About our Conversions
Through all the Volkswagen and other engines we have seen and tried for the Vanagon, we feel the Subaru engine conversion is the only choice for your van. The advantages are numerous-from improved performance and reliability, less frequent maintenance, more accessable and inexpensive parts and improved gas mileage.
The subaru engine has 130 horsepower and 135 ft/lbs of torque compared to 89 to 94 hp and 117 ft/lbs for your Vanagon, about a 50% increase! And with this increased power comes an engine that fits better than the original. No raising the engine lid and altering your bed and no loss of ground clearance on the 2wd (1" loss in a 4wd with the modified skid plate installed). Plus you get this power while saving money by only having to use 87 octane gas. And the money savings go on from there. Tune-ups only include plugs and wires and the computer self-adjusts the rest as compared to many parts and hand adjusting timing and mixture on the VW. Diagnostics are mostly done by the computer with the fuel injection system's on-board diagnostics (OBD1) to flash codes if there is trouble with the engine, and it shows you the code- no need to pay someone to scan it! This way even an inexperienced technician in Iowa could repair it. This way any mechanic familiar with Japanese cars (nearly everyone, everywhere) can diagnose, easily attain parts for and repair your problem. Try that with a Vanagon engine...good luck. The conversion is all self-contained Subaru, not a "Frankenstein" in any way. It connects to the Vanagon where engine bolts to the transmission, there is an accelerator cable, 2 electrical plugs from the custom wiring harness and 2 coolant hoses. Anyone who has worked on a Subaru engine will easily recognize it in your van. No more searching for the few of us who are competent with the waterboxer engine and fuel injection. And for the biggest savings, there is never a $2500 cylinder head reseal that needs to be done after 80-100k miles of a Vanagon engine.
Having a Subaru conversion eliminates the problems your vanagon never should have had in the first place. It replaces the many large and small cooling hoses in your engine compartment with 2 metal pipes and 3 thick, new, easily visible hoses. The redone wiring harness is bench tested to make sure you have perfect wiring, unlike reusing your old harness on a rebuilt Vanagon engine. And unlike getting a rebuilt VW engine, the Subaru conversion comes with a new exhaust, including catalytic converter, and a new clutch. Plus it is engineered to last more than 300,000 miles, about 100,000 more than the VW rebuild, high powered or not. This is all due to excellent design by Subaru. It starts with a factory designed counterbalanced crankshaft, four valves per cylinder (not like 2 in a WB, even the high performance ones), one overhead cam on each head to open them, and a far-advanced fuel injection system over the WB. All of this makes the Subaru conversion the smoothest, most balanced, low-maintenance conversion possible.
The subaru engine has 130 horsepower and 135 ft/lbs of torque compared to 89 to 94 hp and 117 ft/lbs for your Vanagon, about a 50% increase! And with this increased power comes an engine that fits better than the original. No raising the engine lid and altering your bed and no loss of ground clearance on the 2wd (1" loss in a 4wd with the modified skid plate installed). Plus you get this power while saving money by only having to use 87 octane gas. And the money savings go on from there. Tune-ups only include plugs and wires and the computer self-adjusts the rest as compared to many parts and hand adjusting timing and mixture on the VW. Diagnostics are mostly done by the computer with the fuel injection system's on-board diagnostics (OBD1) to flash codes if there is trouble with the engine, and it shows you the code- no need to pay someone to scan it! This way even an inexperienced technician in Iowa could repair it. This way any mechanic familiar with Japanese cars (nearly everyone, everywhere) can diagnose, easily attain parts for and repair your problem. Try that with a Vanagon engine...good luck. The conversion is all self-contained Subaru, not a "Frankenstein" in any way. It connects to the Vanagon where engine bolts to the transmission, there is an accelerator cable, 2 electrical plugs from the custom wiring harness and 2 coolant hoses. Anyone who has worked on a Subaru engine will easily recognize it in your van. No more searching for the few of us who are competent with the waterboxer engine and fuel injection. And for the biggest savings, there is never a $2500 cylinder head reseal that needs to be done after 80-100k miles of a Vanagon engine.
Having a Subaru conversion eliminates the problems your vanagon never should have had in the first place. It replaces the many large and small cooling hoses in your engine compartment with 2 metal pipes and 3 thick, new, easily visible hoses. The redone wiring harness is bench tested to make sure you have perfect wiring, unlike reusing your old harness on a rebuilt Vanagon engine. And unlike getting a rebuilt VW engine, the Subaru conversion comes with a new exhaust, including catalytic converter, and a new clutch. Plus it is engineered to last more than 300,000 miles, about 100,000 more than the VW rebuild, high powered or not. This is all due to excellent design by Subaru. It starts with a factory designed counterbalanced crankshaft, four valves per cylinder (not like 2 in a WB, even the high performance ones), one overhead cam on each head to open them, and a far-advanced fuel injection system over the WB. All of this makes the Subaru conversion the smoothest, most balanced, low-maintenance conversion possible.
