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T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:27 am
by Nightform
Hi, i'm so glad i found this site, i'm sure you guys could help us out alot, we're sitting with 2 classic vw kombis and they're standing for a long time now because of all sorts of problems mainly the engines, we bought a t2 panel van in 2014 which has a v4 ford engine and radiator built into it, it's giving us alot of problems with over heating and when pulling off there's a heavy shudder and the gears are hard to change, now i'm suspecting that the clutch cable link to the gearbox is not straight, it's pulling the arm at angle and once i sort that out it will improve hopefully and the t3 kombi we have has an original 2.0 aircooled flat engine but it completely siezed up and cracked and broke one of the cylinder head and pistons, now i'd like some advice on what we can do with the t3 kombi, where can i find an adapter plate for it to take perhaps a golf 1.8 engine? and what else will it need to make it work, we're on a budget at the moment and can't spend too much money on anything premium

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2019 7:57 am
by retrovan
Welcome to the forum, and please spoil us with photo's,

Speak to Pierre, aka Bugger, his banner is running top and bottom of these pages.

He has done the largest amount of , successful conversions to buses.

Will it not be easier to get the 2lt aircooled fixed, then its plug and play.

The shudder is that you do not have a kink in the clutch cable Bowden tube, yes it has to be there to make the
clutch work right.

Herman

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2019 8:16 am
by sean
If you want simplicity, reliability and the most affordable way to do it PROPERLY, then just stick with the original aircooled motor.

I can guarantee you that you will keep spending hours of work and thousands of Rands trying to keep that Ford V4 working in there with no success. Just gut it out and put the original parts back.

With regards to the T3, just rebuild the motor or buy an exchange unit. I've heard prices of 60 to 100k for Golf conversions, so certainly not a cheap exercise. The T3 also pulls really crap with a Golf engine. With 80k, you can rather buy a complete immaculate 2.6i SA T3 that will be far superior to a Golf powered bus.

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:13 am
by Nightform
this is the only photo i have of the t2, i took it after the back lid got drove into by accident while it was parked, as you can see we specialize in refrigeration, at the moment we're doing work with my golf an old mk1, and it's not suited for this kind of work, the sooner we can get one of the vans going the better, our plan is to fit a standard aircooled kombi engine back in the t2, and then find a way to fit the ford v4 into the t3, now i'm not sure if this is a good idea, but there's something we have a problem with, i'll get photos of it tomorrow, we don't know if the gearbox that's in the t2 right now is original so not sure if we get an aircooled engine if it would fit or not, as i said we bought it converted, and they never finished the project
but if we were to get the engine flat four engine1 repaired which is in the t3, which will be the best place to take it to? we're in the roodepoort area

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Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 8:56 am
by retrovan
I would say the cheapest way would be to keep the 2lt air cooled in the T3,its all there, and just needs to repaired.

I would say get hold of Arno at Villiersdorp, ( 083 522 3109) yes its in the Cape, buy he is my favorite builder.

Courier the engine down, and back up.

There are a few builders in Your area, but let the local guys advise, as I have no experience with any of them.

As the ford V4 is now in the T2, it means that half the job is done, so speak to Bugger and let him advise on the radiator placement and water articulation, to stop it overheating.

Then price that cost to one of getting a correct motor for the T2 and fitting it, as well as repairing the tins, and seal for the motor as this may have been cut out and not easy to replace.

You may find it cheaper to get the V4 running where it is.

If money is not an issue, get yet another 2lt for the T2 and repair the water cooled changes back to aircooled.

Open a Project thread, as we would love to follow your progress.

Diversity is what makes this forum great, so what ever you decide, is good with us.

Herman

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 4:02 pm
by Jdt1976
Bruce in Judd street, Discovery would be the closest to you.
011763150 0
Also on the West Rand is Van den Brink in Kya Sand.

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 7:44 pm
by Nightform
does anyone know what kind of gearbox this is? there's also a photo of the v4 ford engine which is on it

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Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:47 pm
by sean
The gearbox is a 1800 type 4 Kombi gearbox. This was used in 1974 and 1975 models. What is your concern with the gearbox?

It obviously has some butchered bellhousing to accommodate the Ford v4, and a disaster of a clutch cable set up. I see your Bowden tube is missing all together and clutch cable re routed, again to accommodate the ford.

Cut your losses now, the bus will never run properly with the ford.

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:00 pm
by retrovan
Thanks for the photo's

On the gearbox you will see the bowden tube top left corner, the thick hard tube, where the clutch cable runs in.

This tube must not be straight, but have a bend in it of between 25 and 40 mm.

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You are missing a bracket, to hold the end of the bowden tube to force it to bend.

This you can make your self and then it will pull away perfect.

How is the condition of the Ford motor, have you done an compresion test.

Is the motor usable ?

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Herman

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 12:13 am
by Nightform
thanks that's very useful, never had any idea about that tube it needs to go through, i don't know why the previous owners removed it, the engine is leaking some oil through the main seal, but when we bought the kombi they said the engine was recently overhauled, apart from the oil leak it does sound good and there's no smoke at all, there's alot of work we did to the kombi to get it to this stage, the last hold ups we've been having is the heavy shudder, we couldn't give it a proper test since we installed a bigger radiator on the front, if it's idling all the time it would sit just before the redline on the heat gauge, is it possible for me to weld a gate roller mechanism in the place of the bowden tube? @sean we've been considering trying to get a standard kombi/beetle engine to replace the v4 with, but we're not sure if this gearbox will take it, we understand how the aircooled engines work because we had a vw kombi before, it got stolen in the parking with all our tools and stuff in it, that's how we ended up with these 2 kombis, and they're not working, we bought them hastely thinking they're at good prices, even the door on the black kombi is terrible, i don't know why they did that, they hinged it to open outwards and did away with the sliding mechanisms, and it's sagging already from the weight, but we're not letting go of it, we did alot of work to it and need to get atleast one of them working asap
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Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 8:12 am
by retrovan
I would not try the roller wheel, you can get a Bowden tube from Goldwargen, or Midas

The bracket is easy to make, you have the mounting points on the gearbox.

If the Ford motor is running smooth, then do the gaskets, and try it on the road.

Thats your cheapest option, then take a dicision what to do about an aircooled motor.

The problem with getting a 2nd hand motor is that the reason its sold, is because it needs an overhaul, this will set you back another R18 000 on top of the cost of the motor, and then you still need to repair the cutout body parts to get it to seal properly so it will not overhear. You will find the bell housing has also been changed to fit the ford motor, so there is another couple of grand to get the original bell housing. Yes you get guys that advertise motors for 5 or 6 grand, reconditioned, but if you search on this forum, you will find they are all scams, and not worth 10 cent.

With the radiator and fan work, just fit bleed nipples on all the high points and make sure the expansion bottle is higher then everything on the motor and radiator.

You need to get all the air out of the system, or she will always overheat.

Make sure you use a good antifreeze and add it as instructed on the bottle. do not thine it out more or it will not work.

You may be able to get door parts here on the forum, You may find that VduBtech will have what you need as they converted many food buses, and may have removed the doors from them. ask him 011 822 2799

Good luck

Herman

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:41 am
by sean
You cant buy a Bowden tube at Midas as that will be for a beetle or split. A baywindow uses a longer one.

If I look at you pic, your clutch cable appears to be coming out from the top of the gearbox, where it should be at the bottom. Something very wrong there. I would assume there has been substantial modifications to make the clutch work with the ford motor.

Re: T2 and T3 engine conversions

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:58 pm
by Terry Phillips
If the rear main seal is leaking you could have oil on the clutch plate and that can cause a clutch shudder.