The Bostig conversion in my Barkas B1000

[Barkas]

Hi everyone,

I hope I'm not violating any rules by posting here, but I own the East-German counterpart of the VW Bus, the Barkas B-1000 and I'm looking to replace my engine for something better. As everyone likes photo's, this is my bus!:

As the engine set-up is nearly the same, but in the front, I come across the Bostig conversion quite often in search of an engine and transmission that may suit my bus.

The Zetec engine looks compact enough to ft in the Barkas, as I don't have a whole lotta width to play with as it's situated between the front seats.

Example:

The current engine is a small 3-cylinder 2-stroke from a Wartburg, producing rougly 42 horsepower, 90'ish Nm of torque and a bunch of smoke. It's noisy, lacking power, smelly, and parts/mechanics are becoming quite rare. Hence I'm looking for a modern upgrade.

As far as I understand from reading up, the Zetec engine is married to the Vanagon transmission via the Bostig kit (which also comes with an engine cradle and such).

Since I would have to fabricate my own engine mounts and driveshafts, I was wondering:
- which gearboxes fit the Zetec
- what parts (of the Bostig kit) I would need to marry the engine and transmission (emailed them, no reply yet)
- and what your opinions on a Zetec with an auto gearbox are as the gear linkage may prove to be an interesting challenge to build in.
- If anyone has experiences with the 1.6/1.8/2.0 liter Zetec's and their main pro's/cons

If you have any other recommendations or know engines that would fit, be my guest!

Thanks in advance!

[narendra.vw]

Hi, Welcome to this wonderful forum.
As I can see this Bus has a mid engine & I presume it’s a 2wd with it's power train to the back wheel.

Complete engine & the gear box as a set is the way to go(Diff ratio & wheel size is also important).
Any Japanese rear wheel drive engines should do the Job.

Regarding this Thread, I have no idea.

[240Gordy]

Pretty clearly the engine is in front of the front axle.

Post more pictures please!
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[Wildthings]

As narendra.vw mentions I would choose a complete powertrain including engine and tranny. Is this a front wheel drive or rear wheel drive? I wouldn't think you would want to go way up in horsepower or you will start breaking things, maybe an engine with about a 50% increase in torque, but certainly no more than twice the torque.

[Barkas]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Perhaps I should've clarified, the bus is FWD and the engine is mounted in-line. Hence the Bostig setup seems to be an option for me.

There's a German guy that put a 1.9 TDI lump in there from an Audi A4, with minimal bodywork required to make it fit. I want to avoid diesels however due to increasingly strict regulations in European cities which I plan to tour around in the future.

These pictures are from said German person, showing the space on the chassis:
Album link

This is the current engine, pretty tiny as you can see!:

Another perspective

[Zeitgeist 13]

I would look for the entire drivetrain from a B5 Passat with a 1.8t. It's a longitudinal engine/transaxle setup just like the Wartburg
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Barkas]

[Barkas]

I stumbled across the website of a Russian Barkas owner who described he also has a Passat engine in there. Anyone that could identify the block, or even other options as mentioned in my first post?

Thanks!

[Zeitgeist 13]

Back when you first posted I searched and found two separate vans like yours with VW 1.4 liter engines coupled to Passat transaxles. I'm not familiar with the 1.4L as they were never sold here in the US. I think they were typically installed in VW Polos
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[narendra.vw]

This is what I had in my mind.
Following setup will make way for wide range of combination. All it needs is a solid axle Diff.
Give a thought.

[Zeitgeist 13]

Whoa...that diagonally fitted steering rack is wild
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?