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Showing results for tags 'Vanagon'.
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I am in desperate need of a 1994 Subaru Legacy EJ22 Wiring Harness and ECU in order to do a Volkswagen Vanagon Engine Swap. I have a custom made conversion kit through Kennedy Automotive out of Palmdale California that is made specifically for a 1985 Automatic Volkswagen Vanagon and a 1994 Subaru Legacy EJ22 engine. I have the transmission conversion kit and the engine and everything else that came with the cutom conversion kit except for the wiring harness. Any help in locating the part would be MUCH appreciated. I am willing to pay for shipping handling and labor if anyone can find one in decent condition. I can't find any junkyards within hundreds of miles of my location that have this car in their yards. I need this specific engine wiring harness because the conversion company has a deal with the state of California that allows instant smog certification on these specific engines. -
Greetings Subaru Enthusiasts. I drive an 85 Volkswagen Vanagon that has an early nineties Legacy 2.2. The setup I used is CA Smog Compliant. I live in Washington so I have more flexibility with engine choices and not just 90-94 Legacy 2.2s. I need some help with my engine and hoping you guys can shed some light on my situation. I am on my second Legacy 2.2 (first installed in 2010, second in 2012). I used to live in California so was forced to get old motors out of wrecks. Each engine was over 160,000 miles. On the last install I took the heads off and had them resurfaced, a valve job and all new seals/rings. That was 3.5 years ago. That engine always drank oil. I thought it was due to me living in the mountains and driving downhill. This past Fall I drove back to California and at times I was consuming more than 1qt of oil per fill up. I never saw smoke except on the rare start up. Not a drop hits the ground when its parked. I can follow instructions and consider myself a "part installer" and not a mechanic. I have very little diagnosing skills. I was able to put the engines in with KEP parts and spent 20+ hours reworking the wiring harness so it would pair with the VW. It worked. So last week my van wouldn't work. It mimicked a fuel relay problem I had before so I got a new relay. I thought maybe the 30 year old fuel pump might have been going bad so I got a new Bosch fuel pump and pulled the old pre-filter out. I also put in a new PCV valve about 4 months ago. Still didn't fire up properly. I would turn it over and if it didn't start I would just let the fuel pump cycle a bit and it would fire up. which is why I was thinking it was fuel or voltage issue somewhere. Anyhow, it stopped working so I had it towed to a pretty good shop. The mechanic told me the engine was blown and that it had poor compression in 3 cylinders. All the spark plugs were pretty gross. While he was pressurizing it for a leak down, he blew the dipstick out. This guy is pretty solid and I'm guessing it wasn't because he didn't have it TDC. He said that it wasn't worth it to put any money into the small block with the results he got from the tests. I called Small Car which is two hours away to ask where they sourced their engines. After listening to my story, they suggested I send them my 2.2 heads (which they say never go bad) and they would resurface them, do a valve job and new seals/o-rings and then put them on a brand new 2.5 small block that was set up for this application. The total would be $3,000. They said this would work perfectly and had done this for their California customers that were in my shoes. I did some research on the Frankenmotor on some Vanaru/Subagon and Subaru websites and it seems legit. I looked into crate motors from Japan, but they were $1,100 for a 2.2 with 50K miles. I don't like the idea of just putting in another high mileage 2.2 either and being in the same position soon. and then... I had a new friend come by to drop off his cherry picker. He is a bit of a shade tree mechanic but thought the problem could be with the heads or maybe a cam. He said that it might be worth my time taking the heads down to a shop to have them inspected. It sounds like the shop is pretty reliable and they would be able to tell me if the heads were an issue before I go down the SmallCar 2.5 option. The only thing is that SmallCar told me they would do the same thing basically. I don't want to pay for the same labor twice. I am not made of money and this car is my daily driver. I put in a new tranny about 18 months ago and just put on a new set of tires so I have a couple grand in it as of recently. Reliability is my number one concern. So I come to you on my knees asking... "what would you do?" Do you think its heads? rings? pistons? I live an hour out of town so dropping things off at machine shop is a hassle, though doable. -
Hi. I put 94 legacy n/a into my Vanagon a couple years ago. My first trip to Washington and then south to San Diego yielded mileage of 18-21 per gallon. I took a trip to Sacramento yesterday and got 12 . The van ran strong and seemed to run as usual. I only noticed the fuel wasn't lasting too long. My wife drives the van mostly around town and is always filling up, I figure because of all the stop and go. My idle only seems a tad slow but it has always been that way. I pulled the plugs and did a comp check, 150-160. The plugs looked a bit lean but not like they get hot. I can run at 70 all the way to Sac but generally keep around 60 - 65. The only oddity I see is my first water reserve goes low and doesn't push water into the overflow tank.
