The Subaru Engine Thread

Don't you like Scamblesby eggs.

 

im not bored

 

YOU can't do that! There's probably only about 5 Alfasuds in existence which are in such 'good' condition. Poor little things - still miss mine

 

you are not the only one my friend

 

Each to their own and all that.

I drove mine around on the old lawnmower engine for about 16 years quite happily. Then a Subaru Impreza came up for sale on here for £150 so I bought it. Now I am still driving it around quite happily, just quicker, smoother, less maintainceier...

Its a tried and tested engine conversion that fits well and does really improve the driving experience. If you can (or be bothered to) do it yourself, its cheap enough, if you can afford to pay someone else then its money well spent if it improves your enjoyement of the van.

Next mission for me is trying to come up with a cheapskate power steering install I reckon..

 

Bigger steering wheel?

 

You aren't opinionated, you just don't suffer fools lightly, including myself.

 

Me too. The floor was rusting through, so it had to go.

 

What yer doing with your old 2ltr type 4 Bern is it knackered ?

 

I hear a lot of talk about acquiring Subaru engines out of second hand cars ....Can you get new engines to go in them ?.
Obviously loads more dosh .

 

Oh it's like that is it ....Do you know where to get those air filters from Flakey

 

Sorry I don't, I wouldn't normally go for them myself.

 

Same carb set up as mine ...basic but i have had no trouble with them yet , touch wood . Were doing Mull , Skye ,ullapool in spring ...which is not to far away Flakey No wheel spinning with them , What the hell .

 

I agree, I could have wasted money on say some crap looking slot mags for example....I'm missing an opportunity to lecture....I think I'll start a thread about how my non original
steel wheels were better, stronger, wider etc despite never actually running crap looking slot mags, I'd still make that claim.

Maybe I could find some cohorts to furiously agree, despite none of them having a go on crap looking slot mags either....and hopefully these would be the same people on their 3rd or 4th replacement engine or maybe just a couple rebuilds....yet bang on about originality. The Triggers broom owners.

Maybe a better question is this....if you had a lump of cash to spend on your van you would genuinely do nothing to improve its wheezy old engine...or paint...or improve the brakes or steering.....you'd do nothing?

Congratulations on being that pilloc getting run off the road by foreign truck in the slow lane, the one with the queue of traffic going up steep hill A and B roads, the one furiously sawing away at the steering wheel in crosswinds or scaring the crap out of the kids trying to stop on steep descents.


In the name of what? Originality? On a van of which there are thousands left, and loads coming in from the states and Aus each year?


Or, and I love this, keep it original as the engineers 40 years ago knew better that the generations that have come since?

Do you apply that thinking to your dentistry, healthcare, the technology you use daily?


Mines a one year only RHD Westy, with nearly all its original bits.....is it worth more than others? Doubtful. Was it massively improved by having a Subaru engine put in? Yes.

I've changed the oil once in the 6 years it's had a Subaru in it. It starts on the button every time. Anyone with a stock 1600 managed that....didn't think so.

Ultimately @monkeyvanwestybike if you want to kick off with some sanctimonious viewpoint and edit out the answers as noise then that's your shout. This thread to me is genuinely waste of effort for all that have up their time to express an opinion.

Incidentally, why did you swap out your train like 1700 on twins? Didn't go wrong did it perchance?

 

You can buy crate motors, but each generation is more complex, and has more sensors for say fuel tank pressure which makes them harder to fit.

The sweet spot is engines from around 1997 to 2004....it's better to get them from whole cars as you get full history low mileage subaru's for bugger all when not turbo'd and the full car can be test driven.

 

The 1776 with twins wore out about 10 years ago and also was more expensive to run
My brother calls my van
Trigger s broom also

 

See, mine get better fuel consumption than the original 1600, and I assume the bigger mills too.

Enough to recoup the install cost...who knows, if I took off the cost of building an equivalent air cooled engine in terms of power, I doubt there would be many hundreds of pounds difference.

 

Yes probably not!
My Japanese Flat 4 slots that you don't like cost around £300 a corner
Nearly enough for another engine

 

@Moons, everyone have their viewpoint. Mine and many others who have these old vans, much as we might moan a bit, is that some of the attractions of the original engine are the very things that you see as negatives.
4 years? I managed more years and 30,000 miles on a 1700 with barely more servicing than you have done. How many miles in your 4 years I wonder, knowing that you don't really like your van very much, hardly drive it and have probably camped once?