introduction and a serious question.....

smartdriver

Hi there,

My name is Paul, i'm 42 years of age and livin' in the Netherlands.
I'm seriously considering to convert a "splitty" to Subaru-power.

But, the tranny's are a weak point in the bus.
So, go Porsche.
That'll cost me at least 3000 euro's for a rebuild 915 that'll take up to 350 N/m.

Has anybody had the idea to put a Subaru tranny in a bus?
Don't know if it'll fit, 'cause don't know any dimensions of the box, but there is enough space.
What do you recon?

Regards,

Paul
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convertin' a VW T2 t1 '69 15 window "splitty" into a daily driver, to be continued.......

doppelganger · Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 6:13 pm Post subject:

it wont work unless you want 5 reverse gears as the diff will not flip.unless you are thinking of mid mounting Wink

and http://www.vwkd.co.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1329
915 box 1600 euros Wink

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richbaker78 · Teacher of Padawans Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 1298

theres a bloke in belgium who has pretty much welded the front of a subaru legacy into the back of the van - so has the subaru tranny midmounted. Theres some pics on this site somewhere - ill dig them out when i have more time. its a good idea for sure and very cheap y comparison to other options.

gerrelt · Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 7:50 pm Post subject:

Hi Paul,

See this dutch keversite thread (for english people, there are some links in it to english threads about this subject).

Of course, we all want to see pictures of your project!

Greetings,
Gerrelt.
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smartdriver · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:07 pm Post subject:

Hi there,

Thanks for the time and aswers.
Just a moment later when posting this thread i read on another forum that you can't use the Subaru tranny in the bus unless i wanna go slo forward and really fast in reverse Laugh Out Loud

I'm very interested in the Belgium guy though.

I hope you don't forget.
And to my fellow Dutchman, i saw your homepage a few days ago.
You're into Alfa power, interesting.
I was told a long time ago that an Alfa engine's torque did not comply with the gearratio's of the tranny from a VW.
Do you have to rev her up?

At the moment i'm considering a 091 tranny, only trouble with this is that it's side actuated and not at the nose of the tranny.
Bus tranny's are the way to go i guess, they're much stronger then the beetle tranny's.

I'll keep on lookin' and keep you updated on my progress.

Regards,

Paul
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convertin' a VW T2 t1 '69 15 window "splitty" into a daily driver, to be continued.......

ElusiveStranger · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:37 pm Post subject:

gerrelt · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 6:42 am Post subject:

smartdriver · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:52 pm Post subject:

Hi ElusiveStranger,

Is the box mentioned in that thread the 091 box then?

Hi Gerrelt,

I probably do a duo setup on both sides in the enginecompartment.
Fan assisted, but switched when needed to overrule from the dash when i hit a trafficjam.
I hope that the louvres are able to let out the hot air.

Regards,

Paul
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convertin' a VW T2 t1 '69 15 window "splitty" into a daily driver, to be continued.......

gerrelt · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:42 pm Post subject:

Hi Paul,

A traffic jam is not one of the problems with a rear mounted radiator. Just use the temperature switch which is normally in the radiator to let the fans turn on automatically. That works perfectly.
If you have enough venting (ie the hot air has a way to get away from the radiators and out of the vehicle), city driving and traffic jams is something you don't have to worry about.

Highway speeds (120 km/h) will be the real challenge. On those speeds the engine has really got to work, and there is little natural airflow with the rear mounted radiator. Then you will need really good fans to keep your engine cool.

I wouldn't rely on a switch on the dash for turning on the fans. A temp switch does a far better job on keeping an eye on engine temp than your own eyes and brain. You'll need the last two to watch the traffic.

Greetings,
Gerrelt.

PS: I am moving away from the rear mounted rad setup, I am going to move the entire radiator to the front or put an additional small radiator up front.
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richbaker78 · Teacher of Padawans Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 1298

this is the only link i could find to the bus...they are more action shots than details!!!! still fun to watch! the guy is from Antwerp in Belgium.

http://www.vwkd.co.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=38

i guess with a split you are in the position of having pick of the bunch really as you have a pretty much blank sheet of paper.....the beetle box would be poor unless very expensively modified, the bus box would probably require a fair amount of work but wins on cost (I have an 091 which was modified by Cogbox to have a higher 4th...this makes this option expensive) so i can see the logic of going with a porsche derived one.......as the amount of work wouldnt be much more.

If it was me starting again though i would go midmounted with the scooby box...because:
you save on mounting/ conversion kits,
you gain a decent 5 spd box (which are quite cheap),
all the midmounting advantages (handling etc)
there are other considerations...for example I had to move my fuel tank to clear turbo and i modified it to use the subaru pump, swirl pot etc etc using the VW format and tank (a lot of work)...if you went midmounted the tank would be moved anyway so you would have an option to use a subaru tank perhaps mounted over the box? again cheap and using subaru parts.

just one final piece of advice.... if you want radiators to work....dont make the mistake of putting them in the back.....there are other set ups - you wont save any work by locating them at the rear - you will have the fans on all the time. Read the Radiator section very carefully.....belly mounted is easy and works.