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Fri Apr 01, 2016 8:26 pm

I am building a baja bug and am swapping a toyota 3tc. Does anyone have any experience with this engine? How is the power etc? Thanks. I will post a few pics of my project as it sits now. I have a lot of work done at this point, I will post pics of what I started with.

Sun Apr 03, 2016 10:18 pm

I put a 2tc Toyota in mine with a bus trans, it moves down the road great, I tried different radiators out back with no success till it was huge and looked like crap, I moved the radiator up front under the 1 piece hood with a cooling fan, never overheats, 1 thing to remember is to locate the filler neck of the radiator higher than the thermostat on the engine. these are older pics, I switched over to a weber 32 36 carb, which I suggest you do also.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/medium/451559.jpg
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/medium/451558.jpg

Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:21 pm

Great thanks for the info! It's good to get a better idea befor I get too far into into it. It's certainly heavier than the type 1 engine, is the weight a concern? Did you support the engine somehow? It your gas tank still upfront with the radiator? Thanks a lot

Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:30 pm

Also I assume you used a kennedy adapter? We're you able to find one somewhere or did you buy it new? I have been looking everywhere but I can find a used one anywhere. I hate to pay $440 if I can find one somewhere

Mon Apr 04, 2016 9:26 pm

My dad bought the adapter back in 1976, this was in his baywindow for years till I got it and built a Baja, sadly I sent the bay to the wrecking yard as they were not really wanted to much back in 2000, how times have changed. We lived in L.A and went to KEP and bought the kit new. 400 may seem like a lot of money, but this kit has been in 2 buses and 1 Baja, the first engine was from a wrecking yard and was a 2tc, the motor I have now is a 13tc which is a Japanese replacement motor, turns out its a 2tc, my dad got kinda burned on the deal, he wanted the 3tc which is a 1800 cc. so worth it in the long run not having to deal with a vw engine, ive been running this motor for 20 years untouched. Gas tank still up front, weight is not a issue

Tue Apr 05, 2016 5:35 am

I know a lot of guys like the aircooled vw's. I have never had anything but problems with them. My 1600 sp needed an overhaul and I figured I could swap it out and and be cheaper than a rebuild. The biggest plus is its a toyota engine and you can't really beat toyota a engines.

Tue Apr 05, 2016 8:26 am

I will take some pics today of how I routed the plumbing for the radiator, I had a chevy small block in my Toyota landcruiser and a Toyota engine in my bus and bug. I only run air cooled in my split window buses, if they are done right they are pretty reliable, The baywindow sat for about 10 years undriven, I put gas in it, drove from san diego over the border to Ensanada for a few days then straight to reno, it didn't miss a beat, other than the muffler fell off, check out BRD Racing, these guy have the 3tc dialed in

Tue May 10, 2016 9:29 pm

Tue May 10, 2016 9:33 pm

I finally broke down and bought the adapter. I felt I needed to support the added weight of the engine, so I built this cage around it. I put a roll cage in the car before I got to this stage, so I attached it to the roll cage

Sat Oct 01, 2016 3:35 am

I have been working on the bug a lot, got it mostly back together took it for a drive and it runs really nice. So far I'm happy with the engine swap, I'll get some pics up

Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:00 am

Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:05 pm

I just wanted to give an update, I have been bad about posting as I go so here is kinda where I'm at now. I've finally been driving it a little bit, but it needs tires bad so I haven't had it on the road yet.

Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:07 pm

i had to pass through the seat with my harness, instead of the $40 dragon fire passthroughs I used these $6 shower drains from Home Depot.

Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:11 pm

I wanted an to put a stereo in but figure I wouldn't be able to hear it so I bought an aircraft intercom on eBay, and the headphone and mic jacks from aircraft spruce and wired it all in. I wired in an aux input so I can play my tunes through the headsets. It's much more enjoyable this way. You can talk to the passenger without elevating your voice. I have under $100 in the system but the headsets were free

Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:17 pm

I am pretty much done with the wiring and headlights.....I used harbor freight off road lights and but H4 conversion lenses in them. I then put in a $20 HID conversion kit. I put relays for high and low beams, the high beams are halogen. I also used little led turn signals in the front and trailer taillights in the rear. I used a universal turn signal switch to get it all to work with the brake and tail lights

Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:25 pm

Here is the radiator, exhaust, motor mounts and how I routed the the Vw cable through a screen door roller so I could bend around and pull straight down on the throttle arm. I also had to modify my motor mounts. The bushings I used were way to stiff and vibrated like a mo. So I cut those off and used jeep Cherokee mounts. I also used a Cherokee radiator and eBay 10" fans. I mounted the radiator the way I did because I figured it would get max airflow like that. I watched the few YouTube videos with bugs in wind tunnels. There aren't many videos on the subject, but it seemed to work, I have had no heating issues at all.

Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:28 pm

Great build and good use of the intercom.

Wed Dec 07, 2016 5:06 pm

Here is the radiator, exhaust, motor mounts and how I routed the the Vw cable through a screen door roller so I could bend around and pull straight down on the throttle arm. I also had to modify my motor mounts. The bushings I used were way to stiff and vibrated like a mo. So I cut those off and used jeep Cherokee mounts. I also used a Cherokee radiator and eBay 10" fans. I mounted the radiator the way I did because I figured it would get max airflow like that. I watched the few YouTube videos with bugs in wind tunnels. There aren't many videos on the subject, but it seemed to work, I have had no heating issues at all.

Wed Dec 07, 2016 5:28 pm

heywebonya wrote: Great build and good use of the intercom. . Thank you!

Mon Dec 12, 2016 5:40 am

I said a long time ago I would post the car before I started. So he it is. It was lowered with drop spindles.