Pretty Normal Vanagon Build - Project little Van.

[vwhammer]

Well it's been about a month since I picked up my latest project.

While the name for it is pretty unofficial, I call it "little van" because the garage, where I would normally park such a thing to work on it is currently occupied by my 85 GL that is being turned into a 4x4 expo rig (now known as the big van)

So, the new van is a 1990 GL.
It had a new speedometer put in it about 55000 miles ago so the real mileage is Unknown.
I did a Carfax and sorted out that I am the 3rd owner and that the odometer was replaced at approximately 175,000 miles.
So. This puts my mileage somewhere around 230,000
It appears that the first owner took pretty good care of the van with regular maintenance.
It also seems that not every thing on the van has 230,000 miles on it.
Many things have clearly been replaced in the last 5-10 years.
It also does not appear that the second owner drove it much so I doubt that he did too much of the parts replacing.

Anyway, to make a long story short, which seems pointless now that I have told the long version, it needs some work.

Here it is the day I went to look at it.

I went back to pick it up a week later.
Unfortunately it died about 20 miles into my 77 mile drive home.

Everything sounded good.
I was cruising along with no issues at about 65 mph when the engine sputtered and the power fell off.
I then heard what sounded like the exhaust dragging.
I gave it a little gas and it seemed to want to move but seemed a little sluggish.
I decided to pull over and check it out.
Initially I thought the exhaust had just fallen off but when I came to a stop and the engine was still clattering just before it stalled, it was apparent that the worst had happened.
The engine was no more.
It would not even turn over at that point.
It was a long rainy day and I hoped it would not have come to this so I just towed it home and did not take any pics until it was in my driveway. (see first pic)

Oddly enough I was not mad.
I knew it had a lot of miles and was curious if it would even make the drive home.
Hell, I was already planning an engine swap, among other things, during the 20 miles before it died.
This just meant it needed to happen sooner than later.

I assumed with the mileage that I would need to go through every thing so that was the plan, using the term loosely.

Well, now I knew I would at least need an engine.
Being a long time VW guy I had a few connections and sent out a few SOS text.
A couple days later I dragged this lump home on my motorcycle hauler.

It's a 98 Jetta 2.0 ABA that a friend had already removed for another project.
It was complete with the harness, ECU and anything else he could think to grab.
No one knows what the mileage is on the engine but its an ABA.
I am sure I can find another if I need it.
I am sort of considering this one as a mock up engine.
If it runs, great!
If it's trashed then at least it got all the swap parts sorted.
I will find another block and swap it out.
The same friend that pulled the engine told me something about the ABA.
"Things are like bullets. They go bang. You grab another one"
Anyway, I digress.

Well not too many details right now.
It's 1:38 am and I need to get up in 5.5 hrs so I'm going to call it a post and head to bed.
I will get into more details later.

Until then...

[dobryan]

Sounds like fun!
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[dabaron]

looks like a fun project. engine swap right out of the gate.
too bad the engine didn't make it all the way home.
_________________
1991 Vanagon GL Camper
i had no idea i wanted to be a mechanic
"burnin oil and cookin coils" -- Destructo

BiWerks Design, LLC

[vwhammer]

So back at it.
The plan is to drive this thing daily so, as I mentioned, I will be going through nearly everything.
This meant buying a lot of stuff.
Another advantage to owning a Vanagon? It doubles as a storage unit.

Of course it's not in my nature to just put a bunch of stock crap back on the van.
Why not upgrade a few parts while I have it apart.

The engine will be getting a couple of tried and true go fast goodies like a cam and chip with adjustable cam gear.

I am also swapping the ABA intake and exhaust for an AEG set up which has also been proven to bump the power up a bit without losing any low end grunt.
Attached to the new exhaust manifold will come a custom 2.5 inch exhaust

It's gonna get better brakes front and rear, a little trans upgrade work and a new lifted suspension.

ok lets slow down a little.
First things first.
Here's a closer, albeit, blurrier pic of the crusty old lump.

It was pretty obvious that this would need some good old fashion elbow grease to get it cleaned up enough for my liking.
Every accessory on it was seized and the block was crusty AF.
Surprisingly not a lot of alarming oil leaks or anything like that.

I began the teardown

2 liters of crusty fury

Initially I was going to leave the head on it but since I was going to change the cam and valve springs and all that it made sense to take the head off, especially since I had a head gasket in the kit that I bought.

After a lot of beating with my needle scaler and some degreasing and some wire brushing I got the block to the point where I could get some paint to stick.

Here's the green bean that will be powering this box.

So now I have to clean up all this stuff so it also looks nice on the made over engine block.

Pretty much the only way I could sort out to clean all those nooks and crannies was with a bead blaster.
Alas I did not have a bead blaster.
But now I do!

95 bux at harbor freight, another $8 in buckets $20 for a bucket vac and probably another $45 for hoses and fittings and lights and we were all set.
Oh yeah and like $30 or $40 for 50lbs of the glass media.
The gloves that came with the cabinet ripped the second day I was using it so I spent another $20 on some gloves from amazon that are much better.

Anyway lets not get side tracked I have a daily to build.
So after some blasting and paint I have some fresh parts.

Still have to clean the head and intake and but that will happen soon enough.

Plopped the oil filter housing in an ultrasonic cleaner at work with some degreaser and was super impressed with the results.

Its darker than it used to be but is super clean inside and out.
I might have to add one of those to my tools-too-get list.

Some may have noticed the tires in some of the shots.
They are 225/70R16 Hankook Dynapro AT-Ms

They are going to be mounted on some CLK320 steelies that I scored used from some place in CA.

To mount this thing in the van at the very least I needed to get an engine adapter to connect it to the auto that is in the van.

It also came with the flex plate adapter and hardware.

Well that's about all I have time for this round.
Hope to get the rest of the things cleaned and painted this weekend and get most of this engine back together.

It's starting to get cold in Ohio so after the engine is buttoned up I need to move the big van around in the garage so I can get the little van in there.

Then the old engine and trans can come out and I can get to work rebuilding the trans.

Until Next time.

[vwhammer]

Well not a ton of things accomplished since last time but a lot of time was spent doing it.

It took about two hours to scrub all the crud off of this cylinder head but I did get it all cleaned and painted.

Also managed to get the ol' lumpity stick bolted in and its all ready to get bolted back on the block.

I got the lower half of the new intake cleaned and painted.

Don't laugh at the colors I am just using paint that I have laying around.
Just kidding.
I totally picked these colors and I am ok with that.

I will work on cleaning and painting the upper part tomorrow but it is a big complicated part so I imagine it might take a while.

I got the plug to block off the EGR port on the manifold and took some measurements on the down pipe flange.

I then drew up a flange to send off to the laser cutters to have it cut from 316 stainless so I can build the rest of the exhaust when the time comes.

I am going to build the down pipe out of 316 since it will see higher temps.

The cat (yes I am putting a catalytic converter on this) and everything after it will be 304 stainless.
304 is not great for high heat applications as far as corrosion resistance is concerned but should last a good long time if I can move it out away from the really high heat parts of the exhaust.

I am doing this for one reason really.
It is virtually impossible to find a muffler or a cat made from 316 that does not cost hundreds of dollars each.

Next on the measuring and drawing list are these two parts

I will be making these out of 304 stainless and reorienting the outlets to better fit the Vanagon coolant system layout.

I bought a new diesel oil pump but I need to take the pump drive shaft from the old ABA pump and swap it to to the new diesel pump to make it all work.
I will take those parts to work tomorrow to use the press to do just that.

Just a couple more parts and I will be able to get this engine together and move on to the next step, whatever that may be.

Can't wait to get all this boring old rebuilding stuff out of the way so I can work on the cool stuff like suspension and brakes and other fun stuff.

[jimf909]

Wow! This is a bunch of fun. I vote for naming it minty. Nice engine color.
_________________
- Jim

[Alaskaberrys]

[IdahoDoug]

Great thread and it looks like you are going to really resurrect little van and have her out smashing bugs by spring!
_________________
1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[Abscate]

There’s a guy worth paying $125 an hour..

Nice Van, Bus, Minty...or whatever.

Keep them coming!
_________________
.ssS!

[calo1956]

Awesome! looks like you must be hitting the caffeine hard! What a amazing transformation! Nice ti know your way around a engine! Your also a Picaso with the paint! love itI admire your enthusiasm !Thanks for the many photos documenting your build, sweeeeetttt!

PS i love color in the engine bay too!

_________________
Enjoy the ride....
72 bug
80 westfalia

[vwhammer]

[dabaron]

[leecat]

See now, this is art. My identical ABA engine makeover before install was two cans of degreaser and a wire brush. I am ashamed. I can never decide if I'm in a hurry, or just a hack. :\

[uberaudi]

Looking great! What's your plan for the carrier bar/engine mounts?

[vwhammer]

Well, that's a really great question.
The simple answer is I am going to build some.
The plan, at the moment, is to get the engine bolted to the trans.
I will then hang the engine/trans combo in the engine bay.
I want to place the engine as high as possible while still clearing the deck lid.

Then I want to take some measurements and draw up some pieces that I will have laser cut.
There would be one on each side of the engine that will hold the engine mount

I also intend to have the bars be the lowest part of the engine bay area and incorporate skid plate mounts into it.

More or less I am envisioning a set up that looks similar to this.

I have not decided whether to just start mine at a modified stock engine cross bar or go all the way to the back like I am assuming these ones mount.

[uberaudi]

Love it! I have an ABA waiting on a stand and most of the components to install. Snow is on the horizon though and the hightop doesn't fit in the garage so the conversion is most likely pushed out another season.

I would definitely be interested in a set of carrier bars/mounts if you were to get them cut out, or at least chip in for the files. I like the idea of an incorporated skid too.

Will you be using the standard Audi hydraulic mounts?

[vwhammer]

I will be building my own mounts on the engine side of things as well.
For the actual mounts I am using Mercedes 190 hydro mounts.

After this build is all done I may have a handful of duplicate parts for several things that I might sell just to help a few people out that can't do the fab work or don't want to spend the big bucks on some of the other options out there.

[uberaudi]

Great! Put me on the list .

Keep up the good work!

[vwhammer]

Did a couple things over the weekend.
I finally blasted the crud off of my upper intake and got some paint on it.

I also decided it was time to get the head bolted to the engine.

I got the valve cover blasted and painted and could not help but do a loose fit up to see what it might all look like.

With engine assembly imminent it made since to get the oil pump drive shafts swapped.
I used a little but not really secret trick to get the needed shaft into the needed gear.

Step one: Toss needed shaft (ABA in this case) in ultra low temp lab freezer.

Let it sit while you do other things.
Come back when the temp is nice and right.

-66C ought to do it.

Step two: Apply a little heat to the needed gear (Vanagon Diesel pump gear)

Step three: Remove shaft from freezer and slam it into the gear.

NOTE: Do not actually slam the shaft into the gear or you will do what I did and cause the gear to jump and move too high up the shaft.

So now I have to take the part back to work and use the press again to get the shaft back down to just below the gear surface.
Not a big deal but one more step that I would not have had to do if I would have taken a little more time.

Well that's as far as I made it this weekend.
I will carry on during the week and hopefully get the new van in the garage.

Until then...

[uberaudi]

What are you doing for the alternator? Vbelt, serp, and/or abf?