Club 80-90 Forums

I recently (drunkenly ) purchased a project T25 from eBay that comes pretty much as a rolling shell and am looking at what engine / gearbox I should be putting in. I'll start by saying that my mechanical knowledge is very limited but I'm under no time constraint to get the van back on the road so happy to take things slowly and learn as I go.

As well as the project van we already own a T25 auto sleeper with an Impreza conversion (done by spanner boy, who I'd happily use again but Mrs VF has set a strict restoration budget) which we are very pleased with and there seems to be a wealth of information around the net around the conversion so Subaru seems like the logical choice, much as I'd love to put a Porsche engine in. So, a few of questions;

Reading various forums the only other "mainstream" choice for a conversion seems to be the Golf Gti are there any benefits to that over the Subaru route and are the costs broadly similar?

If I do decide to go to Subaru I'd likely be buying a complete car (sober from ebay this time!) are there any particular models / years to aim for or avoid is there any issue with picking up an auto to fit in a manual van?

Is a 2.5 conversion more challenging to fit over a 2.0 (2.5 would be my preference)

I would expect that engine choice will dictate gearbox choice, at least to a degree, but if I go down the 2.5 Legacy route and wanted a 5 speed box any recommendations?

Finally, I've discovered RJES online and they seem to sell conversion kits, which with my limited ability will likely be a godsend, I'll be calling them later but are they and their components well thought of? (Main worry is that the website is last updated in 2008)

Apologies for waffling, any help or advice will be gratefully received

I went for the Subaru conversion, using RJES. There's a thread on my conversion here.

I went for a 2.0 NA engine, and I've been very happy with it. Not a great increase in power over the 1.9 WBX, but enough for me.
RJES were good to deal with, if nothing else I would strongly recommend getting Richard to build the wiring loom for you.
Buying a complete car for the engine is a good way to go. I just bought the engine from a breaker, but one who knew all the bits needed for the conversion.
The conversion is a bit easier if you're starting with a watercooled T25 (as mine was).

James

post up a link to what you bought then we need picks
mm

hi

i am looking at doing a subaru conversion as i blew my 1.9 watercooled a few months back.
i have been speaking to Richard at RJES and to a breaker who sprecialises in removing engines and removes everything you need for the conversion with it.
the costs seem scary and the list of things required seems endless.

please can you list all the parts you needed to get and then if you want to scare me you can add in the cost.

i am a novice with Zero conversion experience so any help would be appreciated.

dvenables wrote:
i am a novice with Zero conversion experience so any help would be appreciated.

This being the case, wouldn't it be better to just drop in a recon (or at least a known good) 1.9WBX? It'd only take a weekend ...

The list of required parts for the Subaru conversion is on the RJES website, along with approximate prices.