1958 Autocross VW Bug with a Subaru engine

[oto x58]

I just want to share my VW project with whoever is interested. It is a 1958 VW Bug, with a 2.2L Subaru engine in it. This car has had a few stroker type4 VW engines in it, so it almost has some Porsche content! haha I've also collected most of what I need to put 944 turbo brakes onto it, and I do have 911 seats in it. So at very least, it does have a loose relationship with Porsche.

About 2 years ago, I helped a friend of mine put a Subaru WRX engine and Subaru 5 speed transmission into my dad's '72 914. That, and having blown up a couple high dollar stroker type1 VW and type4 engines, got me interested in putting a Subaru engine into my Bug. I just want a reliable 200hp.

Here is a link to my full build thread on TheSamba:
TheSamba.com :: View topic - Autocrossing the 58 rag


And here are some of my favorite pictures:

First month that I owned it, before the engine swap:









The beginnings of the engine swap:

[oto x58]

Here are some of the build pictures:

I made a lower radiator support, with a built-in scoop. Hopefully, this will cool well enough to where I don't have to cut a hole in the front of my car anywhere.

I made a lower radiator support, with a built-in scoop. Hopefully, this will cool well enough to where I don't have to cut a hole in the front of my car anywhere.













I am directing the flow up from the scoop, through the radiator, then back down under the gas tank. I first used cardboard to get the shape right, then cut it out of MDF so it'd be a little stiffer and more closely resemble the sheetmetal that I will use in the end:







The shroud will lay on top of the gas tank lip, and use the two gas tank mounting bolts. On the front side of it, it'll be held in place by those two top bolts from the hood latch. I am thinking that I will make it out of steel, bend it on a brake, and then paint it black. Whenever I get to the point where I paint the car, I will paint the shroud body-color, and leave the tank gloss black like factory.

[oto x58]

I made some kick panel mockups, to mount the Megasquirt computer and related fuses and relays underneath the back seat and completely out of view. The car will use the original fuse box for all the lights/horn/etc, but it will have all new style fuses for the fuel injection computer and related components. When I get to the point where I am doing the interior, the panels will be covered in the same fabric as the rest. But for now, I am just going to make sure that all the comopnents fit.





[/QUOTE]


Gas tank sump:





I'll get a picture of it installed tomorrow.

And the coolant line routing is done:
View from the back (the floorjack is there to hold the dual rear sway bars up, so that I could check clearances.)

View of the front:


Close up of the lower radiator hose, going through the front beam:



I can't wait to take this all apart someday and paint it all nice. It gets old staring at all this rusty bent metal. haha

Up next... finished engine pictures!

[Yorkie]

Very nice. I like that you have not hacked up the exterior appearance. How did you mate the motor to the VW gearbox? Are you using FI or a carb?

I have a '67 Split Delux Bus that I would like to add some more power and the Subaru idea has me thinking. Mine is stock height so perhaps I could mount the radiator underneath and add some scoops. I would like to make the conversion reversable for when I eventually tire of the bus.

I see you can pickup a whole Subaru for less than a grand is you shop carefully.

[RWebb]

sanitary!

[Rick V]

Dewd

Yes!!!

[Jagshund]

I initially thought the diverter was going to be something to ankle-bite pesky pedestrians.

[NY65912]

My son and I were just talking about doing a similar project the other day!

Very cool and nice work.

[oto x58]

I stripped all the junk off the manifold, and separated out the wiring so that I could get rid of the stuff I didn't need. Here it was before:



and after:





I shaved all the lumps, bungs, and bosses fron the thing, so that it would look clean and simple once painted.



I also welded up the fuel crossover line, so that I could re-route it between the runners and make it a little cleaner looking:







I pulled the intake manifold and crossover pipe off the engine, and painted them in wrinkle black paint. Here's the process:



Cleaned up and masked off


Two coats of VHT wrinkle black.


1 hour at 200 degrees.


Sneak peek after 30 minutes! Don't leave the oven open too long or it won't rise!

[oto x58]

Wrinkly, just like a stock WRX manifold!




I painted over the parts of the sensors and petcock which aren't critical for contact, and not on threads. I just wanted to help hide them. They're all installed on the back side of the manifold and crossover pipe to help hide the wiring too.


My friend Jeff helped me with the wiring harness.

He took a really interesting approach, by first cutting the connector off of the harness I bought from DIYAutotune. That way, he could remove the wires he won't need and then build the rest of it from the engine forward. Meaning that everything can be routed and shrink wrapped nice and tidy on the engine end, and it all pops out into the car where the computer will be and gets cut to the same length. To finish it off, a connector is put back onto those wires (using a connector he bought at Fry's that has solder cups) and the connector housing bolted to it.


First step was to hook things up and figure out where I wanted the wires to run. What a mess!


If you look close, you can see sharpie marks on the wires, which were indicators of where we wanted the shrink wrap and sheathing to end, as these little bundles got put into larger bundles.


Injector wiring, on the passenger side.


Here's the whole harness, just before the main connector was put on. You can see the firewall grommet sitting on the harness where it will poke through into the engine compartment.




And here's that panel where I am mounting the computer, under the back seat area. You can see the new connector soldered and shrink wrapped into place, and another group of wires which aren't going into the connector. Those not routed to the computer will be going to relays or to the front of the car.






Finished product:

Here was the initial startup video:
Subaru EJ22 bug - YouTube

By the way, if you have a spare minute, be sure and check out Jeff's other videos. There are several other engine swapped cars in there:
55superbeetle - YouTube

[oto x58]

Finished Product:

[trekkor]

Really nice project!

Where are you located?
Looks like the Marina airport for a/x'ing.


KT

[oto x58]

How it looked before:






Working right now on giving it a new look:











[/quote]



This was a tough decision, because I did enjoy the flat black streetfighter look. But I had a vision... and I had to give it a shot! And after all, if it had been a total flop, I could always just paint it black again.

I love the new look. The bug has a somewhat rough body when you get up close to it, and this helps me not worry about the blemishes. I will paint it nice and pretty someday when all the suspension/engine/brakes/etc work is done. But for now, I can enjoy it like this without being embarassed by the bad bodywork, dents, rips, bruises, and cracks.

Looking forward to taking it to some autocrosses! And now that it's watercooled, it might even survive a track day or two!

[skunked]

I remember seeing this car on TurboBricks.

Originally Posted by trekkor

Really nice project!

Where are you located?
Looks like the Marina airport for a/x'ing.


KT

Modesto IIRC

[trekkor]

I love that paint scheme!


KT

[oto x58]

Thank you guys for the positive words! I wasn't sure what type of reception I would get on the Porsche forums, but I figured I'd take a shot. haha Plus, I listed some HRE Fuchs for sale, and didn't want people to think I was a spam bot or something, so I figured I'd reveal my project.

Originally Posted by Yorkie

Very nice. I like that you have not hacked up the exterior appearance. How did you mate the motor to the VW gearbox? Are you using FI or a carb?

I have a '67 Split Delux Bus that I would like to add some more power and the Subaru idea has me thinking. Mine is stock height so perhaps I could mount the radiator underneath and add some scoops. I would like to make the conversion reversable for when I eventually tire of the bus.

I see you can pickup a whole Subaru for less than a grand is you shop carefully.

I bought my engine for $180, and finished the entire conversion with computer, radiator, adapter, etc for under $2000. If you used the stock computer from a donor car, like you're saying, there's someone up north that simplifies the wiring harness for you, so it's literally just a plug and play conversion. And it runs like a stock Subaru.

I used the engine adapter from KEP, which takes care of putting the engine onto the tranny. I fuel injected it, using a Megasquirt computer and mostly all the stock Subaru engine components. I chose that path because I plan on turbo charging this thing, and wanted adjusable tuning.

It'd be very possible to do a Subaru conversion on a split bus and not hack it up. some guys have mounted the radiator right inbetween the frame rails, in the belly of the bus, without cutting up anything. The EJ22 engine fits in the back, with only minor trimming of the rear apron needed. but since that part unbolts on a bus, you could get a spare one and keep your stock apron unmolested.

If you're serious about it, and want someone to help you with some or all of the work, just let me know and I can put you in touch with a great resource. I think it's a great idea!!

Originally Posted by RWebb

sanitary!

Originally Posted by Rick V

Dewd

Yes!!!

Thanks! SANO!

Originally Posted by 1968Cayman

I initially thought the diverter was going to be something to ankle-bite pesky pedestrians.

It does that too.

Originally Posted by NY65912

My son and I were just talking about doing a similar project the other day!

Very cool and nice work.

Nice. I think you guys should go for it! Bug engines are getting more and more expensive to build, with less parts available every year. I see the Subaru engine just as a more modern version of the type1 Bug engine, in a lot of ways. I bet if VW had kept going with the horizontally opposed setup with water cooling, this is very close to what they would have done. In fact, just from looking at the Subaru engine and having built a few VW engines, it's obvious that Subaru studied VW engines (including VW engine failures!) when they designed theirs.



I'll be sure and update this thread when I make more progress on the car. Especially when I get pictures of it out on the autocross track!

[oto x58]

Originally Posted by skunked

I remember seeing this car on TurboBricks.

Modesto IIRC

Correct! I am slammed145 on Turbobricks. I love posting my projects in the off-topic section of other websites, because it's cool getting comments from other groups, and it's cool seeing different things. My wife drives a B23T 1993 Volvo 245. Gotta love the redblock cars!

Originally Posted by trekkor

I love that paint scheme!


KT

Awesome, thanks!

Originally Posted by trekkor

Really nice project!

Where are you located?
Looks like the Marina airport for a/x'ing.


KT

Good eye! That is Marina, a few years ago. We used to live in Santa Cruz, and I went down there a half a dozen times to run with the UFO guys. We're in Modesto now, so I am going to take the bug up to Stockton to run with SCCA or PCA one of these weekends. It's almost ready.

[DonDavis]

I REALLY dig it. Way back when... I passed on a '58 project. Kickin' myself ever since.
And honestly, I wasn't too keen on the green till I saw the finished product. Turned out well!
Enjoy! Look forward to your updates.

Oh, and welcome to Pelican!!

[widebody911]

Was that at tge Bug-O-Rama? I think I remember seeing that.

[oto x58]

Originally Posted by DonDavis

I REALLY dig it. Way back when... I passed on a '58 project. Kickin' myself ever since.
And honestly, I wasn't too keen on the green till I saw the finished product. Turned out well!
Enjoy! Look forward to your updates.

Oh, and welcome to Pelican!!

Thanks man!
I wasn't too keen on the green at first either! As I was spraying it, I was kicking myself, and trying to come up with another paint job idea! But after sanding it a bit, I started getting into it. Now I love it. I still want to add sunburnt faded gumballs on the doors, and maybe some sponsor logos for companies that are now out of business.. or maybe not. haha

58s are cool. first year big square back window, but plenty of early parts to give the car a vintage feel. Fridge door handles, little glass tail lights, and that canvas roof, amongst other things. I own one because it is my favorite year, not the other way around. ha! It's too bad you missed out on that one.

Originally Posted by widebody911

Was that at tge Bug-O-Rama? I think I remember seeing that.

Yes it was. I didn't bother entering it in the car show, I just kept it parked in our swap spot, next to my dad's WRX powered 914. And that's my wife's 1960 doubledoor panel bus in the background, which maybe will be getting a Subaru motor as well... as soon as the 1776cc engine that's in it fails. Which it will.