one thing I think about is gearing of what ever porsche trans used due to the weight difference ,wonder if porsche addressed that in any way ?.

Around 1981/82 in the DFW area. The guy was my age, and yes it was black. I don't know what his father did for a living, so it could be the same car.

Yes, the plan is to document everything here. The bus transmission is geared a bit lower to make the smaller T4 engine viable, which means its winding out the /6. I may need or want to slightly re-gear the 915 - something I want to talk to Mike about when I get closer to that stage of the build. Probably gearing in-between the Bus box and the stock gearing for the 911.

My idea for this bus is NOT to have it be fast. But to have it be able to climb hills without crawling into 3rd or 2nd, and be able to pull a small trailer or pull the 914 or dune bug.

A friend of mine with a T4 powered Westy uses his this way, so I should have no issues with the /6.

The /6 should also give me the option of adding AC, and will have a larger alternator so I'll be able to run more STUFF - like maybe seat heaters and a nicer sound system.

Speed wise, I intend to keep it about 70 - and maybe set s speed limiter since I have a currently 14 year old boy who may end up driving it from time to time when its done.

Zach

When I was rolling down the highway in the Carrera powered 1986 Syncro, I had the 4th gear changed out to the Aussie (higher) ratio. Also had the 4wd transaxle rebuilt + blueprinted by a Baja-off road shop; as the stock box kept eating itself up.
Somehow you should be able to source the higher 4th gear (syncro 4wd), I would think that the 2wd gear would be available somewhere.

Dude, after having my big Corvair powered 74 http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...0&hl=waggin , I am moving to a suby 6 swap. I want heat, A/C, and auto trans that is not screaming at freeway speeds. The Corvair engine was easily 200hp, some estimates 240hp on the forums about the 3.1 big bore treatment with opened up heads. I had the bus over 100mph once. It was terrifying. Last set up was a Eddlebrock 4bbl on an adapter to Weber 3 bolt pattern on the heads. I have a set of Zeniths, now, that I could put on it....if I wanted to continue as it was. I also have 16" wheels and bigger meats, with a slight 3" lift so my gearing is dropped with that a bit. The thing pulls like a tank and I remember one Summer going to Mid OH for the vintage motorcycle weekend and towing my 14' trailer loaded with camping gear, generator, a bunch of pit bikes, and going up an incline at 75mph and being able to accelerate and pass other cars all while the inside of the bus was also loaded. It was nice.

As for putting a Porsche 6 in a bus; I get asked about that a lot. For me it just didnt make sense as I want grunt not top speed and the Porsche engines cost way more to procure and maintain than the Corvair powerplants did. You live near CorvairRanch so even more reason as so did I at the time I built the bus. Of course, I say that about Porsche 6 engines and then I went crazy on the Corvair engine and bored it out and got fancy expensive heads, etc. Now its for sale, or may end up in a 914 project some day.

All that being said, the only real extra step with the 911 v the Corvair engine is the oil sump/tank/plumbing stuff. Corvair didnt need such, which saved money, time, weight, complexity. Everything else was pretty easy to get mounted and working.

Id recommend going with the 091 VW box, and regear if you need a higher gear. Get tire size and you can calculate the final RPM. Apparently, I am about to get into doing 091 builds...but they are easily gotten commercially for dirt cheap (why I never saw a reason to do VW builds when you can get a rebuild for $1500 exchange). I just bought the last of the special tools to do them as a friend conned me into doing his core he bought to fix his 2nd gear issue.

This is the path that I tend to want to go, as I'd rather not need to figure out the whole shifting geometry to add the 915, not to mention need to change all the suspension and axles to match the 915. Regear the bus box makes a lot of sense.

Zach

If I sell my wife's 2014 Subaru Outback, I might look into doing a Subi transplant in my '84 Westy

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Torn between a N/A 2.5L/4 or a N/A 3.0 or 3.3L/6 though

A 2.5 L would be cheaper and easier to do, and probably get better fuel economy, but a '6' would sure be a lot of fun

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There is a guy in Nebraska that bought a wrecked 911sd and put the engine and transmission in his 72 westfalia, He showed up Ina campout in N,Carolina . Awesome job he did

Food for thought

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This was at Nord Stern Region's outdoor show last summer.

And some older pictures from Richmond VA:

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@anderssj that's my old buddy Dieter Wanderer's single cab, now with a 3.2L. He's a former SoCal dude...now in Minnesota. When it orig had the 2.7L he drove it round trip from L.A. to the Yukon. Only hit a bear on the old Alcan highway...it was just a bump !
Bear kept going and Dieter only lost one headlight

"VW Trends" magazine, Dec. 1991; Dieter and I brought some 6cyl conversions over to the Rio Hondo dry river bed for some cool pics. His 1968 single-cab (brown/beige) now in Mn.
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The 1968 single-cab was formerly used as a Shopping-cart retrieval vehicle !
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Few more from the article, pic 6B shows a very short stick shift...but just after the article a proper extended rod was manufactured.
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Last of the article pics...911 gauges on a custom alum dash plate/ 911 seats
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Wow, small world…and nice work on that truck. Nord Stern region is hosting another get together on June 25…I’ll say hi if I see him!

Dieter has great stories from that Alcan Hwy trip, def give him (and Arlene) my best regards !
Marty

I did some measurements the other day.

The engine bay is 14 inches tall.

The 2.7 with CIS is 18 inches tall from the top of the engine mount bar to the top of the highest point.

So if I want to keep CIS I need to mount the engine lower in the bus and rig up a skid plate or something to protect it since it will now be the lowest part of the bus save the wheels. Or my measurements are wrong because I'm a total noob to 6 engines and I have no idea how they work or mount.

@Maltese Falcon With you conversions back in the day... Was service to the engine a "drop the engine to change a spark-plug" kinda thing? Did the engines need to be lower in the engine bay to fit?

I know if I went carbs or some other fuel injection I would loose several inches of height that the CIS currently has. And I'm sure Eric would be happy to sell me a plug and play injection setup when I get to that point if I don't want to use PMOs and can't get the stock CIS to work right.

Thanks!
Zach

You know, I still have my CIS set up for my engine that was custom fit into my 74 bus. I used a Volvo air box to lower the height and allow me to move the air box over. Also used my own homemade plenum, that I still have. Should bolt to a 911, the corvair was machined to have a weber 3c pattern.

CIS development for in bus use, can be adapted to your bus. You can try my set up if you want.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...7036&st=100

Starting around post #1142 is fab of the CIS system and other musings.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...gin&st=1100

Did you ever get your 914 going? I remember it was carbureted, then megasquirt, then jack rabe helped you with it. Where is it now...

@VaccaRabite
Zach...I never put a CIS engine into a Vanagon; only the 3.2L with Bosch DME motronic. Only needed to sand away approx ½" of sound-deadening material from under the engine lid. Engine didn't sit any lower than the oe water-boxer 2.1L engine. On some converted ('79-earlier) busses, I've seen a few that had a custom made/upholstered rear cushion/on a slightly taller sheet-metal "Box". Vanagon had normal (911'ish) engine servicing of engine/trans...only dropped it for clutch or t/o/b service.
Marty

Its been a whole journey. Yeah, been driving it all over the easy coast since 2017 with the Megasquirt motor. Playing with the tune the entire time, becasue you can do the with MS, and it suits my need to tinker with stuff.

And then a friend started talking about a new motor he was going to get from PMB and I got some major FOMO and also had a little money burning a hole in my pocket. So I put a new 2258 fuel injected engine from PMB in my 914. My (now about perfectly tuned and good running) 2056 got sold.

The 2258 is still in break in (only 50 miles on it yet, going to put about 300 on it this weekend if plans hold) but its amazing. Everything feels like I'm one gear lower compared to the 2056 - and my 2056 was NOT a slouch either... My 914 could probably keep up with a modern mini-van in a drag race now.

Joking aside, the new 2258 in my 914 likely has about the same power as the CIS 2.7 I want to put in the bus. It took time to get, but the 914 really just flies with it. Were it not for the bus project, I'd be welding the steel flares I have for the 914 on this spring and going 5 lug. But right now I'll just have to content myself with driving the 914 while the bus continues its restoration.

Zach

'85 Doka' with a sb 350" Chevy + g50 5speed is a whole different story

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Zach, any interest in SC grind Elgin 3 bearing cams for your 2.7. I might know a guy with a pair…and some spare cis pistons if you ever need any.

A few years ago at the VW Porsche treffen in California a guy had put a Porsche 6 in his double cab - but he flipped it around and it was under the bed mid engine style. I'll look for pics.

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This is an interesting syncro/996 Carrera 4 project…been for sale for years. HUGE project to say the least…

syncro project