Vw Vanagon to Westy?

[Christian P.]

By the way, here is a thread on my Westy Syncro - I am sure you have seen it...



http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17010&highlight=westfalia+syncro

 

[westyss]

This is exactly why I strongly suggest buying a genuine Westfalia and putting your focus on engine maintenance/swap/upgrades rather than cutting holes in the roof and ending with a project half done like I saw so often.

Sorry to be direct but I have been around VW van for longer than I remember...and I have seen a lot of projects left unfinished.

If possible, I suggest to attend this event:

www.syncrofest.com

Good advice , my first VW was a 1969 westfalia, the previous owner drove with the top up and it went flying, so he put a high top on it, it nickle and dimed me to the point that all the money I had saved to do a trip was used up, so after that van I decided to go to a newer one, a 1977 window van. I cut a big hole in the roof and mounted all the westy stuff from the 1969 van, and the roof on it, it was always a little unfinished and not a very pretty sight up close, it also was a beast on the road, I drove that thing across Canada, and mostly was a frightening experience with cross winds, especially on bridges where the winds are stronger you have less room to wander over in the gusts, that trip ultimately made me decide to never have a high top VW, my last van like I said was a 1991 westy, great van, I stuck a 2.2 suby engine in it and was the best darn travelling machine, in five years it crossed Canada, two trips to California, Baja, and countless trips here in BC, but you need to keep on top of all the maintenance. I would suggest a syncro too, if I would have bought a syncro I might still be a westy owner as the reason for going with a different vehicle was primarily getting stuck too often. Some thing to consider that some one else mentioned, if its original its value will be greater, these vans are now appreciating, so it can be an investment, just look at how much the splitties are selling for!!!

 

[westyss]

I knew I had a pic of my van, first post on my build thread:smiley_drive:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48351

 

[Wandr]

We have (3) Vanagons. My Syncro hightop and a Carat and a GL. I honestly hardly notice the difference in wind then the other two. I have the exact milage with the hightop then I had prior to the install. I really don't understand all the talk against the GL to Westy conversion. It is ultimately what Westfalia did to a standard van. Not too difficult of a process. Much easier then half these custom installs I see on this forum. I have a 2.2L Suby in the garage awaiting an install in the spring. I can't wait for the install!

P.S. - My 4th vehicle is an Dodge Sprinter High Roof. By far the worst in the wind.

 

[westyss]

We have (3) Vanagons. My Syncro hightop and a Carat and a GL. I honestly hardly notice the difference in wind then the other two. I have the exact milage with the hightop then I had prior to the install. I really don't understand all the talk against the GL to Westy conversion. It is ultimately what Westfalia did to a standard van. Not too difficult of a process. Much easier then half these custom installs I see on this forum. I have a 2.2L Suby in the garage awaiting an install in the spring. I can't wait for the install!

P.S. - My 4th vehicle is an Dodge Sprinter High Roof. By far the worst in the wind.

2.2 suby engine is what I installed in mine and its a great engine for the westy, fits like it belongs. You must have different rims and good tires? 15"or 16" with truck tires really make a difference in control with x-wind, even my pop top westy was a little wild when a gust would hit it, I see you have a syncro high top, extra weight on the front end probably really helps. Now that I think about it, after I mounted a bike rack with two bikes on it in the front of my '77 high top she really settled down. I am surprised at what you say about Sprinters too, I always thought they would be not to bad in a x-wind ,hmmm.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Mrs. Bigdaddy and I were just discussing the merits of a westy vs. vanagon conversion w/ high top over dinner.

Lots of stuff to consider, for sure.

Do any of you daily drive your rigs? Not sure if we'd want a 3rd vehicle, or if the westy would replace one of them.

I'm not afraid of maintenence. My jeep requires it's fair share, but what it's returned is 100% reliability. This is with 180,000+ on the original drivetrain. Do you understand vans to be the same way?

 

[Wandr]

We daily drive all of our Vanagons. (The syncro the least). If I were to do it again I'd get a Vanagon that had a bad Head Gasket (so you can test the other components) save a few thousand and do a Subaru Conversion. Then you'll have an very reliable daily driver. For the most part the VW's are reliable enough. They do require some tinkering now and then. Between the three of them I seem to be thinking all the time.

 

[BIGdaddy]

We daily drive all of our Vanagons. (The syncro the least). If I were to do it again I'd get a Vanagon that had a bad Head Gasket (so you can test the other components) save a few thousand and do a Subaru Conversion. Then you'll have an very reliable daily driver. For the most part the VW's are reliable enough. They do require some tinkering now and then. Between the three of them I seem to be thinking all the time.

Understood, thanks for the insight.

 

[BIGdaddy]

We're there any "wolfsburg" westy's or weekenders?

What's the point of wolfsburg? Trim package/option package?

Googled it, but didn't find much info.

 

[vanderpooch]

Lot's of great info here if you haven't found it already:

http://www.gowesty.com/library.php


I disagree that shops are more reluctant to work on conversions. I find the opposite with mine. They all cringe at the thought that there is a waterboxer inside and then they get real curious to pop their head in to check out the conversion. (Just my experience) Most mechanics are familiar with the engines and know exactly what they are looking at.

I have a Jetta conversion. Super simple and fine for a 2wd. Cheapest conversion of all. If I did it again being a Syncro I would go for the big TDI and never look back or subby as a close second choice

 

[westyss]

Lot's of great info here if you haven't found it already:

http://www.gowesty.com/library.php


I disagree that shops are more reluctant to work on conversions. I find the opposite with mine. They all cringe at the thought that there is a waterboxer inside and then they get real curious to pop their head in to check out the conversion. (Just my experience) Most mechanics are familiar with the engines and know exactly what they are looking at.

I have a Jetta conversion. Super simple and fine for a 2wd. Cheapest conversion of all. If I did it again being a Syncro I would go for the big TDI and never look back or subby as a close second choice

Ah, maybe I should of said a VW dealer will have nothing to do with it, and even some VW only shops get a little irked, I had the owner of one shop in California yelling at me while doing some job on my van, maybe he was just having a bad day. The VW dealer's here in BC arent interested in any engine related items at all. It would be good to stay with all VW componants, would make it easier to get those VW shops to look at it. If you go with suby, plan on doing the work yourself. Probably good to do with any engine in there.
With the big TDI conversion, does the engine stick up above the hatch? I heard some folk angling the engine so that it didnt protrude out of the engine bay, to me that was one of the biggest issues at the time I was deciding on a conversion engine, but a nice diesel in these vans would be perfect, sure is hard to beat how the suby engine fits in the van tho, same boxer style engine, and darn near the same size, same fuel etc. Is there anything needed to convert the fuel system over to oil? Can you use the same tank and electric pump? Can it be approved for registration in California with CARB?

 

[Herbie]

sure is hard to beat how the suby engine fits in the van tho, same boxer style engine, and darn near the same size, same fuel etc. Is there anything needed to convert the fuel system over to oil? Can you use the same tank and electric pump? Can it be approved for registration in California with CARB?

I'm far from the expert, but I did research this quite a bit... Fuel system is mostly compatible. Same tank and pump for most applications, I think some early models have to upgrade to a later-model pump. A couple of bends to adapters (or a good kit from one of the places that do the swap regularly) needed to sort out the water plumbing.

Best part? Yes, it is CARB-legal if you use the right parts and keep all the emissions components for your donor engine. That's one reason to stick to the simple early model EJ22 from a Legacy - 1 cat and the carbon cannister along with the stock Subaru ECU and you're good to go. If you get greedy for horsepower and want the bigger EJ25 (or the EJ20 turbo from a WRX, etc.) then it get's a bit more complicated as those are OBDII with multiple cats.

 

[westyss]

I'm far from the expert, but I did research this quite a bit... Fuel system is mostly compatible. Same tank and pump for most applications, I think some early models have to upgrade to a later-model pump. A couple of bends to adapters (or a good kit from one of the places that do the swap regularly) needed to sort out the water plumbing.

Best part? Yes, it is CARB-legal if you use the right parts and keep all the emissions components for your donor engine. That's one reason to stick to the simple early model EJ22 from a Legacy - 1 cat and the carbon cannister along with the stock Subaru ECU and you're good to go. If you get greedy for horsepower and want the bigger EJ25 (or the EJ20 turbo from a WRX, etc.) then it get's a bit more complicated as those are OBDII with multiple cats.

You are refering to the suby engine right, I was questioning the Carb approval for the TDI engine, I know the suby 2.2 has been approved so long as you buy some thing from Kennedy Engineering, cant remember what you need to supply to CARB, its been seven years since I did the swap so I cant remember what item CARB wants, I did buy the instructions and adapter plate from Kennedy and it had all the instructions and paper work for CARB approval.
The suby swap is pretty easy, I am not a mechanic and had no problems, its still on the road as a daily driver with no engine issues, but the original exhaust manifold was a mess, these little engines run a hot exhaust, that was the only thing engine related in seven years.

 

[BIGdaddy]

can the subaru motor swap into an aircooled westy? I understand plumbing and installing the front-mount radiator would be a pain, but other than that are there quite a few differences? Different trans, etc for the air-cooled vans?

there's a few nice 1982/1983 air-cooled westy vans around here. I'll have to search on the samba for that info, maybe. Water-cooled post 86 westies around here are like $10-15k+. WAY outside our budget.

Just recently however, I did see a nice wolfsburg edition 87 that has two jumpseats, folding table, and a full length (3 seat) folding bed. That seems like a very good candidate for a high top conversion, as you'd simply need to buy the top, make the cut, attach the roof, build a bed (I'm a very good woodworker), finish the headliner, and get out camping. I could pull and sell the a jumpseat or two to finance the purchase of some storage boxes/bedding,etc.

 

[Wandr]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1070186

This is the one to get! Something like this for that kind of price is worth the little bit of a ride. We traveled 1200 miles for two of ours.

Looks like you can fly SouthWest Airlines for $117.00 and have a nice 12 hour ride home.

Id rather spend half a day driving then the days of work required to convert an air cooled to a water cooled.