Should I A)Finish my Typ4 or B)Scooby conversion?

[Cragrobbo]

Hey.

I know I ask a lot of Q's and some might get annoying but the help is always appreciated to help me get my car right.

Most of you may know its a german look daily driver.

I am looking at either finishing my Type 4 or going over to Scooby conversion.

I am looking for a few aspects here

*Level of difficulty
*Overall cost
*Time it takes to do
*Availability
*MPG
*Power
Less important
*The cool factor
*Sound of it
*Bragging rights


The Type 4 was going to be built by Andy Pears as a 1911cc (likely with a super/turbocharger at low boost) mild cam mild porting

What would you guys suggest and whats the best route to go down?

Again thanks for all the input and help

Craig

[Fiatdude]

OK -- Suby will be A LOT higher in difficulty, more expensive (piping,radiator, EFI etc), take a lot longer to do,
== the type four will be faster to get running, (the engine is longer, if you run a Porsche style fan MAY have clearance issues with your decklid) MPG -- tossup maybe the subie+ -- Power -- with a turbo again tossup subie just a little+

Comes down to what do you want --- look at all the subie conversion threads and look at the time stamps on the postings and you can see it takes a good long while.

Me I'd just do a good stroker type 1 2180 to 2332 and be done with it -- not a big fan of T4's -- -- and turbo systems for T1's are readily available as bolt ons -- not so for t4's -- a buddy has a turbo subie in his rail and he has dropped a ton of $$$ into it to make it reliable --

ANY engine with a turbo just sounds cool -- -- and there is NO SUCH THING as "just a little boost" LMAO

(click on it to hear it LOL)

[Piledriver]

I suspect if you follow the KISS principle the turbo T4 will be fine.

KISS means largely "Keep things reasonable" in this case, close to stock build (consider a 1.8 with 93mm JEs in 4000 series forged alloy...allow for long life) good well tuned EMS with knock/timing control etc. at 8PSI it will scoot well and should last fine.

Much more then you are looking at water injection or an intercooler setup, each adds to the complexity==things to break to some extent.

Having said all that a well built NA 1911 with ITBs will scoot pretty good in a T1, and won't kill transmissions as readily.

[Buggin_74]

Responses to the Subaru vs type 4 thing are usually biased depending on where a person is.

In North America Subarus are not a real common car so its hard and usually expensive to get a good donor and also VW parts suppliers are everywhere and prices are a lot cheaper so the type 4 thing is more common choice there.

other end of the scale places like Australia, UK etc Subarus are common as muck (about 1 in 5 cars round here are Subaru) so finding donors is cheap and easy but not sure about in the UK but here in Oz type 4 parts prices are an absolute joke, you can almost built 2 type 1 engines making similar power for the same price.

Germanlook Subi bugs are really common here and lots seem to be popping up on the UK forums but it is no small task converting but the results are very rewarding.

[Prtexx]

Everyone has different opinions but the choice is yours. I have done 4 conversions this past year and have been helping others with advice. I wouldn't own another VW without a Subaru motor. Not to contradict Joel but Subarus are very easy to find in the US, I just bought another one last week for $400 125k miles one owner. If you do most of the work yourself you can keep it under $2500. Lots of people complain about the transaxle not holding up I drive mine almost everyday and haven't had any issues and get 30 mpg. Of course I don't do burnouts but I get to 100 in a heartbeat and surprise the hell out of people. Btw KISS means keep it simple stupid. If you look up my post or Joel's you will find a wealth of information.
Good luck.

[Steve Arndt]

Responses to the Subaru vs type 4 thing are usually biased depending on where a person is.

In North America Subarus are not a real common car

Subarus are one of the more common cars in the USA.

I say go T4. Radiator and coolant kills the soul of the car.

[Buggin_74]

Or makes them more fun to drive depending on how you look at it

It probably depends what parts of the US you are in,
I'm just going by all the PMs I get from people wanting to do Subi conversions but just can't find donors.

[Piledriver]

Or makes them more fun to drive depending on how you look at it

It probably depends what parts of the US you are in,
I'm just going by all the PMs I get from people wanting to do Subi conversions but just can't find donors.

There are plenty of donors here, lack of CHEAP donors is likely the real issue issue.

I have a bad feeling if I found a ~straight Impreza wagon I would probably start wrenching on it, and before long...
I'd end up with a flat 6 in the Squareback and Porsche.
(The 914 is almost too easy, esp using a std suby trans with some parts removed)

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Sub-a-roos in the US are like belly buttons... at times is seems like everyone has one. There might be small areas where they are in short supply but that is changing quickly as new dealers are put in place.

I kind of agree with Pile, get it running then enjoy it. Later, as you debug it, if you think you want to, then start to go higher tech.

Lee

[ALYKAT III]

Yup, I'm in agreement with the guys. Around here it is about 40% Subarus, 40% pickup trucks and everything else fills out the last 20%. I have two Subys now, a line on three more....but what I need is an affordable adapter setup. Here-a -bouts you can usually pick up 92 to 98 vehicles from $200 to $800 depending on wether they are wrecked, bad engine (Broken timing belt most common), bad trans, or just plain worn out. By mixing and matching parts, I plan to fix & sell enough units to eventually have a Bugaru with no major cash out of pocket.

[turboedbug]

Subaru power sucks. Dont do it