what to keep away from as im looking at putting one in my 76 bay
i heard to keep clear of front end damage subarus ???
what do you think?
thanks chris

i think what you need to keep away from is a subaru motor in your kombi. keep with the aircooled donk

Hi

Stay away from any motor withdamage to the cam belt housing, the belt can slip and put the cams out of index, the valves then hit the pistons.

Steve

What do I think? I agree with Dirk. What to keep away from? Subaru engines in VWs.

T2 Transporters like yours are not as fashionable, collectable or expensive as 'splitty' T1 buses - yet. Give it another 5-10 years and they will be. Prices for good 'bays' (I hate that term) are already going up. Original T1 buses are far more valuable now than modified ones - so too will it be for T2s. Yes Subaru engines develop more power than a VW engine, but who cares? Keep it original and you will have a much better investment in the future.

T2 buses also don't have all the watercooled paraphenalia that has to be added. At least the later water-cooled T3 buses (that you Americans know as Vanagons) do, where a Subaru swap might be more practical. But not for an air-cooled T2 if you want to keep it classic. You can buy bigger and hotter Type 4 engines if you want more power - see Jake Raby, or FAT Performance, for instance:

http://www.fatperformance.com/ 
http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/Home_Page.htm 

Need more power and are willing to sacrifice some originality? Try a Chev Corvair flat 6 - they are air cooled so no ugly radiators, piping or plumbing will be necessary. You can still buy all the parts you need - see Clark's Corvair Parts for example:

http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/main 

Was corvair th engines that turn the wrong way and need the diff or sumfin to be flipped? (or sumfin or rather:S)

Not necessarily. The EJ22 is a non-interference motor, and the valves wont hit the pistons.

In regards to keeping the value of the vehicle, that is your decision. I couldn't care if our bus was worth $10 in 10 years time or $10,000. It is what the bus is worth to us.

This is the thread of our bus EJ22 conversion.

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=38417&page=1 

most of the SOHC are non interference but most if not all the DOHC are bendy valvey jobs if the tbelt breaks or slips

agree fully with helbus, its your own car make it what you like
there will always be the purists out there kicking and screaming about it but at the end of the day i would bet on most cars actually gaining in value (excepting pristine stockers ofcoarse) with the conversion as people favour newer technology and rising costs of aircooled parts

thanks for your replys guys
as for keeping it aircooled well been there done that got the break downs to prove it and did it hold any value no
have owned 64 split 77 bay
72 bug 71 bug 73 bug
all have been aircooled and every one of them have had there issues and have been pulled up on the side of the road for some reason
As for this bus i got it really cheap and as for value i could sell it for more without an engine so do i keeo it aircoold or not
NOT
but thanks for all your comments
im going to be putting in an ej25 subaru engine as its been done many times and i want to be able to jump in a drive 3000 miles with out thinking is the engine gonna blow etc and also i want to be alble to do highway speeds
thanks again guys its all good information
chris

As for engine conversions, i prefer v6 commodore conversion into busses, but its each to their own.

Talking about subaru engines, someone might be able to help out here.
Got a wedge with ej20 turbo conversion from 93 liberty.
Idles slightly rough, when its hot and acceleration is applied, engine intermittently stalls, without warning, spluttering, misfiring etc.
It turns off slower than when ignition is turned off, so i cant relate this to ignition problem. MAF has been replaced. After stalling, it is quite hard to get started again, and no matter how much acceleration is applied, it will not rev or jump, just turns off again.
Sometimes it will start and idle ok again. When the engine is cold, or starting to warm up, it seems to run quite good, only get problems when its hot.
When each of the injectors are unplugged, it runs a lot worse.

Thanks
Kuch

Yes the Corvair engine rotates anti-clockwise as viewed from the rear, whereas a VW engine rotates clockwise. (Note - did you spot the error in Herbie Fully Loaded where the engine simulator shows the VW engine rotating the wrong way?)

Early Buses could use Corvairs by flipping the diff ring gear, and this was a very common modification in the US in the '60s and '70s.

Later gearboxes couldn't do this as the diff only goes in one way. However there were two allternatives. Corvair conversion companies such as Clark offered a complete Chevy engine-gearbox swap, using the standard Corvair motor and two-speed Dynaglide Chevy auto trans, which did away with the VW gearbox. The other alternative was to offer Corvair 'reverse rotation' kits, which allowed the engine to turn the other way by replacing the cam, distributor and a few other parts.

Every car breaks down from time to time, even VWs. But have a look around - how many other cars from 1976 do you see on the road nowadays? How many US and Jap cars from '76 do you see every day? Just because you put a Subaru engine in, doesn't mean it will be any more reliable than a stock VW engine. I don't see any 1976 Subarus driving around.

Filled up today with the trip meter 497km from when last filled and it took 51 litres (10.26l per 100km) City driving with EJ22. Not afraid to blow off P platers in V6 Commodores at the lights.