3 litre into Autovilla

[Jonathan]

Hi

I have (had??) a 1979 Autovilla with the 2 litre air-cooled engine. Saturday night I destroyed the engine (ran it without oil - don't ask) and Sunday, in my search for a new engine, was offered a Ford 3.0l V6 with the bellhousing adaptor out of another Autovilla. What all is involved, and how big a job will it be, to convert my Autovilla to V6 power. First off, a radiator. What else?

Is it advisable to go this route, or should I look out for another 2.0l air-cooled engine. I don't want to spend lots of money on this car as I was not supposed to (as in 'FORBIDDEN') buy it in the first place. Ha, ha, ha.

Many thanks for any advice.

Jonathan

[Blitzkrieg]

I would like to have the remains of your old engine, if you would like to part with them.....

On the other hand, Janna in CT has a 1700 Aircooled engine that you could buy and put in your AutoVilla...

[Bad Ass Bob]

stick to AC the hassels of a 3 lt motor are enormous , fuel , weight , piping , radiator as well as mounting it , and why is the motor becoming available ? all questions to be asked ????

[beetlefanatic]

stick to AC the hassels of a 3 lt motor are enormous , fuel , weight , piping , radiator as well as mounting it , and why is the motor becoming available ? all questions to be asked ????

Plus the gearbox does not like all that power.

[Chris]

Engine mountings have to be moved.Radiator fitted.Pipes layed to and from the radiator.Body or chassis will have to be modded to fit radiator.New temp gauge needs to be fitted.Accelerator cable needs to me modded and moved.Rear suspension needs to be stiffened because the V6 is heavier.All the wiring needs to be re-done.

Do yourself a favour,and find a Type 4,or recon the one that is in there.It will work you out a LOT cheaper.My V6 got 5km/l,if I was lucky.

[Jonathan]

Yes, Guys, you are right. I've never seen an air-cooled Ford 3.0 liter yet:-)

I specifically chose the air-cooled village above the later water-cooled one because I did not want to sit 100 miles along a dirt road with radiator problems. It's just that in the panic of a seized engine one considers every option and I had cut my teeth on those old Ford engines. I REALLY loved them, but I must admit, I always had head gasket problems with them.

Unfortunately, everything (as in business) is in shutdown mode at the moment and this is just going to have to wait until early next year. I will keep you informed of progress.

Blitzkrieg, I'll let you know if there are any remains of my old engine. There is a possibility that I may just haul the whole thing up to Arno van Wyk and let him do his magic on it. He has a one day turn-around time. What is your opinion of this idea?

Thanks and cheers for now

Jonathan

[Sambabus]

Thats a better idea,dont go the 3liter street eater route,besides it being a KAK idea,and you will regret it,.....we will also kick you off the forum,and deny ever seeing you on this site,and call apon the spirit of all things aircooled(yes,ALL things!!) to haunght your dreams,and give you endless car problems(except aircooled rides,obviously),and cause weak erections when youre older,and force you to wear adult dipers!!!!!.......................So what im trying to say is,go the aircooled way,





PS,youve been warned

[Tony Z]

*kicks Samba*


You wont be sorry for going to Arno, his work is brilliant.... dont let him talk you into the diesel conversion. Stay aircooled or I'll stop kicking Samba

[Dawie]

Think it's a good idea to take it to Arno. Keeping the same engine number also saves you the trouble of getting police clearance.

Heard that V6 heads are cast iron without valve seat inserts? Dont know if it is true.A machine shop owner told me that they are having problems with the newer fuel.

A cousin had an Auto Villa with V6. With the combination of that big body and 3L engine,he got 30 L/100km or 3km/L. Stripped about 3 gearboxes per year.(And they are not cheap to replace,because of the V6'es damaging so many of them.) Had a collection of various broken Ford parts as a display on the dashboard. Every time he visited,the parts display got bigger. (Melted pistons,damaged conrods,etc.etc.)Had a 20Lwater can with. Must say he sometimes didnt spare the horses.

[Ron&Gill]

If you get hold of Arno, ask him to contact Gill or me please!!

[Jonathan]

Hi Guys

You can all relax now - it's going to stay air-cooled.

Now for my next question: are all air-cooled bus engines equal as far as mounting points to the gearbox and chassis are concerned?

I have located a very early bay window bus in the 'surfer dude' style (metal panels where the windows should be) and the plastic housing that connects the top of the air filter to the tops of the carbs is of a different shape. Will this engine fit my van or am I looking at big hassles. Also, roughly what does this engine weigh?

I would like to save this 'surfer dude' van, but TEM (time, energy, money) does not allow that at present. This van needs quite a lot of work and I just want an engine for my van.

Many thanks for all the great advice.

Cheers

Jonathan

[Bugger]

Ok that Surfer bus sounde like a low light bus

It still has a Type 1(BEETLE) motor in and that is not what you are after
You are after a Type 4 motor

You will see that the surfer bus the cooling is run off the alternator above the motor
And the motor that was in your bus you will see that the cooling fan runs directly on to the Crank shaft

It will be a wast to fit the 1600 type 1 motor in your Bus it would just not GO well it will move but very very slow

[Bugger]

Well what about one of those Industrial motors 1800 Type 4

Take off the intake ,Exhaust and fit all your old motors carbs exhaust etc and there you go

Rhey are around R5500 exc vat