1983 Aircooled Vanagon Subaru JDM 2.5 Conversion Tour 

Thanks, and great to hear your conversion cruising around.

That is going to be so insane in a Van - can’t wait to see it.

Dude! I’ve been meaning to send you a shirt! I’ll be in touch.

The EG33 is such a great engine. Enjoy your travels!

Hey James, I’m getting back to my waitlist folks now. This was my last conversion for a while. I’m shifting gears in another direction - need to keep up with all the wiring harnesses and parts manufacturing.

Thanks man!

You’ll love it.

Thank you!

Thanks man, I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Thanks man!

It should give him a lot of life.

Hey Austin, in this case I just took the original connections and extended them to the Subaru compressor. I’m not an AC expert but next time I work with AC I’ll do a video.

Thanks Rick

The heat shield in this video is just 16 gauge bent at a 90 on a brake. The KEP heat shield uses a mixture of the stock Watercooled Vanagon shield and a piece of flat 16 gauge bolted together.

Used the stock transmission with a KEP adapter plate.

Did you see Mick's note ? 4-5K in parts. I had a bet I could do it for 3K (free labor), and lost the bet...it all adds up...and after I lost the bet, I went back and redid things "better" or added more to the scope of work. In hindsight, I did the harness because I wanted to, and was being cheap, I should have sent it to Mick. I'd be driving now....."anything that saves me time or work, is a good idea".... do it once, do it right.... there's another video series and the guy has a running total, ka ching, ka ching, ka ching...I think he hit 10-15K ?? I bought mine non-running, got it running, it sucked. I put a used, rebuilt engine, that was better, but it still sucked...now, the EJ25 awaits its awakening...new head gaskets, timing belt, gasket set, valve removal tool, glass table, sandpaper, water pump, power steering pump, ss exhaust manifold, coolant lines, radiator, hoses, clamps, lubricants, drill bits, etc...and I know there's still a lot more to do.....Good luck

I used 2 3/4" intake tubing and the aircooled Vanagon engines sit a little more forward in the bay than the water cooled. You may need to clearance if you want to use large diameter plenums.

I have no idea on the legality of engine conversions in Germany. I swapped a watercooled heater box into the dash to replace the aircooled version.

KEP - Kennedy, if he used Kenndy, there is an adapter plate to stock vw transaxle. Good luck on your build

The DOHC get a bad rap but I like them. They have a little less horsepower and are a little trickier when setting up the timing belt but they fit the same.

@@Busaru Thank you. I love your work and your videos.

Yes, if you use speaker wire it’s going to be a problem. There is one shielded wire - you have to use good shielded wire for that sensitive signal wire and use large gauge for the rest.

I was juggling quite a few projects and aspects of the Busaru business so it took a few months but the fastest I've done a Vanagon swap is 7 days of concentrated work. Shortening of the oil pan is optional but a good idea.

That would be quite a sight!

No power steering on these older Vans.

I've got an '82 that came from the factory without power steering. After putting 225/65/16 Nokians on, it was about impossible to perform parking lot manoeuvring. Hydraulic steering was going to be pricey, but doable. However, hydraulic steering is fairly outdated technology. I ended up taking the electric steering column from a second generation Prius, and incorporated it to the VW column. It took a week of playing around with quite a few measurements, cutting, machining, welding, test fitting, re-doing a few things again, but I eventually got everything squared away. I love it! The motor is silent, consistent, reliable, modern, etc. Best part was that I only had $200 into it

In the UK, I have heard people talk about electric power steering ?? My 99 had intergral reservoir, the RS did too, but the WRX had a remote power steering tank. I replaced the 99 legacy pump (leaking), new hoses from bus depot (easy, drop the gas tank), and adapters (see theSamba for the adapater and hose)- good luck wiht your build

Hmmm, it was 4-5k for parts.

I had my Bus converted. As much as like like air cooled vws, there’s no way I’d go back. There are no disadvantages. None.

This particular VW had serious engine issues could not do a 100 miles w/o overheating

Anthony Noonan just repair tin or blowing fan or clean the fins