Sietze's EJ22 + 091 in T2b 1975 camper van: new exhaust

Obonobo · Last edited by Obonobo on Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:12 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hi all!

I introduced myself sometime ago here (link) and I have been gathering priceless info here. But now I have my own (small) results to share.

First: this is the van: a T2b from 1975.

It is powered by a 1.6 aircooler with a 002 gearbox. Although it purs nicely, its purring neither strongly nor fast. Last summer driving to France was slow. And constantly being overtaken by trucks/lorries didn't do it for me either.

(pic t2 + motor (filmpje?))

So I bought this: a 2.2l Subaru Legacy I GX from 1993 with 250k on the counter (kilometers that is).

Besides a low rumble because of a leaking exhaust and rattling heatcovers on the headers it was fine. I was loving to ride the AWD…for as long as it lasted! Because pretty soon it looked like this:

Wrecked car: I almost regretted taking it apart. It was a really good car. Heheh…almost…

This will need some trimming. I decided to give it a try myself.

I also bought this: a 091 box, of which was said that it was rebuilt. It didn't say what bits nor how many k's ago. But the new paintjob that was on it was very hard to take off! I found out when I was looking for the serial number. I will know how it performs when I start driving it…

So, first thing to go was the engine, the tranny and some miscellaneous wiring from the old petrol-heater (a BA6) that came with the bus form factory, but never made it to me. I was planning to put one of those back in, but since the radiator will go where the heater should be that is not going to work. And I will have some decent heating anyway!

(I owe you a pic of this)

I was quite pleasantly surpassed by how the bottom looks. It has surface rust only, probably thanks to the mudshield/cover that was underneath it to protect the petrol heater.

Now all the wrecking and all major parts gathering was finished it was time to start building!

The past few days I have been working on my rad. To start with the setup is as follows, in order from top to bottom:

- 2x 12" slim fans, reversible (blow to suck and vice versa)

- BWM E39/530d double core rad
- hinged steel frame
- aluminum scoop

The plan for now is to scoop up air from underneath, assisted by 2 sucking fans. If need be I will scoop it from the front of the van and have air going from top to bottom. But decided to see if this works for now.

Anyway I started off making a frame (35 x 35 x 3 mm steel angle profile). I didn't know how to weld nor how strong steel is, so I got me some material to practice and which I figures takes a while to rust away!

I planned on using the Subaru rad at first, and to upgrade later to a bigger rad. But eventually I decided to get the big one right away. The finished result looks like this:

The frame hinges at the front and should be flexible at the back. That last bit I haven't made yet: I will do that when I have the hoses for the coolant and the fans in place, so I know how much leeway I have.

I made four 'placeholders' to go in the U-profile of the rad. Then I attached the placeholders to the frame, suspended in rubbers. This way the rad is mounted vibration-free.

I was aided by my dad with the scoop. The scoop is actually more of a roster with slats. It is made from twenty 50cm aluminum strips of keep-water-out-of-my-window sill-profile and two alu 40x40x3 angle profiles, that are blind riveted together.

Time to put the whole thing under the van. It didn't quite fit the first time: obviously, when I measure 3 times, I measure 3 different things and have to adjust again and again. I need to improve this 'quality' of mine! Anyway, here some's pics from under the van.

As you can see, ground clearance could be better! So I intend to trim off a 2 cm strip from the scoop, so that the angle profiles are flush with the slats. After I have fitted the fans and hoses, I will try to raise the front end of the rad and see how much I can raise the rear.

Tonight I will continue on the tranny-support. Preview:

Tatah!
_________________
Greetings from Sietze
-------
Driving a '75 Bay with a EJ22 '93 and 091 6-rib box.

And it's a long time since it looked anything like this!

Obonobo · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:34 am Post subject:

Yesterday evening I did some work om the gearbox support bar.

It is not finished yet, but the rough work is done.

As you can see from the pics, the bar is a bit skew, so I need to work on that. That will also remedy the gearbox hanging a bit askew too.

_________________
Greetings from Sietze
-------
Driving a '75 Bay with a EJ22 '93 and 091 6-rib box.

And it's a long time since it looked anything like this!

ElusiveStranger · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:53 pm Post subject:

I remember those days well!

Thanks for sharing

_________________
The advice you receive on here is worth the paper it's written on.
Your experiences are worth shed loads to others, including the f'ups - live and learn.
Wouldn't YOU rather learn by someone else's mistakes? So would they.

'78 Bay, 2 litre 091 box, EJ20 NA & the ashtray's on the 'right' side.
I don't lean forward for hills any more Grin

Bugger, missed out on "Live fast, die young"

Obonobo · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:52 am Post subject:

And some more sharing Wink

Last week's Friday I finished the gearbox support: onwards to the engine support! I also intended to replace the bearing of the flywheel and the friction plate.

Pressure group (sorry, this is a direct Dutch translation for the thing with all the feelers that the clutch operates) removed:

The flywheel has a blue core and little cracks in the friction area. A befriended garage man said it would be dangerous to use this, so I will have to get a good second hand or a new one. The 'pressure group' will also be replaced.

Old friction plate, blue and very worn:

Flywheel off:

This crankshaft oil seal wil also be replaced. I guess there's an oil seal begint the cover on the right as well. That wil be renewed.

Since I don't need a flywheel for the making of an engine support, I hung it in:

Before:

After:

And I made a hole for an extra engine access hatch:

Last Friday I started work on the engine support. It's not finished, I have to do the 'real' welding. I used the old brackets of the original egging support, for that 'factory feel'. Or something. Anyway, it meant less work Wink

From right to left:

The two separate brackets will be welded together to avoid shearing.

The place where the nuts is supposed to go had to be 'lowered' (or actually, raised, geographically correctly spoken). The holes you see on the left and right of the 'lowered' part, will be filled. I also consider to weld an extra strip to this spot for added strength.

Till the next update!
_________________
Greetings from Sietze
-------
Driving a '75 Bay with a EJ22 '93 and 091 6-rib box.

And it's a long time since it looked anything like this!

ElusiveStranger · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:43 pm Post subject:

Nce going

Here's how I did mine:

I covered the access holes for the nuts with rubber grommets.
_________________
The advice you receive on here is worth the paper it's written on.
Your experiences are worth shed loads to others, including the f'ups - live and learn.
Wouldn't YOU rather learn by someone else's mistakes? So would they.

'78 Bay, 2 litre 091 box, EJ20 NA & the ashtray's on the 'right' side.
I don't lean forward for hills any more Grin

Bugger, missed out on "Live fast, die young"

gerrelt · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 6:43 am Post subject:

You're going pretty good! Nice work.

Obonobo · Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 10:08 pm Post subject:

@Elusive: looks similar. Grommets are a kind of caps? Sounds like a good plan

@Gerrelt: thanks Wink

Hi all,

It has been a while, but I am on the road again… well… the metaphorical one that is.

Anyway. When I 'finished' my engine support, it turned out it was quite flexible. So there was need for stiffening up and I didn't have the mounts to the chassis yet. Here are some pics of the result:

You can see here that I used the original mounts, but welded them together for increased stiffness. Also, you can see that I added some metal to stiffen the bar itself.

The inside side shows some more stiffening

When that was finished, I wanted to do some work on the sump. You all know the deal: it is a perfect speed bump grabber and therefore needs to be trimmed down. I made a start. It will be as low as the engine support bar. My welding is improving, I think. They welds are more flowing and penetrating the metal. Some of the first welds of the engine support I will have to redo.

Here some images.

Snug fit, right? A bit too snug, was the first attempt. By the way, those two hexagon screws on the front side of the engine, capping off two small pipes. Are those connections for an external oil cooler?

It is coming along nicely. I will have to cut away the erratically mangled existing 'flow restrictors' and add my own. Plus add a hole for the dipstick and make sure the 'oil suck up pipe' is shortened.

This weekend I plan to have done that. You will be updated!

Cheers
_________________
Greetings from Sietze
-------
Driving a '75 Bay with a EJ22 '93 and 091 6-rib box.

And it's a long time since it looked anything like this!

Alex (FTS) · Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 11:40 am Post subject:

Good work fella.

Keep up the good work!

_________________
www.faltownskateboards.com

Obonobo · Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 10:32 pm Post subject:

@ Alex: Thanks!

Today I had an obligatory holiday, so I decided to spend it on the van. I finished the rough work on the sump, of which I show you some pica's here.

This suction thing I had to shorten 3 times. I'll never 'guess' measurements again...

These are my baffles: metal plates, elevated a little. What the holes are for you can either imagine or see later...

I re-used the original oil drain bolt.

The fitting...

And here you see what the holes are for: easy installing!

And some more pictures of the finished engine support:

More will come tomorrow!
_________________
Greetings from Sietze
-------
Driving a '75 Bay with a EJ22 '93 and 091 6-rib box.

And it's a long time since it looked anything like this!

jp · Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 9:59 pm Post subject:

A lot of hard work going into that fellla keep it up and you'll be more than metaphorically on the road

ElusiveStranger · Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 11:47 pm Post subject:

Looking good.
On the T2b the engine support is a pig to make (does this translate well?) I first made mine out of wood!
I like the sump Happy

_________________
The advice you receive on here is worth the paper it's written on.
Your experiences are worth shed loads to others, including the f'ups - live and learn.
Wouldn't YOU rather learn by someone else's mistakes? So would they.

'78 Bay, 2 litre 091 box, EJ20 NA & the ashtray's on the 'right' side.
I don't lean forward for hills any more Grin

Bugger, missed out on "Live fast, die young"

Obonobo · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:02 am Post subject:

Thanks guys!

So, I did some more work:

I decided to use the old Subaru petrol pump and swirl tank, so I had to alter my tank.

I was in for not such a big surprise when I opened my tank: a bit of flyrust there! Nothing a quick swipe with a grinder couldn't solve:

Then I spotwelded the swirlrtank in:

So, this his what it looks like now: a hole in the original tank, filled up by a piece of Subaru tank. Nice and (not so) clean (weld, I know). It is also 'watertight', now, but to protect the tank and for any small holes I missed, I will coat the tank anyway! Breather pipes will be VW, as will the sender gauge. Unless the Subaru one works as well with my old gauge.

I finished my oil pan as well: I had to adjust it, because it turned out to contain half a liter too little oil. Now it holds half a liter more than stock! I will post somemore pics of that, and hopefully of a (spot welded) start to an exhaust this week.
_________________
Greetings from Sietze
-------
Driving a '75 Bay with a EJ22 '93 and 091 6-rib box.

And it's a long time since it looked anything like this!