Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,
Just finished a big upgrade on my bus. 2000 Subaru 2lt sport engine with a full RJES kit, exhaust and loom done by Richard. Everything from Richard was spot on, fitted perfectly and did exactly what it was meant to. Richard was on call for all my dumb questions and a lot of tolerance.
She fired first punch, no error codes and drives great. Just bedding her in as I have fitted new brakes, bushes, bearings, shocks and tyres, but first impressions are very good. and the sound is amazing, I will get a vid on youtube when the rain stops.
I spent about £2000 with Richard on the full kit, £645 for a low mileage engine from Grade A subaru and did the rest myself in about 20 hours with no bodging, best money I've spent in a while.

Looks nice. Is the exhaust Richard's new stainless one? Someday I hope to do similar upgrade to our camper.

Welcome to the darkside

but there's a 30 mph limit on Guernsey, so it will be a while before you find out how good she goes eh, nice work.

Can you build him a one speed gearbox?

The exhaust is a RJES one and is great. I fitted it before we put the engine in and its sits just right. It also sounds great.
The speed limit is 35mph, but locals know some 'safe' areas where things can be pushed a little harder. I go surfing into Portugal a lot and that's one of the big reasons behind the conversion, gives it the legs to get there quicker.

I go surfing into Portugal a lot and that's one of the big reasons behind the conversion, gives it the legs to get there quicker.

Sounds a nice life... I love Portugal (away from Algarve), still nice and 3rd worldish...

I think we all would like one of Richard's Subaru exhaust sytems (even as a centrepeice in the lounge!)

We take the kids down and free camp at the top of the beaches, I can get to the west coast, north of Peniche in 2 days chill driving, and its so cheap and friendly in the smaller villages. We live like kings on about 20euros a day for all of us.

Looks like a nice job, 20 hours thats good going. im having one fitted with all the RJES bits and the guy says its taken 80 hours??????????

it worked out at:
6 hours to fit the electrics.
2 hours to remove old bellhousing and fit bits to new
2 hour to fit new bits to Scooby engine
2 hour to fit fuel pump/filter, new hoses.
4 hours to fit engine
2 hours to plumb the cooling.
and a couple of more hours to deal with sticky bolts etc. I did make sure I had new for old on most bits and had made a lot of lists to confirm all the bits were ready to go. Biggest problem was getting the clutch release bearing arm off the shaft, had to use a 90 ton press in the end!

Interesting air intake you have there. Does it retain the air meter etc?

no the engine is from 2000 and they stopped having the airflow meter by then. The hose is marine spec (£33 per metre) engine hose and leads through a splash/dust guard to a CDA carbon airbox, a cone filter in a tube basically.

Yea, but yours T3 Monkey boy has had heaps of engine problems including headgaskets, engine bay paint and clean, parts issues, need I go on? RJES wiring faults that are not down to him but has had to deal with. I have seen your motor in progress and looks better than most I've seen. Including mine!
So, be patient, Dean's doing his best and his work is quality, he will not rip you off, I guarantee, you have my word. Some conversions are smooth and go seamlessly, some like mind do not. I had loads of probs, even though I'm an engineer myself.
Patience is a virtue and quality takes time.
PEACE