What’s involved in putting a Subaru motor in a 79 Westphalia

If the Westy is a Wasserboxer (water cooled) then it should be pretty straight-forward and a lot of people have already done it.

Do a Google search on "subaru westfalia conversion" and you should get enough hits to answer your questions.   Or click on the highlight to take you there.

Yes Gordon is right many have done it.  You can do the engine and tranny to a full subie Manual 5 or even 6 speed with  a cable shifter. 

In the Vanagon  model easier than the older Bay models.  

Once you get the more power especially with a turbo you will need more brakes etc. 

SmallCar https://smallcar.com is your first step . 

SubieWorks is the California Subarugears reseller.  

Count on $5K for the tranny Plus the engine and the work to swap it in.  It is not cheap but then you won't do it again and you won't be peddling up hills a la Flintstone.

KEP adaptor plate, flywheel etc. @ like $600. 

Cross member motor mounts (not strictly necessary but a good idea) @ $200.

Clutch need an upgrade so figure $300.

If you save the ECU & all the snap-on electronic junk from the donor subie you can rewire that to work or pay $600 (ish) to Tom Shiels to get that done. I recommend him. Otherwise you'll be dealing with Outfront Motorsports and their standalone ECU, which a lot of folks like.

Exhaust niblits figure $200.

Various sundries & assorted nonsense: $500.

So $2,400 plus the actual engine.*

It's quite easy to spend double this but you're a working pro so I'm quoting parts here.

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*If you pull an engine from another car instead of getting a rebuilt engine do yourself a favor and replace the head gaskets, timing belt, oil separator plate and (if applicable) idle air control valve at the outset. Several hundred more dollars and a bit of labor but yeah, do that.

 

A '79 should be stock with T4 2L AC engine.  They were produced from 1972-1979.  The '72 was a 1700 cc engine with dual solex carbs.  I had a '72 that was fun (except in string winds).  The transmission (hopefully it's a 4 speed and not the automatic) is very strong compared to the T1 transaxle.

Good site for info and pricing of parts needed -  https://www.busaru.com/

The above also includes links to the handy service manuals and ECM pinouts.

https://www.busaru.com/services/resources

Here's the entire DIY process for a Vanagan-

https://www.busaru.com/subaruvanagon

Cruise control guys,  this site has a VSS vehicle speed sensor that is interesting and could possibly work with the kits available. 

 

@Michael McKelvey

 

Thanks for all the help. I gave the customer a ball park estimate, and

he fainted. We decided to fix his stock motor. It needs a head, piston kit

and maybe crank and bearings. He’s a mechanic, so I told him to take

it apart, and call me. I don’t want him to do it here, we all know how

long it will be in my shop. He’s one of my best friends, so I don’t want

it to ruin our friendship. On the happier note, almost finished with the

rust job on the Citroen.

Sent from my iPad

> On Nov 5, 2019, at 12:56 PM, SpeedsterOwners.com <**************> wrote:
>
>

Pukka!

Thanks for all the help. I’m going to take apart his motor, and

rebuild it. I’ll let you know what I find.

Citroen floor finished.

Sent from my iPad

> On Nov 6, 2019, at 8:29 AM, SpeedsterOwners.com <**************> wrote:
>
>

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