Well what can I say .. the more I have to do with the EJ22 Engines into VW’s the more I like them. That being said the more I have to do with conversions the more I understand why some people reckon they are a crap idea. It never ceases to amaze me what some people are told and let people do to their cars. Here are some examples:

Checked out a 74 Bay Kombi with an EJ22, they owner asked if I could put an EJ20T into it as he wasn’t happy with the power of the EJ22. I told him that was weird as it should have a lot more power than his old 1800. He said not as much as he expected as he was still down changing to get up some 100kmph hills. After checking out the conversion I noted the following:
- He used the stock ECU but had no VSS hooked up of any sort
- He used 6mm VW style fuel line and simply enlarged the end to fit the 8mm barb
- He had a fowled injector on number 3, not that he knew as he decided the engine light was a waste of time as he had a VDO temp gauge.
- He used the Subaru temp sensor and with the VDO tempo gauge even after he had been told by VDO the range was wrong. So it didn’t actually work but he had been told he needed ones so he put it in anyway.
- The exhaust headers sat a little low for his liking, not to worry he just took them off and flogged them flat with a hammer, that got him an extra 1” or so he reckons. Looked better than before so he took to the sump as well.
- The insulation on two of his plug leads was badly cracked and not looking real happy. He had taped a 3rd one up and it had rubbed through on his engine cover.

Surprisingly enough it still ran, had the power of a wiper snipper. More surprisingly the conversion was done by an actual business and cost him over $6000

Another example :

Have a T3 with an EJ22 in it. It has died after about 15 000 km’s of use. Very weird when the EJ22 is good for up and over 500 000 km’s. So I get the job to fix it. As I pull the engine out I notice the following:
- The crank breathers and rocker cover breathers have all be plumbed into each other and sealed, no wonder the engine leaked oil
- The air flow meter was in backwards
- The wiring loom was missing a few crucial wires such as ECU temp sender, VSS, a/c idle up circuit
- Fuel line was not EFI
- The cross member rubbed on the thermostat housing causing it to collapse and partially block.
- The timing belt was two teeth out on one cam.
- No engine check light
- Wrong series ECU for the engine.
- ECU wires were twisted together, not soldiered and at least 3 or 4 of them were earthing on each other.
- Exhaust has 4 very tight 90 degree bends in it. Now with 1/1/2 pipe that don’t leave much room for flow. Not to worry the exhaust flanges were both cracked and leaking anyway.
- The cooling system was a piece of artwork. You could only put water in under pressure and even then you needed to be lucky as there was no real way of bleeding the air out anyway. Funnily enough there was no water left in the system and I doubt it had ever been bleed in the first place.
- Throttle cable rubber on the a/c belt when anything over ¾ throttle was being used.
- The guy then asked if the EJ22 should sound like a VW and need to be warmed up before use…. Well no was my response. Oh he said well the guy that did the conversion told me that was normal. He then went on to tell em how the engine stalled on occasions and the guy had told him to run Optimax to fix the problem. mmmm now there’s some good advice

When you consider the above conversion once again was done by a business and cost the guy over $5000 you can begin to understand why some people think any VW is bad news but one with an engine conversion is even worse.

Anyway just thought I would share some of this with you all as it sure bought a smile to my face as I wondered what the hell the people doing the conversion where smoking when the let them drive out.

In case anyone is wondering an EJ 22 converted VW should drive like a VW but run like a Subaru and no you don’t need to warm up the EFI before you drive off. It is a good idea but the EFI shouldn’t stall when it is cold.

Well written-and it's only 2 conversions we hear about that have turned to shit.Imagine how many other blokes are out there kicking the shit out of the dog and too frightened to tell the wife how much they were ripped off for the conversion from hell. These arseholes should be named to save other people from the costly nightmare,and anybody doing good conversions should also be named so people contemplating the Subi conversion can make an informed decision.

A lot of complaints come from wankers who modify things when they get them back... Or worse still - say to the modifier don't do this or that cause I will do it myself. When shit comes unstuck they never bother to add their part.

lol.. engine conversions done well are sensational.. when done badly they are a nightmare

hey buggy brad... can you fit a ej22 into a 64dcab splitta. straight axle converted with 1500box?

Yup I can fit em in anything that is why they rock. On a splitthough I would want to hide the radiator. Even I have some taste and I can't imagine a split looking right with a rad of anysort on the front.

Well never mind a split ill only do the SC when you can hide the radiator. Mind you with the exhaust thats fitted everyone keeps asking if its a subie in it. Till I drive off that is

Cheers

Scotty

maybe there would be enough room to mount a radiator in front of the fuel tank under the tray. scoop air in and then let it out. could work?

Man, those stories are awful. Brad, I am relieved you around to help pick up the pieces. Engine conversions can be an absolute nightmare. Especially if they are new ideas or a bit out of the ordinary. When I went to get my loom shortened, no one knew which car it came from or where to even start. It was so difficult to find some one I turned up at a mates place one afternoon nearly in tears.

I ended up talking to the head tech guy at Subaru Aust before I found Anthony Brodsky, a bloke who is a Subaru guru here in Sydney. He's done dozens of EJ conversions. He did a great job with my loom and I have only had one serious electrical fault (bad connection to one of the coil packs). Unfortunately, he doesn't do them anymore.

I hear that Quickfit Motorsport in Hornsby does though and they seem to have a good reputation.

It'd be good to have a list of recommended repairers on the forum for this sort of thing.

Great thread, thanks for spending the time to do it!
I also have a dual cab splitt screen pick up(1963) and have thought It would be a cool conversion.
Two guns, the pic of your dual cab looks almost identical to mine before painting it white! Oh and some eijit also had radiused the rear guards to fit big baja type wheels on it.
Mind you now that I think of it, i did spend some time up at indian automotive about 6 years ago measuring up the scoobie engine and thought it might be a bit long to fit in. Did I just muck up my measurements?
Maybe it was an earlier engine or something??!?

You can hide the radiator on any VW. The reason our conversions usually have the radiator up front is to allow us to offer fixed cost solution to the job. If I was to increase the cost to cover the development of a solution to put it out of site then it would be no issues at all.

If I called in $8800 drive in / drive out then I would happily hide the radiator. Note by hiding you maybe able to see it under neath but it would not be obvious. Also with this sort of setup it would take longer as we would need to test the setup as it would be an unknown.

There are heaps of options, that is why we call it customisation and not bolt togeather :beer

Thats still value for money, esp when you consider it costs about $6k to do an EJ20T into a liberty that came with an EJ series motor in the first place ! to put an EJ22 into a car its not meant to be in must be far more work.

What amazes me with your stories Brad is that the cars still ran at all!

I have the Liberty with the EJ22 in it as my daily driver/kiddie transporter and it is a fantastic car. I look forward to clocking the engine on it! After rebuilding T1 and T4 engines, if I ever had a T$ kombi again that needed engine work it would be cheaper to convert it than do the whole engine properly.

kkk

My point was that if the Wanker doing the conversion had any decency or business ethics-the job wouldn't leave his workshop in a condition that required the Tosser who owns it,to need to bash his exhaust to solve any issues.Thats what you pay the Conversion "expert" for.

2g, maybe u could put the rad in the treasure chest(is thta what they call the area under eh bed) and flow air in through the door?

Brad, i know what u'r sayin about the bodgy conversions. whilst the engine in mine was beautifully attached with great mounts, flywheel, bellhousing etc, the owner desided he didnt need the orig VW wiring, so tied it in a bundle and ran another couple of hundred wires from the front making the re-wiring Im doing absolute hell. also decided that a stcok clutch woudl be fine aswell :cussing

thats my thinking. will have to do some sweet talking and sorting.

The biggest issue is that unless you know 100% that the guy who is getting the blame actually did the work you need to be very cautious. I know Brad was swearing at some tool the other day who said he had just bought a Bus with one of our conversions. He had never even seen the thing much less done the work.
People do funny things .... I know I have been told I am not allowed to touch anything once the EJ 22 is in my Baja ... sweat .........

People in the VW circle are actually some of the worst for starting strange rumours. I've heard all sorts of weird rumours about myself and my car, and the funny thing is that every single little detail about my conversion is posted on my website, so I don't know how I get it wrong. I even have all the details and story posted on a board beside the car at shows.

I get told, or here people talking at shows that my engine is toyota, nissan, 3L, a commodore 3.8L, not legal as when I tried the department of transport wouldn't allow it, not as good as the VW motor it replaced, and many more crazy things.

The reason I here most of it is because people don't know who I am, so say silly things either straight too me or right in front of me. So be wary of what you hear, unless it is first hand.

terry, i thought you weren't allowed to touch anything on your car anyway :P