Just another '84 Westy Build

[mtnhome]

I've been on here for years, mostly as a lurker. I had my 1984 West parked for many years, always wanting to get it going but never making or finding the time and resources to get it done.... Lots of reasons/excuses but the time has come. Along the way, I've been inspired by reading the Samba and keeping my eyes out for parts to add to heap.

During an early burst of activity, I bought a 1993 Legacy with 163k that had been rear-ended for $300. Pulled the engine and harness and sold $500 in parts from it. I sold the running but overheating 1.9. Then life happened and it had to go back into storage.
Through all of this I would read the Samba, peruse Craigslist, watch the Pick n Pull's and continued to accumulate parts.
Here's the project as it sits now.

I recently pulled the radiator, gas tank shift rods, etc in anticipation of moving it into an indoor space I hope to have available for a couple of weeks.

Stage one goals are to get the ej22 I rebuilt with new rings, headgaskets, water pump etc installed along with a Subarugears trans.
I'll post a few pics of these as I go.
I won't even try to match any of the great build threads but I can say the one that really set all of this is motion was ChesterKV's awesome thread on putting.

I'll revisit some of what I've already done and try to add things as I go. Maybe I'll be able to add a tiny amount to the Samba. I can also use this as place to ask questions as I go.
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'84 Westy, '93 Subaru ej22 and Subarugears 5speed
Build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763098&highlight=

[mtnhome]

The engine sat for a long time in storage. Along the way, I bought a second engine off Craigslist "just in case" for parts. It was only $100.
I started in on it this summer. Pulled it out of storage and into the driveway for cleaning and teardown.
I wish I had taken more picture but once I get going on something, I'm not good at stopping to take pictures.
Dirty engine:

Cleaner engine:

I do a lot of 3d printing so I made up some covers to help keep water out when pressure washing the engine. The printed TPU gaskets didn't work that great, I'd probably just cut some out of epdm if I were to do it again. Happy to share the files with anyone.
In the meantime, I pulled the heads off the spare engine, which turned out to be a 1995 and took them to a machine shop to get rebuilt.
Pulled the heads and made a slide hammer to pull the pistons Discovered this was a really good thing to do. Pistons mostly looked like this:

Rings were pretty locked up. I used Berrymann's parts cleaner to do much of the cleaning. I set up four small paint containers and put enough into each one to soak the top of the piston. A parts brush removed the easy stuff and I used a few sizes of zip ties cut at an angle to scrape out the ring grooves. I would let them soak and rotate through them, cleaning one, putting it back and on to the next.
I finally got them this clean.

I then masked them off and used the bead blaster at fairly low pressure to clean the tops of the pistons After blasting, I washed them in hot water and soap to get them totally clean of media.

More to come, I really admire the guys who put up detailed threads!
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'84 Westy, '93 Subaru ej22 and Subarugears 5speed
Build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763098&highlight=

[69tr6r]

Very nice start! Looking forward to following this.

[joetiger]

Yes! I was hoping to see this project pop up here.


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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[vanis13]

Nice! Coincidentally I recently got an 84 I'm (slowly) doing the same resurrection with subi 2.5/subigears auto install. If you want to comisirate and stay in touch [email protected]

PS, I also 3d print and laser cut etc. For my engine clean I left on the coolant pipe and intake manifold and put a tennis ball in the air intake. On the exhaust ports I put some soft packing foam under header gaskets slightly snug with nuts. Worked ok and saved me having to draw stuff up.... Not as pretty as yours.

Looks like your oil pan got dented. I'm making some shortened ones as I have a shortened one on the 83.5 and though it's as short as the next lowest part the engine carrier I still bash up my oil pan (driver choices). I can't imagine going around with a standard depth oil pan.
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[mtnhome]

So to backtrack a bit. I originally decided on an ej22 because I was planning on using the stock trans, I always liked the idea of a non-interference engine, and I was not going for lots of power. I've had two Bay Westy's and alway's went all over western North America. It also helped to have that Legacy pop up locally for cheap! Over time, I've accumulated a pretty good pile of parts and was always going to have a somewhat eclectic build, so you'll see some mixing of various vendors in here. One of the things I have done along the way is to get used parts, clean them up, maybe painting or powder coating them and then stashing them for future use. This has made it nice at times to be able to pull off parts and replace with clean ready to go stuff, along with new parts as desired or needed.
My goal now is to get this running and driving, then upgrade lots of other things.

I have gone through my pics and realize I don't have many from the actual engine re-assembly. I had bought a set of NPR rings and full gasket set suggested by Kalispell(thanks!)
Rear main:

Crank and cam seals:

This is a great piston ring tool!

The company I used to work for had my office for when I was in town within a mile of the Denver U Pull and Pay. So when something would show up I was interested in, I would spend an extended "lunch break" over there.
I picked up a set of VDO gauges from an early 80's VW and am planning to use them in my build.
I'm also very lucky to have RMW relatively close to me and I have lately been picking up a few things from them and pestering them. They are awesome people and a great business.
Some pics of mods I made to the RMW reversed coolant manifold.
Since I want to use the oil temp gauge, I picked up an adapter for the center oil galley plug on top of the engine, under the manifold. Here you can see where it sits. I thought this would be a good place to check oil temps and not too hard to access. The RMW manifold has a nub right over this. I wanted to be able to remove the sender if necessary, without pulling everything, so I cut it off and tapped and plugged the hole. Warranty successfully voided...

On the other side, as I was putting stuff back, I saw that the heater coolant outlest was a bit close to the crankcase breather,

I asked RMW about this and they said they had not had any negative feedback but I just didn't like things this tight together, so...

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'84 Westy, '93 Subaru ej22 and Subarugears 5speed
Build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763098&highlight=

[mtnhome]

The Legacy had just had a timing belt replacement done before getting rear ended by a snowplow that ripped off the rear hatch. When I tore the engine down, I found a new Gates belt but none of the idlers or water pump had been replaced. Interestingly, the 95 engine had also gotten a new timing belt kit with all of the "good" Japanese idlers etc so I was was able to use these.
I had dissasembled the oil pump, cleaned it and checked the specs. They were good so I made sure the screws were tightened with blue Loctite.

Timing belt, think I got all it all in the correct alignment.

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'84 Westy, '93 Subaru ej22 and Subarugears 5speed
Build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763098&highlight=

[mtnhome]

Since my Westy has manual steering, I only needed the belt tensioning parts from the PS mount. I cut it down and modded it to use the Bosch dual sender I scored with the VDO gauges. This sender has both the low pressure switch and oil pressure sender. I mounted it like this.

For the longest time, I was determined to do the wiring harness myself. I did modify the manifold harness to put the plugs at the driver's side of the engine, but sort of stalled on the main harness. A few weeks ago I decided to just send it off to Jeff at AutoVentures. I wanted to get the engine in while I might have time to use some indoor space over Christmas and New Years. I did not want to work my butt off to get the engine and trans in and then have a no start and have to wonder if I had messed something up on the harness. It was such a relief to box it up and send it out. Jeff is another one of our stellar vendors and just let me know yesterday I can expect the harness next week. Knowing that this will be guaranteed GTG will be great!
I did make a bracket to use the original mount for the engine plugs. I didn't want the plugs just hanging off the engine.

You can also see I flipped the fuel pressure regulator. I have also cleaned up the metal fuel lines on the intake manifold as in ChesterKV's thread. I kept the small metal line and did a little cutting and bending to reuse it to connect to the vacuum port.
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'84 Westy, '93 Subaru ej22 and Subarugears 5speed
Build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763098&highlight=

[mtnhome]

[vanis13]

you really have been stockpiling parts
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[mtnhome]

[mtnhome]

Since it was snowing the last couple of days, and I don't have access to the indoor space til tomorrow, I thought I would do something easy.
I have a base 84 Westy and so had the analog clock but would like to have a tach. So, I had some clusters I had picked up along the way and was pleasantly surprised to see I have an 84 or 85 Wolfsburg cluster. I like the look of this tach better than the later ones with the green and orange. As a bonus, I should be able to run the tach signal directly from the ecu to the tach.
Since the clock on this cluster had a bad screen, I had decided to go ahead and just get rid of the blue foil. The kit from Slowbridge Innovations(Kai Yu) looked great and he also has a nice replacement clock. I received the kit a couple of days ago and it was super easy to install. Italjohn has a good YouTube video, and this may be one of the easiest things I will be doing on this build. Even easier since I don't have the Dynamic Oil Pressure warning.
I also bought the Small Car indicator panel insert when I ordered a header and a couple of other bits.

Hopefully moving the Van indoors tomorrow....

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'84 Westy, '93 Subaru ej22 and Subarugears 5speed
Build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763098&highlight=

[dobryan]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[mtnhome]

[mtnhome]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[mtnhome]

It's been snowing almost nonstop for 4 days. I had to wait a day to get a flatbed tow truck since they were all busy pulling people off I70 and out of ditches.

Used a small winch to pull it into the space I have for a couple of weeks.

Got it up on jackstands and spent a bunch of time crawling around underneath with a shop vac trying to get as much dirt and cobwebs cleaned off from underneath. Amazing how much dirt builds up on every surface.
Also did a clean of the engine bay and started pulling the heater hoses, coolant pipes and some leftover engine bay wiring.
All the cruddy looking stuff is original undercoating which is all over many fasteners and the suspension parts. It's starting to flake off and all the metal is spotless. This is a very rust free van. It was purchased new in the PNW and then spent a few years in MT and then WY. Don't think it was driven much in the winter even though it has some funky ski holders mounted on the sides of the pop top.

Also, the coolant pipes have been open to the air for years and still dumped this out when I rotated them to pull out the back.

The pipes are in great shape but I had already bought SS pipes.
I also pulled the rear heater as I'm going to delete it. No kids and I'm planning a Propex or CDH for camping.
It didn't look like the rear heater had leaked(yet). I have been pleasantly surprised that I have not found any evidence yet of mice, no droppings anywhere. there was some bedding stored in the cabinets and I was cautious pulling it out expecting to find a nest.
Found this under the rear heater cover so it appears this van has been to Alaska.

Ready to actually start installing parts rather than pulling things out!
I have the gas tank and cooling system out and the only place that might have any fluid in it is the front heater core, so no more spills or leaks.
Things I am planning to get started on:
Install Intrepid Overland(10c) heater valve
Install RMW SS coolant pipes
New heater hoses
Replace/upgrade battery cable to starter
New wiring to fuel pump(possibly replace fuel pump with Jaguar pump)
Run larger cable from starter battery to aux battery space under driver's seat for Lifepo4.
Run RJES throttle cable
New steering couplers
Install ej22 with SubaruGears trans with 5SpeedBus shift kit.
Install AutoVentures harness
New gas tank
New radiator
I was prepared to replace brake lines but they are in perfect shape but I do need to flush/replace brake fluid.

And, and, and....

Immediate goal is to get this running so I can at least drive it to someplace to continue working on it as I have time/space.
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'84 Westy, '93 Subaru ej22 and Subarugears 5speed
Build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763098&highlight=

[4Gears4Tires]

I always enjoy the point where the parts stop coming off and the parts start going on. It's like cresting a wave.

See if you can lube the cable sleeve for the 10c heater valve mod. It's a big valve to push and I bent the cable and now it constantly rebends and/or doesn't slide into the sleeve very nicely.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[Danny79]

Who knew about that seal ? learn something new everyday, build appears really nice.