EJ20 Aussie Bay

Discussion in 'Modified Shizzle' started by Baysearcher, Jul 30, 2014.

  1. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    Mind you, I paid £600 for my rack conversion; they now charge £1200 + labour!
     
  2. Try the guy I used. He has a garage in Aberystwyth called J's garage. He is top drawer and won't charge anything like the going rate prices you are quoting.

    As for is it worth it. Same answer as @Baysearcher i would do it again if I had another bus.
    To put it into perspective, prior to my install I looked at going type 4, I originally had a lawn mower engine. The price of sourcing a type 4 engine, getting all the tins and rough quote by a reputable engine builder for a good spec engine was quite a bit higher than the complete scooby job.
    You could also do it at a fraction of the cost if you DIY it like @top banana racing
     
    DaveC81 likes this.
  3. I just looked at fellows site, you must of priced it all with top spec shiny pipes ej25 etc. If you do a boggo ej20 which is what me and @Baysearcher their site priced it around 5.250 plus vat.
     
  4. That's without heater matrix and yes I also added stainless exhaust, which is almost pointless not doing. With those and the VAT its still north of £7k and that's without any gearbox upgrades, which I'd need (gearbox is on its way out).
     
  5. Like I said earlier though my guy was much cheaper, but I opted out of heater as I have my propex.
     
  6. Razzyh

    Razzyh Supporter

    Think I'd be going scooby next funds permitting.
     
  7. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    It is what it is.
    2 of us on this thread have said we'd do it again, so you get the idea!
     
  8. To be fair I've just got in contact with J's Garage and he is quite a bit cheaper. At least the vat cheaper! So thanks for the heads up in him.

    I was hoping to get a scooby box but that's not something he does. So now gonna looking into rebuilds on mine.
     
  9. Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking it. And I appreciate your help with any garage recommendations.

    At this stage I'm trying to contact as many garages as poss to get a feel for prices. I was just a bit surprised by some of the prices. Not knocking it or saying it's not worth it. Just id hoped it would be less. The gearbox issue isn't helping me!

    It's not easy to find the best part of £10k (when you include gearbox rebuild/subarugears). However, it is something I'm very keen to do.
     
    Baysearcher likes this.
  10. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    I'd like to go the Subarugears route but you really don't need to. A 6 rib or even a 3 rib works fine.
    Try the place Chris used; he's supposed to be cheaper than Fellows.
     
  11. Trouble is my 3 rib is popping out of first and lost syncro on 2nd, so I need to do something before Subaru power. If I'm doing something I may as well do it right first time. Hence my thought of Subaru engine and box in one. Many advantages like stock Subaru flywheel/clutch. Gear ratios matched to the engine which should help with mpg etc. But it ain't cheap. But possibly cheaper than finding and rebuilding a 6rib!
     
  12. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    While I have nothing against subaru conversions which have their upsides - mainly the cooling IMO but also the robustness of the engines, don't automatically disregard the air-cooled possibilities.

    That's roughly what I did and my torquey 2.4L T4 which from scratch was whole lot less £'s than a subaru - half the money or less than the prices quoted on this thread.
     
  13. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    You did yours twice though!
    :D
     
  14. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    I did both for less than one Subaru.
    It's the same equation though - the more you do yourself the less it's going to cost. if I'd simply handed my bus to someone then picked it up all done it could have doubled the price so that would be a better comparison I admit.
     
  15. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    Yep. If you went for a drive in / drive out fully rebuilt air cooled, with all the ancillaries, and paid the going rate for labour etc, the costs would be surprising.
    @Mattlad had an engine specced by one of the big boys, and I think supply alone was over £6k.
     
  16. But if you do a scooby motor yourself it can be a lot lot less. I don't have the time or garage facilities to do it myself so would rather hand it over to a small business who'd do a better job and do it in a quarter of the time it would take me. Plus if have to fit it it to weekend so would take FOREVER!

    And a t4 with all the tinware (I have a t1) and gearbox changes required (I have 3rib) would be just as expensive if not more so. That is a like for like with someone doing the whole thing and having to source all the parts!! Well that's my take. I also want decent hearing from the matrix. I did consider aircooled, but having thought about it for a long time I'm set on Subaru now. At one point I was on diesel. So at least with a scooby its a flat 4!
     
  17. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    You can ignore the gearbox as you'd need a 6 rib with either a Type-4 or Subaru.
    One thing - Subaru's are HP biased rather than torque - the power is up the rev range - they go fast if you thrash them up the rev range. so did my HP based T1 engine at 134BHP - not bad?
    The Type-4 I have now is very different and more like a turbo diesel to drive in terms of where the power is. Much better for a bus, I bet a Subaru would have to change gear a lot more often to access the power.
    I started with nothing but the gearbox and carbs and I did restore old scrap exhaust parts which saved another £1-2k.
    Really, if you want some decent power it's kiss goodbye to a year of weekends or get your wallet out.

    Meanwhile I really like bumbling about with a boggo 1600 to0 - life in the slow lane and what it was all about at one time... :cool:
     
  18. Would you mind sharing the garages/estimations ?
     
  19. You need to drive one Steve, cos this ^^ is not the case. :)

    As for prices, I was quoted 5k alone for a type 4 rebuild.
     
  20. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    To be fair Chris it is.
    I've not been in Steve's bus but the power band in the scooby is well up the rev range.
     

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