I`ve been saying to myself that I need to change the engine for a good few years now, and finally it has taken a major leap forwards. Because I`m removing this on my own and cannot rely on Lisa to catch it if it goes horribly wrong, I decided to strip down as much heavy stuff as I could from the old engine to make it a bit lighter to manhandle. I left the inlet manifold on though, as it made a good grab handle





Once the engine was out, a little voice in the back of my head said to try a crowbar between the gearbox and the cradle, and I`m damn glad I did, as it showed that one of the mounts had completely come away from the rubber block. Better I found this out now that later, and after a quick trip to GSF, two new engine mounts were fitted.

Glad to see that you have a tray under the engine to keep that nice new floor clean Dave it must be great working in the new garage 

Are you fitting the electronic ignition to your new engine as well?
Hope it's going together easily enough for you.

Yep 

Electronic ignition and pertronix coil are being transferred over, and at the moment I`m attacking the tinware with an angle grinder to make my oil pressure sender fit, as I use a combined pressure and warning  one that is a lot bigger than the hole is currently. Pics to follow shortly.

green body on a blue chassis now that's the way very cool you will have the engine in no time pal a bit at a time......

Around 3 years ago, I went through the motions of putting a Subaru lump in the back, and by chance, even ended up with an engine and convertor plate, only to find out that the engine was once the property of Sawmill Jim, who really regretted selling it. Only fair then that a three way deal was struck, and I ended up with a fully rebuilt 1600cc engine from John Gurney, (a highly respected fabricator) as a result. That sat buried in the depths of my garage, and out of reach for a few years whilst my new garage was being rebuilt. After the 2014 IBW trip to Holland, I had the opportunity of driving Chad`s Buggy for a good few miles, and came to the conclusion that I really wanted an even bigger engine. Farmer Rob is well known on here for his engine building skills and expertise, so when his own 2.0 litre (1970cc) Type 25 CU engine came up for grabs recently, knowing its pedigree, I just had to have it.





Like the engine that came out, I stripped down as much as I could to save some weight for lifting it in on my own, but with those heat exchangers on, its still a REALLY heavy lump - I could have removed them, but as you can see, they make a nice stable platform to sit on and start with. The rear fan was also left on, as was far easier than using the traditional spanner on the crankshaft to give that last obligatory turn to line up the gearbox splines. A top tip that I have learned over the years, is to place a flat piece of wood under the trolly jack, as it makes for a really smooth action when moving the jack forwards and aligning everything up.





And The block went straight in, with little or no fuss. To me it looks more like a jet turbine than an old van engine here, but will start to resemble a VW engine again once all the tinware comes back from the powder coaters.





I must confess that I had not realised just how much spare space would be left over on top of this engine - that old doghouse took up a lot more room than you might think.





For those that are contemplating this conversion, please note that the CU engine requires some modifications and machining to the flywheel to allow the gearbox shaft to fit into it, and a blanking plate for the fuel pump. But thats about the only bit of converting that needs doing, the rest is just pipes and cables (or so I hope)

Welcome Dave to the type 4 buggy club. 
Its seems to be getting popular to fit a type 4 engine you might want to start a type 4 conversion in the tips and tricks section.

Lots of space there now for a hidden luggage compartment! Wire in a fridge to work off the engine.. You know it makes sense!

Fridge ?   

Keep the drinks cool for the beach or the beers cool for after the cruise!

Keep the drinks cool for the beach or the beers cool for after the cruise!

I like your thinking   

What adaptors did you use for your pressure valves?

These are the valves on the left that I got from Kingfisher Customs - they are rated at 2psi which is what is required for front discs.

The adaptors shown on the right are simply male to male adaptors that you can probably find on ebay or similar, and makes fitting an absolute doddle. Where my brake lines from the master cylinder screw into the flexible hose, these were undone, and the RPV with the adaptor was screwed in place. The beauty of this is that there is minimal faffing about with brake pipes and you can easily get access to them.





Check your thread size, but this may be a start

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAKE-PIPE-UNION-IN-LINE-CONNECTOR-DOUBLE-MALE-METRIC-X5-/251121002593?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3a77fa6861

I assume with the adapters the RPVs can be screwed in to the master cylinder also. For instance on the single rear brake line if fitting rear discs too

I assume with the adapters the RPVs can be screwed in to the master cylinder also. For instance on the single rear brake line if fitting rear discs too

They can . . . . However, if I screwed the front ones directly in to my cylinder there is not actually that much space around them and the overall length meant that they fouled on bodywork / reservoir etc. The place I fitted them is near as dammit as close to master cylinder as I could get, and the pipes move / bend a lot easier here than they do when they are closer in.

If fitting for a rear though, I think you need to use a 4psi RPV instead - check first