1990 VW Westfalia 2.0 litre I4 Conversion – How not to buy a conversion.

 

 

 

The following is a blatant vendor rant….feel free to stop reading now if you’d like.  I’ve been completely quiet about this for the last two years as my conversion was being redone, however, I do feel Vanagon owners should avail themselves of customer opinions when dealing with vendors.

 

1.  Buyer Beware!

 

The motor was purchased in October of 2002 from www.fastforward.ca .  It was purchased from a listing at gerry.vanagon.com as a perfectly good” engine, “rings replaced” (as reported by the seller over the phone) for $4500 CAN (shipping included).   Having read some of the seller's posts on the listserve,  I figured he knew what he was talking about.  I was assured that everything was done, and the engine ready to drop in … sounds great right?  The original post is here.  If you check www.fastforward.ca, you’ll find that a good (not worn out) used motor, and conversion kit is about $3000.  The engine arrived at a mechanic friends garage, Donerite Imports, on a crate and precipitated a call from the owner.  I got the, “you better come and look at this" call.  The engine looked like it had been used off-road in muddy conditions.  Looking at the exhaust and intake, my concerns mounted.  Later, after reading this http://www.members.shaw.ca/bilbo/survey.html (check the last entry), some of this started to make sense.

 

2.  Deal with known reputable dealers (with references):

 

The boys at the shop pulled the cylinder head and confirmed my fears.  The engine was very, very tired.  In fact the cylinder wear (pics) was twice the permissible limit just below the wear ridges.  On several other VW blocks I’ve rebuilt (150 000 to 200 000km) there wasn’t even an obvious wear ridge.  Previous to the purchase, I was assured over the phone that new piston rings had been installed which later became…a “wrecker in Vancouver had replaced the piston rings”.  In any case, there was no evidence that anyone had ever touched the rings in the engine.  Of course for $4500 we should all be able to buy a rebuildable core right?

 

3.  Take it like a man (“person” to be politically correct):

 

After speaking with Dustan at RPI in Vancouver, who is a reputable VW wrecker/tuner, and then Darrel at www.techtonicstuning.com, it was evident I was going to need to bore the block oversize and replace the pistons.  Try finding 83.5mm pistons for an audi 3A block.  The only place I could find such things was at Techtonics for just under $1000CAN.  So after bearings, gaskets, pistons and machining costs, I was out another $2000 dollars or so.  

 

The vendor offered to return the $4500 dollars provided I reassemble and ship the motor backI was looking at another $1000 shipping an engine back and then buying another from a vendor I was more comfortable with.  Subsequent conversations resulted in an agreement to refund half the cost of new pistons…$500, not great, but I could live with it.  By December, no $500 dollars...and I gave up trying.  Small Claims court is not out of the question but a pain when dealing with out of province transactions.  My lawyer established that I had a good case, but that taking the case forward in an out of province small claims forum was not worth the expense.  With some reluctance, I decided to drop it.

 

4. More problems:

 

The vendor incorrectly stated that my AC and Power steering would “bolt up” with the replacement main pulley that was sent.  (He did correctly provide the bracket part numbers)  In fact I ended up purchasing the entire pulley and bracket set from a 16V Scirocco to eventually resolve the accessories issue.  If you buy an  engine for conversion,  buy it complete.  The vendor had mounted the ECU in the engine bay (top right), bolted to a bracket holding the coil and spark “controller”.  The stock location for the ECU is under the rear seat to protect it from engine bay heat.  So you guessed it, I took the harness apart and re-configure it to properly mount the ECU.  I didn’t get the Digifant air box which he had bungeed into place in his setup.  I was told my new AFM would bolt to my old air box and I could then bungee it in place.  The intake extension provided made out of 2 inch ABS plumbing pipe was another area of concern.  Internal restrictions on this pipe bring it down to 1.75 inches at points which is clearly too small.  The smallest opening in the stock intake is 2.5 inches.  The exhaust provided was in my opinion, not good.  Check the exhaust section.

 

5.  Folks I can recommend dealing with on a conversion project.

 

www.Techtonicstuning.com (Darryl is very knowledgeable on VWs, and patient)

 

http://www.marcor-genie.com (universal stainless mufflers)

 

www.busdepot.com

 

www.rpiequipped.com (I've bought several good used motors from these folks)

 

www.volkscafe.com

 

www.newark.com

 

 

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