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Getting Started Cooling System Air Intake System Auto Tranny Eng Support Eng Damper Instrument Cluster Cruise Control Speed Sensor Timing Belt
 

As Laurence has mentioned, on our home page, we are Vanagon/Subaru conversion  addicts and would like to share some of our experience. However, we can not guarantee every item that we post and you use the information at your risk. If you find errors in our site please send us an e-mail so they can be corrected.

     
To support our addiction and the services we provide we have built two test facilities so we can test engine and harnesses without putting them in our vans.
     
Engine Test Stand    
     
   
     
This test stand is shown with an 93 EJ22 engine mated up to a Vanagon automatic tranny. VW cooling system (shortened), simulated Vanagon instrumentation (using Jetta instrument cluster). As you can see the fuel system is rather basic but works perfectly - Vanagon fuel pump, Subaru fuel filter and my makeshift fuel tank. This engine came from a wrecking yard - where they claimed it was blown - I did a compression test before pulling it and the compression was good (all cylinders around 165psi). When I got it in the test stand it wouldn't idle well at all. Discovered that who ever had changed the intake header gaskets had installed them wrong and there was a large air leak - fixed that and the engine runs perfectly - not bad for a $350 complete engine with 130k kms on it. There are a few items to mention here:

- I like to use the Subaru Fuse/Relay box as it provides a neat interface to the Vanagon B+ and provides handy relay and fuse facilities.

- I also use the Subaru fuel filter in the engine bay.

- You can also see the igniter mounted on my simulated fire wall - this is a good position for it as it generates quite a bit of heat.

- I test the engines with stock coolant header then reverse the header when I am happy with the engine.

 

  Tom's Page Laurence Smith's Conv.
Wiring Harness Test Box:

 

   
   
     
Rather a messy work bench but I was just in the process of checking out the test box using a virgin 93 Subaru harness - this confirmed all wiring in the box was correct. This test box can be used to test either 90/91 or 92-94 harnesses. It ensure accurate continuity testing without risking any damage to the various harness connectors. It has proved very valuable in testing harnesses that don't work properly for people.    
     
     
Tom Shiels
Burlington, Ontario, Canada      

E-mail me at this address                                        
 

 

   
Getting Started Cooling System Air Intake System Auto Tranny Eng Support Eng Damper Instrument Cluster Cruise Control Speed Sensor Timing Belt