We have live in Australia for two years, had my brother's T25 -T3 for our last weeks in the uk, more rust than body, don't fill the tank more than half way as the pertrol will end up on your foot, he tells me as I drive away.ho and if I get to 90 MPH- 150Kmh I have fell off a cliff. But i must have enjoyed it as i have purchased a T25 Caravelle 2.1watercooled with a big water leak. Phoned for a price on a repair, or recon engine ( about $2100 for a gold seal recon engine in the uk) chap wanted $4500 but told may go above that!
Normally I would want to fit a diesel (VW TDI or TD had lots of diesel engine car but these engines give the best power to Km per 100 ie 4l per 100 @ 100 km per hour!!) but thats not the way in australia as the second hand engines do not come on the market?
So whom is the best place to buy the spares ( set of rods gaskets, rings cam?? ) or should I be importing them? Or is there a better engine recon company that will not make it worth my while to do the work myself?(I'm at Caloundra 100km north of Brisbane) Or do I start looking for a Subur crashed car?

Any help would be good, as I've been pushing it up and down the drive.
it is no light weight!!
Also can't find the engine number, it normally tells you in the Haynes manual but not this time

For parts there are a few VW specialists up your way, don't have names sorry, but start to ring around.
You can also check with Mick Motors in Brisbane or some of the sponsors of the forum to get prices.

They are expensive motors and if they need a full re-build done in a shop properly they will cast that much and more. Yes expensive but you should have a great motor for years to some.

Subaru is one of the most common conversions, but once it's been fitted correctly and engineered for an engine conversion, not sure you will save a massive amount.
Sure diesels are great, but they will not get that economy pushing an old bus around, so you really need to weight up the benefits, again not sure you you save a massive amount in the long term.

Hope you get your bus back on the road, they are great cars!

G'day mate! You certainly have gotten yourself into a bit of trouble there. The 'wasserboxer' engines are very expensive to rebuild here, and it would almost definitely be cheaper to convert your bus to Subaru power in my opinion. You would need to contact some specialist VW shops and engine builders to see what they can do for you as far as parts and/or rebuilds of the wasserboxer. It would be easy for the price of a rebuild to exceed $5000 though. Do you know what is the actual problem with the existing motor? It may be possible to fix it without having to do a complete rebuild.

VW TDI engines are rare and expensive here because hardly any TDI Golfs were sold here, and they are all still expensive cars.

Thanks lads think compession test first then out with engine get it apart and start to measure / inspect, then cost it up!! 350,000 on the engine but its had reg oil changes so Im told we will see.Away with work all next week so will have to take the manual way with me.. night time reading how sad.

By the way lots of information on TDI and TD engine convertion @ 80-90club.com............well lots and lots of information on T25 -T3 generaly of note is the repainting as RR use to do it with a roller!!

I'm in a similar boat myself. But I have less k's to deal with.
Will you be doing any of the work yourself? If yes, what level? at 350000 you need to do the lot. The parts from overseas seem cheap to me. (there are tons of T25/3/vanagons in Africa, us and Europe) Just have to get them here.
From my experience, with the VW mechs I have spoke to they don't like them, and except for one, know little about them and don't want a bar of them. (I live in perth and the one was in newcastle so too far)
If you have the skills, you can save heeps, even if you just organise the build and pay someone for the specific tasks. But you may have to solve problems if they come up.
In my experience most engine machining places have 2 prices one for mechanics and one for public joe sucker. Find an engine machinist to give you trade price you have it made.

I'd be ringing up about this asap if I were you:-

forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=88323

If you hear of anything in perth, let me know.
being that the whole state is a sandy desert, the perfect place for the rear engine kombi, but not many wasserboxers round this way

If you do get an engine over haul then the head studs have to be replaced and they are about $600 a set plus the cost of removing the old ones

Converted an 89 T3 with EJ22 about $5K,I did most of the work.
Harness,adapter plate,sump,eng. mount by others.
If and when the engine needs replacing,I have another EJ22 from ebay < $1K.