1983 Caravelle Page 6, some progress and pics.

[Dave Dorson]

Go to Page 6





its a fairly rare early water cooled (1915cc water boxer) volkswagen caravelle, 1983 with chrome bumpers, opening 1/4 windows, carpet, and velour seats with no armrests, like a GL, except this is pre GL, and so has no rev counter, and a 5 speed gearbox.

[Dave Dorson]

as you can see, it's lowered, on porsche cookie cutter alloy wheels using 30mm adaptors.

My conversion, which I'm doing now, will be a subaru 2.2 16v engine from an early subaru legacy.

The conversion uses this bellhousing by Richard Jones Engineering Service www.rjes.com.



.

I'll mount the engine using Subaru Impreza 2000 WRX mounts



and using this Richard Jones rear crossmember.







The conversion bellhousing is best suited to a direct drive starter motor, not sure what year these are from, but I got one



the conversion obviously needs an engine too.

here's mine



and it need an ecu and loom to work



The conversion uses a subaru flywheel, starter and subaru pressure plate, with VW center disc.



the subaru air box is rather large, most go for a cone filter and some hose to attatch it.



mines going to use this bracket to reverse the direction of the cone, this should allow me to mate the filter rear facing.



I'll be using this turbo thomas exhaust too

[SeventyNine]

very tasty mate !!!

[skoda_norman]

this is gonna be great

[VWDan]

Cool - looking forward to seeing progress on this one

[gotwood]

Love the stance,love the colours,engines gonna be awesome:)
I so want chrome bumpers and opening quarterlights for the wifes T25...cool

[suffolkpaul]

shame its gonna be so fast ...no one will be able to see how good it looks!

don't those engines use a top nmounted intercooler?? if so where is going ot go mate?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

This is gonna be just superb. Love it. Makes perfect sense.

[Dave Dorson]

thanks for the comments people.

SuffolkPaul, nat asp engine this one, my go turbo next year, I'll see if funds allow.

Gotwood, I've a spare chrome front bumper you can have for £35.

[Dave Dorson]

I notice this thread has been getting a lot of attention over on OCUK's forum too, my mate sent me the link

Well rather than sign up on there and defend myself, I'll explain the motivation behind my project here.

I've always had a soft spot for T25/T3 vans, and got this one, my second, on Boxingday a few years back.

I do loads of VW shows, and I'm an active member of my local VW club, as well as my local cruise.

I wanted something I could sleep in in relative comfort, and my poor health means a tent is becoming an issue now days . Sad really as I'm only 24 years of age.

I lug loads of bits about for my various projects, so I need something that can take the load, I've also got an old Hoffman BMX that I prat about on, so it's handy for that.

The 1.9 Wasserboxer isn't a bad engine, but where I live is full of hills, and it's a slow old bus, sure it'll sit happily at 80mph all day, but it doesn't feel comfortable and uses a LOT of fuel. I use this daily, it takes me everywhere, I do motorway miles too, visiting family in Herts (80 miles from me).

The subaru conversion is well known, the engine of choice for me is a 2.2 16v legacy engine, with PAS, cat converter and factory intake these are rumoured to be around 130-140bhp.

I have no idea, nor do I care what power I'll make with what's in this one, but I know this, legacy vans go well off the clock, and get there very quickly, much quicker than in a legacy (I've got two, so I know, a 2.2 and a 2.0).

But speed isn't really my concern, I'll get a better fuel return and have a much more drivable, reliable and usable van, it's smaller in length than the legacy, so it's easier to park, it'll be less thirsty, as it's only RWD, and in terms of weight, they aren't that far apart either (oh and for the record, T25's are very efficient in terms of aerodynamics, so do your research before you have a pop eh?), and I'll not only be able to sleep in it, I'll also be able to seat more people (I've a 7 seat capacity) and load more gear around in this, in more comfort than in a subaru.

IF I wanted to go fast, I'd have gone for a turbo, but I can't afford that, the fuel costs would kill me, and if I wanted to go fast, I'd turbo my Audi 90 quattro saloon and use that , or use my 16v Golf MKII, but speed really doesn't interest me that much.

Also, handling......well until you've driven a wedge, you can't really comment, but lowered and set up right, they are good, sure they loose the tail if you hoon, but you'll loose grip before you tip it over, and if you know what you are doing, you can make them fast, even on the twisty bits (I know, the roads here are terrible, and I've suprised more than a few drivers with the speeds I can corner at!).

A side note, that purple and grey bay on OCUK, that's my engine that is

[VWDan]

Considering you've had nothing but good feedback on this forum, i'm guessing that they have been giving you grief on the other forum about the conversion.

All i can say to that is sod em!!! I was at Alltypes today, and there was what i'm guessing was a Subaru engined T25 there - it sounded awesome, and i'll bet it makes it a much better all round vehicle, especially if its used everyday.

Its ur car and you do what you want with it - afterall, it was built 20odd years ago, and the design is even older, so its only natural that to keep up with modern pace etc its gonna want a bit of updating - can you imagine VW selling a T25 today .

I rekon you've got a great plan there - stick to it and when its finished i'm sure it'll be a cracker.

Respect for using one every day too

[Dave Dorson]

Nah, its no one here, it's the comments on the OCUK forum, things like if you want a subaru engine get a subaru :rolleyes:, that came from a saxo owner

No I just felt the need to vent after reading the "pointless" comments on there, it's not pointless at all, its doing what I want to my vehicle. I'm not one to believe in all round cars, in my eyes you need not comprimise.

Handling/Grip Audi quattro.

Straightline speed and all out giggle, Golf GTi 16v

Pootling about on a sunny day, either the wedge or the bug.

The wedge is the daily as I don't need to worry about trolley dents, keeping it clean etc. Plus I can haul my curse word about.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I don’t see how anyone can really diss such a conversion, these ally Subaru flat fours are a great engine, its not like you’re boshing a horrible carb-fed 2.8 V6 boat anchor from a Granada in or something. More fool them when you get a reliable upper-20’s round-the-doors mpg plus the ability to burn ‘em right off at the lights, over and over again, for a six-figure mileage.

I suspect any dissenters will secretly be quite impressed/jealous, and more than likely wishing they had even a fraction of the skills + vision necessary to carry out such a conversion. For me this is a perfect example of updating your classic to make it usable in the 21st century, thus allowing you to carry on using it and living the dream, when most others have thrown in the towel and got a modern.

[HoTWire]

Surely you should have realised that no other forum is worthy of your attention by now ...

Wedge is looking ace... stance is spot on,.. going to be super practical with the Scooby lump...


Now for ridiculously obtuse conversions where is that T5 engined Beetle?

[Dave Dorson]

admin said:

Surely you should have realised that no other forum is worthy of your attention by now ...

Wedge is looking ace... stance is spot on,.. going to be super practical with the Scooby lump...


Now for ridiculously obtuse conversions where is that T5 engined Beetle?

LOL, I've been coming here for years now Mr HoTWire, and although I pop my head in other forums, this is the one that keeps the productivity down at work

[DerbyDan]

cappuccinocruiser said:

LOL, I've been coming here for years now Mr HoTWire, and although I pop my head in other forums, this is the one that keeps the productivity down at work

Same here ;D

I love your wedge Mr cappuccinocruiser! With its two tone brown & cream/beige paint, chrome bumpers & old skool Porka rims, its so retro it hurts!

Can't believe anyone would question the viability of your engine conversion Your choice of engine makes 110% sense - you're replacing the old original engine with one that is more modern and hence has more useable power, fuel economy & hopefully reliability. It is also a convertion which is well known & fairly common, as you are demonstrating, virtually all the parts are avaliable to buy off the shelf for a 'bolt-in' conversion. I guess the guy/s in question just don't understand why you should want to drive an old 80s van in the first place - when you could 'HP' yourself up to your eyeballs buying something modern & boring

P.S; do you think that there are alot of wedge owners that seem to have had a style bypass? Theres alot of vans with poorly chosen wheels, dodgy graphics & too many tacky accessories?

Says he who has a big fibreglass spoiler attached to the roof of his van & is about to fit some Chavtastic 18" wheels ;D

[penski]

To clarify - I post all sorts of stuff on the OCUK motors forum that gets universally hated. I keep posting it though...because I like it.

More and more people are converting to the retro way though; I'm sure I've got a fair few people to sign up here.

It's an awesome wedge and the conversion is brilliant; best of luck, holmes

*n

[Dave Dorson]

derbydan said:

P.S; do you think that there are alot of wedge owners that seem to have had a style bypass? Theres alot of vans with poorly chosen wheels, dodgy graphics & too many tacky accessories?

Says he who has a big fibreglass spoiler attached to the roof of his van & is about to fit some Chavtastic 18" wheels ;D

Yes, I do think that's the case, I like the vans on larger diameter rims, but the body kits and stuff seem a little too for my tastes.

I think cos VW's are cool, vans are cooler than beetles (FACT!!) and wedges are still afordable is the main reason for this.

It'll blow over, like Porsche body kitted beetles and Monza 4 tip exhausts

[reanimation]

Looks like a spot on project. It needs no justification, yet your explaination made a lot of sense. A fast sleeper-litereally that you don't mind shopping in. sounds like a top plan, plus the look of it is supercool. I've yet to get a car that will gobble my bike whole so good for you, keep up the good work and I'll copy if I ever get hold of a buggy.

[AsconaDaz]

I love your wedge Mr cappuccinocruiser! With its two tone brown & cream/beige paint, chrome bumpers & old skool Porka rims, its so retro it hurts!

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. Furthermore, the conversion makes perfect sense to me. I look forward to seeing this project progress.