Following Bostig’s HCOP installation instructions, and using Permatex Ultra Black RTV to make the gasket seals, I had the HCOP installed in a couple of hours.

Once the HCOP was installed, I let the RTV cure overnight. The next day, I refilled the motor oil, and my Bostig RG6 conversion was officially complete!

[jimf909]

Well done! Great thread. Thanks.
_________________
- Jim

[DanHoug]

congrats on the build and many thanks for the photos. would you be willing to offer what your total cost on the conversion was?

-dan

[jacrider]

MPL: Looks great. Congrats.

One question: in one photo, you show the airbox. I thought the holes on the bottom of the airbox needed to be covered over with some plastic welding?

Is this just a step you need to finish, or a change to the build instructions?

Thx.

[Bassyaks]

No welding is needed, stop down to your local hardware store and pick up some hole plugs, glue them in with RTV or Goop

[JudoJeff]

I left my air box holes open, no problems.
_________________
________________________________________
1989 Vanagon GL Westfalia Camper, Burned up on 7/31/16.
1987 Vanagon GL Westfalia Camper, Bostig & Rebuilt, sold
1986 Vanagon GL Westfalia Camper, Bostig Sold May 10, 2021
1999 Ford GTRV Westfalia camper (30% bigger Westy layout)

[Franagon]

x2 on that for me as well. Did not feel the need to plug them since the large hole is open anyway. There are some good threads on people making the snorkels that go up through the 'intake grates' on the top back of the bus, but that is for serious sand travel.
_________________
84 Westy Wolfsburg Manual - RG6 Bostig

[wontfalia]

Very informative and well done. Thanks for putting this together. I purchased a van with a Bostig conversion and sometimes the van wants to stall as I slow down. Did you end up installing the speed sensor and if so, have you had any stalling issues?

Thanks,

Wontfalia
London KY.
_________________
Don't break the law when you're breaking the law

[jimf909]

[mpl]

Thanks for all the replies! I was wondering if anyone was still tracking this thread after a year’s time; glad to see this is still useful!

Quick responses to questions:

• DanHoug, looking back at my records, my total baseline cost for the Bostig RG6 conversion was $9,700: $6,300 for the Bostig RG6 kit (just the baseline kit, excluding upgrades like the billet thermostat housing) and $3,400 for all of the necessary parts and consumables called for in the Bostig installation manual (this includes the used Zetec engine that I purchased at a salvage yard). Now, your mileage may vary significantly here. As you can see from this build thread, I also took the opportunity to do a good chunk of “while I’m in there” work like overhauling the transaxle, CVs, starter, etc. Those represent additional costs that I didn’t include above, as they were separate from and not necessary to complete the Bostig conversion. But, you may want to budget for that additional work as it’s particularly easy to do with the engine and transaxle removed from the van. My estimate above also assumes that you have all of the necessary tools; if you don’t, those could be a noteworthy, additional expense.
• jacrider, like JudoJeff and Franagon, I left the holes as-is on the airbox. I considered closing them just as Bassyaks described but never got around to it and haven’t had any issues, like JudoJeff and Franagon. I also don’t do any driving in super crazy conditions like some other Bostig-ers like thasty07…
• wontfalia, I haven’t experienced the specific issue you described. I did install the speed sensor and haven’t had any stalling. From what I’ve read on other threads, other folks have experienced some stalling issues that were resolved with speed sensor adjustment, so it seems appropriate to check there. As jimf909 suggested, the idle air control (IAC) valve could be worth checking as well. Seems that sticky or old IAC valves have caused problems for a few Bostig-ers on prior threads. I found that I had to replace the old IAC valve that was on my salvaged engine as it was a bit sticky… I didn’t have stalling problems like you, though—my problem was oscillating idle RPMs when the engine was cold. If you do need to replace your IAC valve, go with the genuine Motorcraft IAC valve rather than aftermarket alternatives; folks like CampWesty have had problems with the aftermarket alternatives. Beyond that, check with Jim! He’ll have good advice to offer as well.

[gregaz]

Please pardon the necrobump, but I JUST found this thread. Better late, than never since I am 80% done with my conversion. This thread helped me with some loose ends that I have been fighting the last two days, and inspired me to really HIT it tomorrow.

Thank you, OP!!!!