eclecticalan

  • Adding water cooling

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    eclecticalan

    A big issue with adding a Subaru engine to an aircooled Vanagon is the complete and utter lack of water cooling (obviously). We did some research and opted to install a later factory water-cooled Vanagon radiator in the front of the van. We didn’t have any of the mounting hardware, but we found one place…

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  • Securing the engine and digging into the project

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    eclecticalan

    The conversion kit comes with a fancy new crossmember/cradle for the engine mounts which had already been loosely installed, but some adjustments had to be made. Due to the swap being installed on an aircooled vehicle instead of water-cooled, a custom plate had to be fabricated (using directions supplied by the kit designer) in order…

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  • Taking over the project

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    eclecticalan

    This early aircooled Volkswagen Vanagon came to us with a partially installed Subaru 2.5l engine conversion out of a 2004 Forester. The owner and his helpers got it about halfway along and ran into issues, so we have been tasked with sorting and finishing the installation. The first step was to inventory everything we had…

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  • Stripping the passenger side

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    eclecticalan

    Before we start assembly on the driver’s side we decided to strip down the damage on the passenger side as well. We found fiberglass in the outer rocker and lots of rust beneath.

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  • Beginning the sheet metal repairs

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    eclecticalan

    Before the MGA can be painted, we need to take care of some rust and collision damage. This car was hit hard in the front left at some point in its past and we’ll be getting that all fixed up, along with the typical lower fender rust, rockers, doglegs, etc. The first step is to…

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  • Painting and Prepping for Reassembly

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    eclecticalan

    The differential was painted in the same Red Glyptal anti-wear paint that the factory originally sprayed them with. Normally it is used inside engine blocks, but for unknown reasons Jaguar decided it was perfect for the outside of the differential!   We’re sending the large parts off to sandblasting and then to powder-coating. Rebuilt original…

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  • Wire Wheel Conversion

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    eclecticalan

    The owner of the car purchased 5 new MWS chrome wire wheels but did not get anything else for the conversion. We sourced new hubs, drums, bearings, knock-offs, and a spare tire adapter from Moss Motors. The wheels were sent to our friends at Hendrix Wire Wheel for tires, wheel-trueing, and balancing. Upon their return,…

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  • Seat Back and Finishing Carpet

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    eclecticalan

    The new seats are provided by the upholstery shop at Moss Motors. They come bare, and we have to transfer all of the hardware. We cleaned and painted the bottom mount sleeves and then used the original seat-back as a template for installation. The seat back also has 8 t-nuts pre-installed for the upper seat…

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  • Carpet and Seat Bottoms

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    eclecticalan

    With the freshly-painted floorboards ready to go, we first installed the carpet over the rear half of the tunnel. This is the proper way to do it so that the floorboards actually rest on top of the rear tunnel half. We installed the transmission covers, transmission carpet, and front carpets to check for fitment. We…

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  • Reassembly

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    eclecticalan

    With everything repaired and painted, it was time to start reassembly. We bolted the freshly painted chassis members to the firewall and began reinstalling all of the firewall-mounted items. A fresh engine harness was called for as well, and it was installed and routed in the factory locations using all the correct clips.     …

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