Diesel carrier bars misaligned for I4 swap?

[moovinfast]

I have a gas 85 westy that I purchased a diesel i4 swap with a running i4 gas engine for. The carrier bar for the passenger side went in no problem, but the driver side is 2 inches off? Something has to be wrong right?

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[Zeitgeist 13]

We need to see pics of the full carrier bar. There are a variety of different bars available for the drivers side
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Casey--

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

[MarkWard]

Certainly looks like a mismatch to me. If you are stuck with what you have, probably best to grind the welds on the carrier bar/mount bracket and have it rewelded further back using the engine bracket as a reference.

The 82 diesel bars and the later 83 bars are not the same. The 83 bars locate the engine about an inch or so further back to account for the longer 4 speed and to accept the 5 speed. You probably have an 83 bar on the r/s and an 82 bar on the l/s. Pictures of the actual mount and body attachment ends of both bars would be helpful.
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[VWinVT]

If your carrier bats have the rubber bushings on both ends they are the 82 bars, which mount the engine about 2 inches further forward. It seems kinda weird that one side fits and the other doesn't though...pics will definitely help.
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1981 Westfalia with a 2001 Cabrio ABA

Small wheel turns by the firing rod,
Big wheel turns by the grace of God.
Every time that wheel turns 'round,
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.

[?Waldo?]

With the one pic (without any of the pertinent bits showing) and a two sentence description it is impossible to give reasonable advice.

Take pictures of each of the mounting bars, each of the brackets that connect to the engine, the tranny nose mount, the places where the carrier bars attach to the chassis and about a half-dozen other pics of any angle you think might be pertinent...

[uncommonvw]

[?Waldo?]

Perhaps harsher than necessary. I edited it to be a statement rather than a question and perhaps soften the effect.

There are several potential reasons for the misalignment and no way to tell which is causing it from the pic or the description. Conjecture or advice prior to seeing pics of the mounting parts at all points where they contact the chassis could very likely lead to poor advice and a lot of extra work and expense.

Recommending that the OP start grinding and welding before seeing pics of both ends of both carrier bars and a pic of the trans nose mount is a prime example of that very poor advice. For all you know, he has '82 carrier bars on both sides with a stock '85 trans and unmodified trans nose mount. If he then installed the one passenger side mount/bracket, the whole thing would be twisted toward the passenger side because the '82 bars should mount the engine 1.5" to the front of the van. Cutting and welding on the one bar would only cause problems. The correct course of action would be to modify the trans nose mount or if you feel like doing extra work, modify the carrier bars instead.

There is nothing that would cause me to come to the conclusion he has an automatic. Maybe it's an automatic, but I find that less likely than a manual. Regardless, the trans choice alone won't result in the misalignment shown.

The stud is not on the carrier bar, it is in the engine mount. A piece of flat steel bolted between the engine mount and the aluminum bracket is a recipe for disaster. Neither the aluminum bracket nor the engine mount are designed for the twisting forces that would result. If your misalignment pictured was a result of a mismatch of the carrier bars and the trans mounting position, not only are you over-stressing the mount and aluminum bracket with your 'fix', your engine center-line is also skewed and very possibly damaging your CV shafts or trans.

Uncommonvw, if that is a picture of your van and a 'fix' to the mount discrepancy I would offer the same advice. Take pictures of each of the mounting points and post them in order to sort out what the reason is for the misalignment and come up with a real solution.