I went to Smallcar recently and test-drove a 2.5 litre Subaru powered
MultiVan, and there is definitely a transplant in my near future. Aside from
the doubling of power, the reduction in NVH would make it worthwhile. The
turn-key option is a good idea John, though I'll probably work with Smallcar
on mine as they are relatively close.

On 3/12/06, John Reddick <SVYOLO@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> TIICO did a great job bringing an affordable engine conversion to the
> Vanagon community.  Unfortunately they didn't sort out the inherent 2nd
> harmonic "buzziness" associated with any I-4 engine (the exception being
> Mitsubishi and Porsche I-4's which used a Mitsubishi designed
> counterbalancer).  Vibration is extremely destructive to any engine
> installation.  I-4's can be quieted down with proper development and
> "tuning" of everything bolted to it.  But it does take work and TIICO to
> this day hasn't done it. One of the shops that has installed a bunch of
> TIICO's is now sourcing/selling a A3 style accessory drive, but TIICO
> itself
> has't done a thing.
>     Many TIICO parts are the same as US parts, but you have to work at it
> and you need to know the part numbers. Many TIICO owners have been very
> satisfied and have had minimal problems.  Many TIICO owners have been
> extremely unhappy and plagued by vibration related breakages and
> catastrophic engine failure.  I don't know what the ratio to happy/unhappy
> is.
>     As far a Kennedy and Subaru conversions, everyone doing them raves
> about
> Kennedy's quality. The very few (<1%) of his adapters that have had
> problems
> were almost certainly "Installer error". Kennedy has never claimed to be
> "turn-key" kit supplier. Mr. Kennedy did do the legwork early on to get
> his
> "kit" CARB certified- several years, in fact, before TIICO did. The shops
> on
> the West Coast have been very busy converting vans and haven't needed to
> offer a "turn-key" Subaru kit.  The number of owners converting to Subaru
> power is increasing and should soon overtake the number of TIICO's sold.
> We
> are now offering a "turn-key" Subaru kit to fill in what we percieve to be
> a
> demand for it.
>
> John
> Vanaru.com
>

--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
www.crescentbeachguitar.com