Ahu 2wd wild camper panelvan

[Bennythew]

This might not be the most exciting of swaps but I thought I'd document it anyway, plus if I have a thread going it might motivate me.

About six month ago I was looking for a Syncro to use as a daily and camp around the uk and Europe. After lots of reading I decided that for the minimal amount of serious off road I would be doing I would be better off building an wild camping prepped 2wd machine. I bought a stock hight panelvan and racked up 6kmiles in no time, What started off as a tool is now something I really love.

With that in mind I've decided to take the next step and make it more capable and look a little meaner.

After deliberating over engine choices I figured out that with the big tyres I wanted and my long geared DW box I could go early tdi and retain my current top speed of 65mph. After I've finished I will look into changing the final drive.
This is how it should run after the conversion with the AT tyres I'd like to fit, the ratios don't look all that bad..

Opinions?





Early tdi codes are 1Z and AHU, these are near identical engines with some internal differences.
This is now sat on my drive.
80k miles and a former vw owned car. Lots of stamps.



I'm going to be running it as a daily until I'm ready to pull the engine.
This means I can start on my panel.



I'd rather not be doing this on my drive but the crewie is laid up in the garage and even if it wasn't, I think the panel is too big. I wouldn't get the garage door shut.

I've been doing tyre research. I've got an old set of 15 steelies that would take some BFG AT's, they would need spacing a little at et47 but it's a low cost option to get 215-75-15s on the van.
I'm also toying with larger sizes. At the rear I'd need less that factory offset to clear the trailing arm and I'd need to make sure I don't fowl the arches front and rear. I'm not greedy, but the larger I can go, the longer I'm likely to manage without regearing. Plus it looks rad.

I'm also planning on a mini resto while I'm at it. My bull bars will be going on, the running gear will be rebushed and repainted where needed, plus I'm also looking into bed liner coating my lower panels.

Sort of like this.





Mine will be black liner, I think the contrast will look good against the masala red.

The next step is finding the parts, I'm converting from Ky so I lack many JX parts.
I'm in discussions with MV engineering at the moment about a full conversion parts package. Lots of new parts and a hybrid turbo eliminating the need for adaptors.
This might not be the cheapest way to do it but it will be quicker and the standard of parts will be high.
This also lets me sell my turbo, Ky engine and core exchange my golf loom to offset some of the expense.

If I go for the kit it will take a month or so to put together which gives me time to pull the Ky and do some work on the panel. I just need to borrow an engine crane from somewhere.

Right... that's me up to date.

[jccamp]

Great sounding project, what's your location, I'd be interested in KY parts as my engine needs work.
Could we keep in touch and discuss when you've got engine available please. Cheers Jez. 07879 698 674

[Aidan]

Welcome and good luck with it - where in the world are you, I have an engine crane and stand you can borrow, crane is folding/removable leg type fits in a van for transport no problem

[Bennythew]

Welcome and good luck with it - where in the world are you, I have an engine crane and stand you can borrow, crane is folding/removable leg type fits in a van for transport no problem

Thanks Aidan, I'm in Norwich, so quite a way from you. I think one of my mates at work has one but thank you for the offer.

[Dazco]

Look forward to the rest of this .

[Bennythew]

The project has been on hold because I almost bought a Syncro.

I'd initially been looking at them when I wanted a t25 but had decided against it, for some reason though the hankering never really went away. I found myself trying to justify buying one as it would have higher value as a base vehicle and the off road capabilities are pretty impressive.

I was literally at the "get some cash out and go buy it" stage when I had a look at what I actually needed.

I want an off-road capable van that can smash in 500 mile days back to back at 40mpg.

A Syncro just adds weight, complexity and running costs. I might regret it but I passed in favour of building something epic.

Besides, unless I spent £15k plus, I wouldn't get a Syncro chassis that didn't need a ton of money thrown at it.

So...

Back to the proj...

Mario at MV engineering has put together a parts package. Pretty much every angle has been covered using new parts throughout.
I'm a fan of his approach, all the wear items are stock off the shelf parts. It's not the cheapest option, but nether is having a custom exhaust made every 3 years.
So I will be using both stock engine mounts, stock JX exhaust and a stock tdi clutch setup.

First things first the engine was removed from the panel.
My plan was to remove the Trans at the same time but one of the outer cv joint bolts has a stripped Allen head so I'm going to have to easyout it when I get one from work.
The engine came out pretty well, A few rusty fasteners and a bit of swearing but my buddy and I had it out in about 4 hours; we could most likely do the same job in an hour a second time.

The next step is going to be cleaning up the engine bay, seeing if any repairs need doing, painting the bay and preparing it to receive the new engine.

I will also be having the support bars powder coated along with my bull bars.

I'll post a couple of pics when photobucket isn't playing funny buggers.

[Bennythew]

Well I thought I'd give a bit of an update picture wise.

Things are a bit on hold as I've booked the van into a body shop to have some bits done in the engine bay and a bit of a refresh elsewhere. That's not till the first week of March so I've a couple of weeks.




So after spilling half its guts on the drive.





All was disconnected. And...











getting the gearbox out was a bit more effort however.







But I got there in the end.









Clean up time for the transferable parts.

[Bennythew]

After everything was degreased I started with a coat of etch primer in black. The gearbox was then epoxy primered in white but I forgot to photo that stage.



















The bell housing then came off for the input shaft swap. I've not got the tdi shaft yet but I wanted to make sure it came apart easily.

[Dazco]

Nice.
Ps did you know there was a strange looking guy where the engine should be ?

[Bennythew]

Scruffy bugger I know!

So on with the box.

It might seem week one day one stuff to a lot of folk but I've done a kind of "how to" for anyone who is unsure.
I've read a lot about people using hybrid clutch set ups and this negates that.





The bell housing is just a matter of a few bolts and a rubber mallet to unseat it.



This is what you'll find inside, the shaft meets a collar and a circlip.







Just need to remove the clip from its notch and work it down the shaft (that what she said)







From there the collar will pull towards you and the shaft will screw out.











I then gave the bell housing a coat of the epoxy.





I wasn't fancy about it. Just a bush and one coat, making sure I had good coverage.

This stuff sets like stone and I use it in aircraft battery bays so it should last.

The box might lose some heat disapation but I'm hoping it won't ever be noticed.

So the last thing was an enamel topcoat cured by heat gun.

What ever smaller parts I end up doing in the same finish will get baked.





It looks the biz... for a knackered old gearbox anyway.


As you can see I mounted the bell housing; That was just for paint.
When I get delivered the shaft and seals I'll split it again and finish the job.

I'm still musing over ratios.

I want to split the box and put a taller 5th in it, but this box isn't my keeper, just what I'm going with till I can afford the box build I want. This case will be my spare.

So I'd want to do it myself. I'm happy building helicopter boxes but that in my comfort zone.


Anyone had any experience building boxes out side of a pro shop?

[Shaundon]

Interesting thread - ive been wondering how to cleanup my subaru engine for my conversion and like what youve done with that gearbox.
Where did you get the epoxy paint and did you spray it on? How heat proof is it?

[Bennythew]

It's just normal VHT silver enamel; Wilco direct will stock it.

It's designed for cylinder heads and cases, it need baking on, ether in an oven or by running the engine.
Due to the size of the box I just stood over it with a 500degC heatgun for a couple of hours.

[Bennythew]

Update long overdue.

There has been a bit of a change of tack on this build.

I'd been very much in two minds about gear ratios. No matter what I did the numbers were close, totally doable but not perfect.

I looked at getting my DK box refurbed to sort the gearing out but after some reserch and chats with Aidan I found out the DK has a finer tooth ratio in 5th. If I was going to spend money on a tdi box I wanted the very best base box I could find.

SoI started to look and by sheer fluke bought an Aidan refurbed box, oiling plates, weddle forth and fith and only 8k miles old.
It was surplus to requirements as the PO is going mid engine v6.

It did pose one problem however.
It was a very long box so running it with my off-road tyres and 90bhp might have been a little bit of a stretch.
I spoke with Mario about updating my parts package to get more power but then I had a bit of a realisation.

The gearbox wasn't cheap, the parts kit was increasing in price and I was looking at having some bodywork done locally.
It was turning into a pretty high cost build.
So I decided to go all out.

The van is now at MV engineering having a mini resto and a custom tdi installation.

The spec should be a new AHU engine with a late vnt turbo setup from a PD and a mk4 golf Ecu and custom loom.
Should be pushing out 150bhp prior to mapping and closer to 180bhp afterwards.

Engine bay will be repainted (I've specified grey)
New front panel,
Minor work all round to make it solid and finished in red non pourus primer till I can get it in for paint,
New fuel tank,
215/70/15 off-roaders on steels,
Bull bars fitted,
All will be undersealed with 3m.

The rear suspension has been totally rebuilt and powdercoated and the rear brakes are all new.

From there I have to rebuild an interior and replace/refurbed the rest of the van as I go.

Fingers crossed I get the van back in 5 weeks.

It's not been cheap and certainly not stress free, but I've decided this one is a keeper so it's worth the effort.