Subaru Conversion and Rebuild of a 1984 Blue Westy

[danfromsyr]

both the springs and shocks tire with age..
change them both and upgrade to a larger swaybar at the same time and you'll have a great handeling van.
to match your great looking van.
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[BlueNorthWesty]

Just an update. I've been driving the van constantly since the rebuild. We camped all summer in it, did loads of driving, hills, some off-road, and now it's my daily driver I love it so much (my wife gets to use the Jetta). We just hit 10,000 trouble-free kms! Here is how it looks today.

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1984 Medium Blue Vanagon Westfalia 2WD w/ rebuilt Auto, Peloquin differential, 3.27 R&P gears, 2002 Subaru 2.5L engine, Girling G60 front brake upgrade, PS, power mirrors

Build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610481&highlight=

[Thebeas]

Such a cool thread to follow. I'm hoping to be in the middle of a conversion this time next year.

Glad everything is rockin and rolling.
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1983 2WD 1.9 Digijet

[Fracas]

I must admit, I have read this post over a couple of times.

having a similar colored westy in Calgary, its always good to have a benchmark of what I can achieve.

thanks!

[BlueNorthWesty]

And this is what the Subaru conversion looks like today. I was under it checking for leaks, etc and found none. All levels are good. I'm so happy with it and I would recommend the swap to anyone.

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1984 Medium Blue Vanagon Westfalia 2WD w/ rebuilt Auto, Peloquin differential, 3.27 R&P gears, 2002 Subaru 2.5L engine, Girling G60 front brake upgrade, PS, power mirrors

Build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610481&highlight=

[dobryan]

Way to go!
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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

[BlueNorthWesty]

[dobryan]

[BlueNorthWesty]

[BlueNorthWesty]

The suspension has been pretty bad but I've lived with it until now. One of the sway bar ends has snapped. Actually it could have been a long time ago and I never noticed until now. The van is terrible in corners.

While I'm waiting for new sway bar ends, an upgraded sway bar, and a new bushing kit from GW I found the Bilstein HD shocks locally and started on the rear. This has to be one of the easiest jobs on the van.

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1984 Medium Blue Vanagon Westfalia 2WD w/ rebuilt Auto, Peloquin differential, 3.27 R&P gears, 2002 Subaru 2.5L engine, Girling G60 front brake upgrade, PS, power mirrors

Build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610481&highlight=

[vanagon1991]

Wow...this is great news, and looks great. Congrats!!!!!
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1991 Tornado Red Vanagon Carat
(2003 Subaru 2.5 conversion/Smallcar kit)

[BlueNorthWesty]

It's been a while since I've had anything to post. I drive the van to work daily and we're looking forward to the upcoming camping season.

I've been thinking of upgrading to bigger brakes, power steering, and beefing up the gearbox with parts from an Audi 5000 turbo. But before I start a new project I needed to add some insurance to the work already done.

I sunk a fair bit of money into the transmission so I pay attention to how it feels. In January I noticed a lag in the shift from 2nd to 3rd. When I checked the fluid it smelled burnt so I took it back to the shop for a check up. They had it for a week and ended up dropping it to replace the clutch pack The work was done under warranty but ever since I have been nervous about it.

Some people say Vanagon automatics are bullet proof, but I've learned their kryptonite is heat. I have an external cooler from Small Car that I mounted up high out of the way of rocks. The air flow around it was not ideal so I remounted it lower to give room for air all around it. For added insurance I installed an oil filter and temperature sensor.

The filter kit is a Derale from Summit Racing. I chucked the crappy gauge that came with it and bought a VDO to match the rest of the Vanagon gauges.
It looks like it was always meant to be there on the shroud above the shifter

On a 30 minute test drive the temp didn't go above 120 F, which I assume is good. The real test will come in the summer climbing the mountains into BC.
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1984 Medium Blue Vanagon Westfalia 2WD w/ rebuilt Auto, Peloquin differential, 3.27 R&P gears, 2002 Subaru 2.5L engine, Girling G60 front brake upgrade, PS, power mirrors

Build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610481&highlight=

[BlueNorthWesty]

I'm planning on upgrading the front brakes but instead of buying a kit I pulled some calipers off an Audi 5000 at the Pick-n-Pull. They are not the sought-after G60s but even with a single piston they are big. The rotors on the Audi were way too rusty so I left them. I'll get new ones from RockAuto or Auto Value here in town.

I'll need wheel hubs to go under the rotors since the old 2WD Vanagon rotors are one-piece. The hubs are available from GoWesty and others but I know you can get an old set of front rotors lathed down to make hubs. There's a place in town that will do it for $15 each. Sure beats paying $300 US.

I haven't tracked down any drawings showing the finished hub but from what I can tell the lathe cuts are made as follows:

This means the front wheels will have an offset when the new brake rotor is installed over the hub equal to the thickness of the new rotor. Before I take the van apart I'll mock the new stuff up with spindles from a 1990 and add a power steering rack at the same time.
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1984 Medium Blue Vanagon Westfalia 2WD w/ rebuilt Auto, Peloquin differential, 3.27 R&P gears, 2002 Subaru 2.5L engine, Girling G60 front brake upgrade, PS, power mirrors

Build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610481&highlight=

[wesitarz]

I measured to test fit VDO gauges there in the bottom panel but found the space to be too short. Did you bend the wire connectors

[BlueNorthWesty]

[BlueNorthWesty]

I found adding power mirrors to be one of the best improvements I've made to my van.
I resigned myself to constantly adjusting the manual ones while driving, even having my passengers do it on the highway.
Then I lucked out and found a reasonable set off a fire damaged van in BC.

I test fitted each of them to find the right location to drill the third hole:

Using a rivet nut is recommended so I shelled out the hundred bucks on a rivet gun and 15 cents on rivets. (I'm going to have to find a lot of things to rivet )

Nice:

And almost half done:

Some say that wiring them isn't necessary, which is true, but that's just half-assed in my opinion. And after the thrill of stable mirrors at high speeds wears off, it's so cool to be able to adjust them for fun with the switch after all the effing around with the manuals. Another bonus: they are heated, which I haven't tried yet but in this climate it will come in handy.

The wrecker where I got the mirrors threw in the controller, but not the harness. Then they wanted $150 plus shipping for it. Screw that I said and went to the local Pick n' Pull. Did you know the harness from a '92 Passat is the same as for the Vanagon? Lucky and it only cost $15.

I won't go into too much detail on the wiring install. The switch was easy enough to fit, just drill a 1 3/8" hole right through the door panel and the metal behind it. Measure twice.

I've seen other posts where people cut the wires leading to the controller connector. You don't need to do that. It is really easy to open. It's hinged on one side and all the connectors just pull out once you release the clips.

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1984 Medium Blue Vanagon Westfalia 2WD w/ rebuilt Auto, Peloquin differential, 3.27 R&P gears, 2002 Subaru 2.5L engine, Girling G60 front brake upgrade, PS, power mirrors

Build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610481&highlight=

[rubbachicken]

i wouldn't do the riv nut thing, i get in the and put a nyloc nut on the back of the bolt.
i've had someone try to steal my drivers side mirror while it was parked out in the street outside my apartment.
having a lose nut on the back of the 3rd bolt is the best security you can have.
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lucy our westy

lucy's BIG adventure

meet 'burni'


markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.

619 201 0310 or 617 935 4182

[BlueNorthWesty]

[BlueNorthWesty]

I've had the GoWesty springs sitting around today for 6 months and decided to change them and add spacers before our next trip.

Either due to age or because of the weight of the Subaru engine the back end has always sat a little low (when we're fully loaded it's more apparent.)

It's not a tough job. I recently changed the shocks so the bottom bolt was still greased and easy to remove.

You don't need a spring compressor, but I had to undo a CV joint on each axle to get the trailing arm to drop to pull out the old spring.

No difference in length between old and new, but the GoWestys are thicker, especially on the ends.

I added a spacer above the original to boost the back end height so it will be level when loaded.

This took about 30 minutes a side:

Unloaded the van rides a higher on the back end now. I expect camping gear, bikes, etc, it will even out. These are zero lift springs.

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1984 Medium Blue Vanagon Westfalia 2WD w/ rebuilt Auto, Peloquin differential, 3.27 R&P gears, 2002 Subaru 2.5L engine, Girling G60 front brake upgrade, PS, power mirrors

Build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610481&highlight=

[Thebeas]

Looking over this thread again trying to get some wiring tips on my build and I scrolled to the end of the thread.

What the heck is up with that last picture on the westy??? I know you've done a ton of work, but I missed the part where you shortened it huh????
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1983 2WD 1.9 Digijet