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So I finally got the wiring harness through the firewall and I’m about to embark on connecting it to the main harness. I think once the engine is installed it will be easy enough to know what plugs where, but my immediate challenge is figuring out exactly how to connect the harness to the black box in the engine bay. I’m still trying to figure out what to remove and what to leave behind. My harness was done by AV Subaru Conversions so I know the alternator-to-starter-to-black box harness was to be removed and not used, so that’s been removed. The first thing I did was bundle the harness up out of the way while I figure it out. This is where I’m a bit confused. It can’t be all that bad since there aren’t really that many wires. There are two large round plugs and I think one goes to the tail lights, so the other round plug likely plugs into the round plug on the harness. I will follow the Smallcar installation guide and see how that works out. If you would be willing to share some of your knowledge or experience with this part of the conversion, please do chime in! -- Warren 89 Westy 88 Tintop 70 Westy

Hi there, Last fall we took possession of an 85 bus but it was late in the year and we barely drove it, or even got familiar with it. So now I’m poking around because I want to buy an oil filter, and: The ECU s/n indicates an ‘03 WRX, 2.5, but I’m seeing EJ20 on the block. Is this a usual arrangement? I know there are many variables; I’m just starting down the path of deciphering what I’ve got here. (Can an EJ20 be bored out to make it a 2.5? Might the ECU have been reflashed to suit an EJ20? Does it matter very little? &tc….) Tx, Jim

With the stainless coolant pipes installed, new heater hoses installed, and fuel tank refreshed and installed, I am finally turning my attention to the engine bay. I began by cleaning it reasonably well, then proceeded to remove the intake snorkel on the passenger side. I expect I can use that snorkel in some form or another on the driver’s side when I get to air intake considerations. The snorkel is a bit difficult to get out. It is attached to a plastic cover on the bay side. There is a small rivet that needs to be drilled out. Then clips on top and bottom of where the snorkel attaches have to be pressed and wrangled out. Then, you have to go up top to the outside vent and get the top of the snorkel off the hose. It is attached with a strip of what appears to be electrical tape. But before you pull it out you have to get it off a set of hooks inside the vent. I just used a screwdriver and pushed the snorkel free. The snorkel is longer than I expected. The photo shows the parts laid out but you get the idea. Now I have some additional free space that was heretofore blocked off. I’ll clean it out, but not sure what, if anything, I will use the space for. Any ideas? (This is on the passenger side). -- Warren 89 Westy 88 Tintop 70 Westy

I live in the PNW and I’m hunting for a motor to replace the 2002 SOHC in my Vanagon. Anyone have one that is a good runner that they’d like to sell?

I went to do a timing belt change for the first time since conversion and got to setting TDC before removing the old belt. I noticed that the timing mark on the crank sprocket appears to be off by one tooth while the cams seem to be perfectly aligned. The van was running well. How is this possible?? Another observation I made was that the belt guide is not in place. This conversion was done by RMW so I was surprised to not see the guide. Donor car VIN lists MT so it should have been there, no? Thanks in advance for any insight.

My heater hose arrived from GoWesty and ibm e got the outside(passenger side) hose connected at the front. My objective is to route that one hose (or both?) through the fuel tank tunnel, which will make fitting those RMW coolant pipes easier (I hope). I’ve done a test fitting (see photos). Please provide feedback on this idea if you don’t mind. p.s. the GoWesty hose is a bit larger (OD) than the original Warren 89 Westy 88 Tintop 70 Westy

So I finally got the two new radiator hoses installed and I was able to use the original spring clamps instead of the supplied screw clamps, but one was a bit difficult to get on, even using the special clamp pliers I purchased for the job. The radiator mount is back in place and I hope I’m done with that. What’s important for me now is that I am actually installing parts instead of taking things off, so that’s turning a corner in my book. Although I still have a few things to remove in the engine area and need to install new boots on the shift lever at the transmission, I’m putting it back together, piece by piece, component by component. -- Warren 89 Westy 88 Tintop 70 Westy

Today I started to remove the fuel tank and those pesky expansion tanks. I got the fuel filler neck out after shedding a bit of blood due to a nice scrape. The grommet on top of the expansion tank was rotted off and actually down inside the tank. No wonder I was always smelling gas. So next is removing the fuel tank itself and the plastic coolant pipes that run front to back. I believe the stainless pipes I purchased from Van Cafe are made to work with their conversion kit. In the meantime, I installed the clutch and pressure plate on the Subaru engine, torqued the bolts evenly to 22 ft lbs and, although I did not see it recommended in the RMW literature, I used a bit of blue thread locker on them. -- Warren 89 Westy 88 Tintop 70 Westy

I had some difficulty removing the drive flanges and seals but I finally got it done. I had to order two new circlips from Van Cafe as I destroyed one of mine taking it out. Then I installed the new seals, replaced the plastic backing thing, and finished that part up. I drained the gear oil and was it ever dirty! But there were very few metallic particles on the magnetic drain plug. I filled it with 3 liters of GL-4 conventional 80-90 gear oil but I’m still not sure that’s enough. Possibly I’ll need to add a bit more. I replaced the throwout bearing (release bearing) with a Sachs bearing, lubed the cross shaft bushings with dry lube and things there look pretty good. I also installed a new reverse light switch as mine was toast. Also I received my new high torque starter from Van Cafe. I have the adapter plate from Westy Ventures. So other than possibly adding a bit more gear oil, I’m good with the transmission. The cross shaft bushings looked good and they were snug. The main shaft had a bit of side to side wriggle but it was tight when I pulled on it. The mounting rubber was also in good condition. So I think I’m finished with this part of the conversion for now at least. -- Warren 89 Westy 88 Tintop 70 Westy

It was a process for sure. I purchased a “commonly failed items” kit from Maniac Electric online. The parts all fit perfectly. Splitting the alternator was a bit of an unknown and I damaged the first one I broke open so here are the steps. Remove the 4 through bolts Put alternator on stable something, I used a vice and clamped the one ear of the mounting tab Tap the pulley side which I’ll call the front back and forth as it will twist without doing any damage to windings underneath Once it’s freed up a little you’ll notice 4 spots where you can fit a flat head screwdriver in to pry it up. You can pry here but be careful as you can damage the winding or the gasket if yours has one(I had one with and one without). I had two screwdrivers opposite one another with slight pressure and then tapped on the mounting tabs with a soft mallet and eventually it will start to move. With one I put it pulley down and smashed it into the workbench holding the tabs, this destroyed the threads for the pulley so don’t do that. What you’re actually doing in this step is dislodging the lower bearing from the back housing. You could possibly also use a pulley puller on the pulley and tug on that. But there is no need to removed the pulley to get it apart. That said, the kit comes with two bearings, one mounts under the pulley so eventually you’ll have to remove it and it’s easier when assembled so you kind of have to decide which way you’re going. Anyway to remove the pulley there are two opposite spots in the housing you can CAREFULLY insert screwdrivers or similar to “lock” it from spinning while you remove the pulley. I zapped it with the air gun and it came off pretty easily. Ok so you’ve got it apart, now what. Well I bought a cheapo 3” gear puller to remove the rear bearing and that one was noisy so about to fail, and I replaced it by smacking the new one back on with the old one, cleaned up the shaft and lubed it slightly to aid with install. If you’re going to replace the slip rings (where the brushes ride) you would de solder that piece and remove it before you smack on the new rear bearing. Mine were ok so I cleaned them up gently with 1500 grit wet sand paper. And re used. The front bearing has a bearing carrier that is installed from the front under the pulley. You could possibly remove it leaving the pulley on, I didn’t as my screws were shot and I replaced them with stainless Allen head ones for future repair. The bearing isn’t a super tight fit, hence the carrier I guess. I used blue loctite on the stainless screws as they look like they’d strip out pretty easy so you can’t tighten them too much. I also used liquid electrical tape which I know is kind of hokey but I used it on spots on the windings that I dinged and could possibly become a bare surface and also around both sides of the middle portion where the housing sandwiches it. So now to replace the regulator. This sucked. You have to desolder the old one, and mine was a mess with way too much solder. I used solder wick to clean it up after, one came off easy and one was a mess. See photos. I used a very small panel screwdriver to gently pry on it while I was heating it up with the soldering iron, this worked well. The new one comes with a pin to hold in the brushes. There is a hole the pin lines up with on the rear housing so you can’t tighten assemble the entire thing and then remove the pin to release the brushes. I yelled “release the hounds” at this point as a triumphant thing but then realized I mis aligned the front and had to do it all again. When re soldering the new regulator make sure you do it with the rear housing screwed on as this will ensure it’s aligned properly. You’ll see what I mean. That’s about it. Note the front housing has the two holes, the threaded one is on its own and the plain hole lines up with the rear non threaded hole. If you screw this up and can’t figure out why it won’t mount like I did, simply remove the 4 bolts holding it all together and gently tap it around to line up. While holding your breath and praying, at least that’s was me. Hop

Friends, I have had considerable difficult removing my wiring harness. I cut out a portion of my rear Westy seat box but still couldn’t get the connector through the hole, so I snipped it off and pulled the wiring into the engine bay. I posted the following on the samba so I thought I would post it here as well as I try to get some guidance on removing the harness. One kind samba member has responded so far and provided a photo (many thanks 4Gears4Tires!!). “Okay guys. I’m not sure how to pull the Vanagon wiring harness, i.e., what to take out and what to leave behind. I removed the ECU and pulled the main harness back into the engine bay and started to try to figure out what was what. There is apparently a main harness and an engine management harness. I should remove the engine management harness but I don’t know the difference. I asked for help from Jeff at AVSubaruconversions, who did my wiring harness, and indicated that I am a visual person and asked if he had any photos. He said “I don’t have any photos. To do a swap you need to be familiar with both platforms” and eventually told me “you need to know what you’re dealing with and looking at to do a swap. At this point you would have to research or pay somebody that knows how to do a swap if you don’t want to research.” The mechanicals are easy for me. The electrics are not. So I’m doing research as Jeff suggested and asking for help! What to take out and what to leave behind? When I received my harness Jeff included some notes and a screenshot of Smallcar’s diagram to connect to the black box. So I feel confident that when I get to that point I will be able to install the modified harness. But I need to get to that point. Any help, photos, diagrams, etc. will be appreciated. Thanks in advance!” -- Warren 89 Westy 88 Tintop 70 Westy

My 1987 Westfalia has a 1994 OBD-1 EJ22/25 Frankenmotor (50k+ on the conversion done by 523Rods) I have a strange starting issue; - Normally the engine starts right up (just a few seconds of cranking) - A few times now it either takes a long time or won't fire up at all - Still cranks perfectly normally (high torque starter running fast) - Also, occasionally (and it seems related), when I turn the key to the 'Run' position and don't go straight to 'Start', the CEL flashes On and Off repeatedly plus I hear relays clicking in the back - there are two relays (starter and Ignition) next to the ECU under the seat and one or both seem to be the ones doing this Ideas? Thanks, Mike Hart Paso Robles, CA (650) 387-8957 mjhart853@...