Carb'd (Now EFI) EJ22 Into '69 Bug

[Mooosman]

Well, I'm far enough along that I can start a build thread. I hope this will help anyone else considering a Subaru swap, as I found that info on certain parts of this swap can be hard to find. I am using an EJ22 SOHC out of a 91 Legacy wagon, and I purchased the 'kit' from 55superbeetle as mentioned in this thread: http://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=125689


The car is a 69 Bug, and is completely stock. I sold the freshly built (by me) 1641 to finance this conversion, and the money ended up paying for the adapter kit and the carb setup. I'll try to give a total cost of the conversion when I get it running, so others can see what it costs. If you already have a decent clutch setup, a good pair of dual carbs, and can scrounge around for parts, you may end up spending less. I am starting with a completely stock car.

First, the cooling system: I am using a 'Scirocco style' double pass radiator from Afco, mounted in the spare tire well. It is a very nice piece, is all aluminum, and is dual core. The capacity looks very large. Both the inlet and outlet are on the passenger side. It is mounted on a cradle setup made of 1/8" strap steel, and sits on foam rubber cushions. The top of the radiator is held by a couple U shaped brackets. The fan is a pusher style from a late-90s Saab 9-5. The motor on this thing is huge, and it seems to push enough air, so I'm hoping it does alright with our 110 degree summers here in Vegas. I may end up building a bigger 'scoop' under the nose if the current one doesn't direct enough air through the rad. I have a temporary fan shroud made of cardboard that I am going to use until I make sure the design is going to work. If the design is sound, I'll make it from aluminum.

The coolant travels from front to rear via 1 1/2" aluminized steel exhaust tubing. I towed the car to a local muffler shop and had the pipes bent up. They hug the floor as closely as possible, and run along the edge of the pan, under the heater channels. If I had to do it over again, I would run the pipes down the center of the car, as it would save a good 6-8 ft of piping.

Anyway, on to the pics!

No going back now! The spare tire well is cut out...



The 'cage' of strap steel. The radiator leans back a bit at the top, as much as is possible without interfering with the steering box.







Here is the radiator and fan mounted...





More to come...

Nick

[Mooosman]

Here is how the coolant pipes run under the car. The cold side ends up at the tail end of the passenger transmission horn, and the hot (return) side ends just in front of the clutch lever, above the axle. 55superbeetle is in the process of modifying the Subaru coolant crossover to point the outlet towards the flywheel side of the engine. The pipes are mounted with rubber/metal exhaust hangers. The lowest point is where the driver's side pipe crosses over to the passenger side at the front, but it shouldn't be a problem when I end up lowering the car, as long as I don't go too low.

Passenger side looking forward



Transmission looking forward



Cold side pipe



Hot side pipe



Drivers side looking forward



Passenger wheel well, hot side on top, cold side on the bottom



Looking forward. Cold side on the right, hot side on the left




More to come. Next up: test fitting the engine!

Nick

[Mooosman]

I bought the adapter kit from Outfront Motorsports in California. I had called Kennedy Engineering, but the guy on the phone (who was a bit rude, BTW) said there was a 6 week lead time for the adapter and flywheel. Not wanting to wait that long, and taking a trip to L.A. anyway, I stopped in at Outfront and asked about the adapter kit and a few other things (timing belt, idlers, etc.). They had everything in stock, and when I looked closer at the adapter plate and the flywheel, it turned out to be made by Kennedy anyway! They had a bunch in stock, so I don't see the point of ordering from Kennedy and waiting. I would encourage anyone to buy from Outfront. Very helpful people, answered a few tech questions I had, and had all the parts in stock. I was very pleased with them.

We bolted the plate to the engine and test fit the longblock. It slid in like it was meant to be there, and went in way easier than any VW engine I've ever put in (no fan shroud). You can see where we trimmed the corners of the engine bay, and removed the seal lip on the valance. I did have to install and remove the engine without the outer cam covers in place. The covers can be wiggled in once the engine is in place. I found it easier to install the engine with the starter removed, because of the longer mounting stud supplied in the hardware kit.


The Kennedy/Outfront adapter plate



Trimmed the corners of the engine bay





Plenty of room!







Next up: test fitting the manifolds and carbs! I love new parts!

[Mooosman]

Here are a few pics of the parts modified by 55superbeetle. The manifolds, oil pan, and crank pulley specifically. He did a great job on them. The carbs are Weber 44 IDF that I found on TheSamba. Linkage is being modified by 55superbeetle.


I just had to set the carbs and manifolds on there! POWAHHH!



Here is the coil mount and crank trigger in place for the Megajolt ignition system



Oil pan clearance, as seen from behind the car


I am going to have to get some shorter velocity stacks and air filters, as you can't install the filters or tops because of the decklid hinges




Up next: Wiring and breather box/vacuum tube...

Nick

[capsoval]

Glad to see others getting to enjoy and experience 55superbeetle's craftsmanship. I have been in the 62' with the EJ22 and it runs great, you won't be disappointed.....and it only had 36's on it.

[GS guy]

Looks good! This seems to be a nice "crossover" type of swap - more modern engine without the hassle of going full blown EFI. Seems like a nice little step up for those that have been running hot-rod dual carb VW motors and want a little something different. Plus I love the look of the IR intake!
The SOHC motors sure fit in there a lot easier than the DOHC versions!

Next step up - IR but keep it EFI

Jeff

[Mooosman]

The SOHC motors sure fit in there a lot easier than the DOHC versions!

Jeff

You know, my dad and I were amazed at how easily the engine slid in there (I've taken over his garage for this swap). We trimmed a little bit of the body at the back corners of the engine bay (for cam cover clearance), and pounded the engine seal lip flat all the way around, and it went right in. It was actually easier to move it and put it in than a regular VW engine, because of the lack of fan shroud and tinware. And to be honest, when we were moving the longblock around we thought it may be lighter than a VW longblock. Of course that doesn't count the weight of the water that'll be in it.

I can't wait to get it running and tuned. I'm just waiting for the carb linkage and water crossover to get here from 55superbeetle, then I can get it running and drive to the muffler shop for an exhaust. Probably going to make a Cal-look style single muffler on the passenger side, or maybe modify a dual quiet pack setup, so it looks like any other hot-rodded bug from the back.

[Mooosman]

*UPDATE*

It has been a crazy week or so. Now, the original engine for this project came from a 91 Legacy wagon that had been sitting for a while. We took a chance on it, and could not hear it run before we bought it. We gambled, and lost. We got everything ready to go last weekend, and started it up...

The engine (unfortunately) smoked like a freight train from the driver's side bank, and it would only run on 3 cylinders. Big bummer. I was resigned to letting the car sit for a while until I had the money to rebuild this engine, but then I was cruising craigslist and.... Craigslist to the rescue!



Stumbled on an ad for a 1990 Legacy wagon that had been in a front end collision. My dad and I went over to check it out, and found that it was owned by a young girl. Her grandfather had given her the car a few months ago, and she had wrecked it. The car only has 98K on it, and runs flawlessly. The interior is MINT, and the seats have had covers over them since new (I'm going to put the seats in the bug). $350 later, it was ours. We threw a junkyard radiator in it, and drove it home. The engine runs well, and strong.

Friday, we pulled the engine and started swapping our stuff over (adapter plate, flywheel, oil pan, etc.), and found that the engine was in great condition. Newer timing belt, new water pump, and no leaks whatsoever.




We got it in the bug on Friday, and started it up. Engine runs great, doesn't smoke, and runs at a cool 180 while idling in the garage. Now, we have just been trying to get the carbs dialed in. I need to get a Weblink from CB, as the right side carb does not want to return and sit on the idle speed screw. But, it runs, and it looks like it's going to be OK once we get it dialed in.


So, that's the update for now, a little out of place. Now, I'll put some pics up of the rest of the fabrication. The engine in the mockup pics is the bad engine. Updated pics to come.

[Mooosman]

Here is the exhaust setup. We are using a Turbo exhaust manifold set, flipped around to face the back of the car. We then took the car to the muffler shop and had a custom exhaust bent up using a Magnaflow muffler. It tucks under the car as much as possible, and uses a hanger bolted to the bumper bracket. I'll probably end up going with a different tailpipe setup, as this one is probably going to resonate a bit (it doesn't clear the fender completely).




You can also see our lower coolant pipe. We didn't want rubber hose going over the exhaust, so we made a short connector piece to go over it.

[Mooosman]

I traded a set of VW manifolds (that came with our IDFs) to a guy here in town that does metal fabrication. He made me this aluminum breather box, and added a small reservoir to it for the Megajolt vacuum fittings. A large K&N breather filter attaches to the upper right corner.

[Sneaks]

Nice looking conversion, how's the costs been so far?

[Mooosman]

Nice looking conversion, how's the costs been so far?

Most of the costs have been for big ticket items. The adapter kit/flywheel was $440, the carbs were $450, the aluminum radiator was $250, coolant pipes $200. Of course, now that I've already spent the money, I have found a few spots where money could've been saved For example, I found that a Volvo 240 radiator could be easily substituted for the expensive Afco racing radiator I bought. There are tons of old Volvos in the junkyard, and I'm sure one of them has a newish radiator; it is almost the perfect size, and has both hoses on the passenger side.

I would say you could save some money by shopping around, or bartering for parts. If you already have a high-po VW engine, you're ahead of the game. You can use your existing dual carbs, clutch setup, and maybe adapt your muffler setup.


Nick

[Mooosman]

It LIVES! I even got to drive it around the block yesterday!

We've been playing with the carbs (these are my first set of Webers), tweaking the ignition map in Megajolt, and bleeding the cooling system here in the garage. I am pleased to report that even when it's sitting in the garage (with no airflow around the front of the car), on a 100+ degree day here in Vegas, the car does not get hot. The temp climbs quickly to 180, the fan kicks on, and then the temp hovers at 185-190. The Saab 9-5 fan we have on there seems to work fine.

The only thing I'm disappointed in is the carb linkage. Because the cable has to make so many bends, the linkage is super stiff to operate. I am going to be buying a different setup pretty soon, as this just isn't going to cut it. Over on TheSamba, there is a guy that makes a trick cable-operated system that uses aluminum wheels instead of the Rube Goldberg style hexbar:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ight=cable


Here is a pic of the engine bay now. I think the bare aluminum looks good, from the breather box to the air cleaner lids, to the engine itself. We left everything bare aluminum. I am also extremely pleased with the ease of use of the Megajolt ignition system. It is very easy to modify the timing, set parameters, and just fiddle with. I can't believe how rock steady the timing is; you put the timing gun on it, and the mark just doesn't quiver. I've never had a regular distributor system (even an MSD billet distributor) that steady before. Overall, a very good system.

Now, it's time to put those Ghia discs I have sitting in the garage on this thing, as the 4 wheel drums just aren't going to cut it. A transmission upgrade is also going to be needed in the near future, as the original transmission is probably not going to be too pleased with 130 hp!










The VW purists will be unamused

[surfbeetle]

Looks good, can't wait to see more!

[Buggin_74]

If your trans is in good health and your not constantly dropping the clutch and doing burn outs it will be fine

Mines taken a fair bit of abuse with my EJ22 and before that my supercharged 1776 and turbo 1600 VW engines and a few of my mates with WRX turbo conversions get a while out of stock trannys as well

You will need to brace the chassis forks though, they soon bend with the extra weight and torque of the subaru engine