If you are seriously considering doing a conversion John, you should
join the Subaru/Vanagon Yahoo list and start readin' !

I would also heed the words of Warren Chapman, our fearless SV
moderator when he says, "buy a donor car so you can be sure you get
matching parts". Buying an engine and then a harness and then all the
other stuff from a junkyard is a perilous venture unless you are sure
that everything is coming from one car. Talk to junkyards in your
area---they might be able to find a complete car for you and do the
stripping work for you. Otherwise, find a little old lady with a 90s
Legacy and buy the whole car. You can part the rest out later and
maybe make a few quid back.

You can do the whole conversion yourself or pay someone to do it all
for you or everything in between. I had Warren find me a motor and do
the "prep" work (seals, timing belt, etc) for me. I then did 99% of
the wiring harness myself (not hard, just tedious) and then had Tom
Shiels in Canada test the harness for me. I just got my engine in the
Van two weekends ago and when I have time, I spend an hour here and
there working on it. Some guys can do the whole thing in a couple of
weeks---I got my engine from Warren last April. Obviously, I am not
in a hurry.

I  like the 2.2L for its simplicity and bullet-proof nature. Your
results may vary.

You can do about 75% of the conversion work w/o disabling your van---
then wait for some good weather and then do the motor switch. The SV
list is fantastic and there are lots of really good people to help
you get it done. There is no way I could have done it without the SV
list.

Jeff / 87 Syncro Westy

On Dec 19, 2006, at 2:50 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> John Rodgers
> Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 3:15 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Subie Engines - how hard to find, where to look.
>
> Subject says it all.
>
> Thanks,
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver