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Quality Subaru Conversions for Vanagon

Tornado Red Vanagon Conversion

Install by Hans of Vanaru

While we were working on this van, the customer wants to replace the fuel tank seals and check the tank for corrosion, common maintenance on Vanagons at their age. The tank seals dry up and fail, and the symptom is a fuel smell when topping off the

The fuel tank dropped out and surprise, the tank is near perfectly clean inside, probably owing to its life in dry Oregon air, no replacement needed!

The tank gets all new seals, vent bridge, hose and clamps and goes back into place, ready for another long run of service!

While we are under the van and the tank is out, we tackle another common maintenance replacement item, the coolant pipes. This vanagon came with plastic coolant pipes which came with steel inserts pressed in the end. The steel inserts rust eventuall

…and the new stainless pipes with new hoses already installed.

With the fuel tank still out, you can see the new coolant pipes here.

Here you can see the new stainless coolant pipes running to the rear of the van, fully installed with the original metal clips and band clips, zip-tied together with the heater hoses.

Another issue in the same category, the coolant tees in the heater lines. These tees divide the flow of the heating system between the front and rear heater cores. Older Vanagons had these tees in steel which eventually rust to failure. Newer Vanago

Here you can see the new aluminum coolant tees, shown installed next to the new stainless pipes.

The engine and transmission are removed so we are left with an empty engine bay so we will get started cleaning up. Here is the before shot…

…and after, that color cleans up nice! Nearly everything is removed, pretty much just the wiring for the taillights and some power steering plumbing remain.

So fresh and clean!

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Here we install an adjustable fuel regulator behind the firewall and at the same time do the only modification to the engine bay for the conversion, bending back one flap of metal.

The regulator is a top quality unit used in racing applications, held in with a stainless steel bracket and hardware, here we are tightening down a quick disconnect port which allows fuel pressure measurement in the future. All fuel hose in the engi

Coolant bottle bracket.JPG

We get started setting up the cooling system. This VANARU designed bracket is made entirely from stainless steel and will forever look this good! The bracket holds up the coolant tank and also carries return coolant from the radiator back to the eng

Next we install the VANARU air filter housing into the left tail light cavity. This sets up what is essentially a cold air intake, blocking off most of the cavity. As a result, the intake air for the engine is pulled down the D-pillar from the outer

This shot shows how the air filter is changed out quickly and simply by removing two nuts to liberate the retaining plate. This is a prime example of the clean looks, quality materials, and solid engineering that makes the difference with a VANARU c

Before that fuel tank goes back in, we have one more part that's easier to install with it removed. For the conversion several signal wires need to be brought from the engine computer to the front of the van - speed signal, accelerator, cruise contr

The cable is laid in starting from the rear, following the main wire harness in the van.

…followng the main wiring harness in the van.

In one section the existing wire harness bundles were cleaned off and the VANARU supplied body cable laid together with it. Which one is OEM original and which is VANARU? The answer is the one in the center! This is an example of VANARU parts cre

Vanaru’s custom fly by wire mechanism housing.

All finished, factory fresh!

Plenty of clearance, even in a Carat!

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