There are many different types and strengths of clutch friction plate available, depending on your state of engine tune, but I have opted to keep this one simple and stick with a standard off the shelf 200mm Sachs VW clutch. This is the same as I am currently using on my existing 2 litre T25 engine conversion. I will be upgrading the pressure plate, and more of that in a minute.



When fitting the clutch plate, its critical that the splined hole in the middle lines up absolutely perfectly with the small hole in the middle of the flywheel, else when you come to fit the engine to the gearbox, the input shaft will be prevented from going where it is supposed to. We use a clutch aligning tool to do this. The top picture shows the various diameters of tools available and the middle shows the 2 sizes that we will be using. The small one will fit inside the flywheel, and the larger one fits snugly inside the splines of the clutch plate. The bottom picture shows how these are assembled on a shaft and ready for use.



With the tool in place, you can now see how the clutch friction plate is centralized in the flywheel prior to fitting on the outer pressure plate



The next bit to go on is the pressure plate, also commonly known as the cover plate



The cover plate is fitted making sure that the friction plate is still perfectly centralized before tightening the bolts up.



The eagle eyed amongst you that are not completely bored by my ramblings may have noticed the words STAGE1 on the cover plate.



The purpose of the cover plate is to squeeze the friction plate in a sandwich against the flywheel and allow the vehicle to drive. The more powerful the engine, then the greater this pressure needs to be to stop the friction plate from slipping or spinning under hard acceleration. The cover plates come in various higher pressure versions with stiffer springs, called Stages 1, 2 and 3 depending on how much power your engine has. The higher the stage number, the higher the power it will handle, but there is a penalty for this in that the higher the pressure, the stiffer the clutch pedal becomes to press. The torque generated by the Subaru engine is far too much for a standard VW pressure plate to handle and so an uprated one needs to be fitted. Many will recommend going for a Stage 2 clutch with the Subaru conversion (essential if going for a Turbo engine), but as I do not plan to drop the clutch when launching the vehicle, (and I fancy a more comfortable clutch pedal), I have opted for the milder Stage 1 version instead.

We are almost ready to mount the engine onto the gearbox, but before you do, there is one more little modification that needs to be done.

When removing the VW engine, you will be aware of the strange bolt that goes through the starter with the shaped end that wedges up against the side of the motor, preventing it from spinning round when you are tightening the nut on the other end. As our adapter plate has a full set of studs fitted, we will not be using the long bolt and therein lies a problem.



There is a small flange on the side of the starter motor that is specially shaped for that bolt, and it will need to be gently ground away so that the nut can freely rotate and be tightened. Nice and easy modification to do, but its one of those annoying ones that could so easily catch you out when you have just wrestled the engine into place and have no means to keep it there.

Just a quick question? If Ive imported an engine from Japan (Nippon), would I have to have the ecu and harness that accompanies the engine so that RJES cheadle could do the conversion?

Quote from: Jonnylea on October 28, 2018, 12:37:48 AM
Just a quick question? If Ive imported an engine from Japan (Nippon), would I have to have the ecu and harness that accompanies the engine so that RJES cheadle could do the conversion?

No idea, probably a question best put to them if you are intending them to do the work 

There seem to be a few subtle differences between engines and sensors, so I would suggest to grab all that you can from the same donor to be on the safe side

Hi
  what an excellent informative thread, it caught my eye as I've come by a Subaru forester on an R plate which is I think 1998
engine looks similar, would anyone know if the information here is relevant to my 2lt engine, I would quite like to use it in a buggy if I can get it wired up our of the car
                                any help would be mucho appreciated

thanks Andy

The nice thing about the Forester is unlike the Impreza, it has probably had an easier life !!

Check for a throttle cable though and not drive by wires for the accelerator

EJ20 2 litre engine was widely used across the range and wiring will be similar (ish)

Dave,

Sent you a YouTube link. It may or may not help. Want to do it but worries me 

Saw the link - but you can go a bit later than pre-1996 

Dave,

Sent you a pm 

Huge apologies for this thread being so quiet, but those that know me will be aware that the last 12 months have been a bit  . . . . .  Well . . .
Lets just say something I would like to forget and move on from.

Sub-Normal service is nearly being resumed and I can try and get my head around this project again.

First thing to do was have a clear out of unwanted bits. The car initially cost me £600 and I have been breaking it bit by bit and listing on eBay. Surprisingly, the larger items were the hardest to shift and the money actually came from the smaller items such as switches and trim bits that we would all normally forget about. I could have kept going to sell more, but things like doors and wheels I couldn't give away, so bit the bullet and weighed it in as I have had enough of having half a car parked outside.





Didn't do bad on it though - after taking postage and eBay fees into account, I have made around £1400 in parts - that's an £800 profit over what I spent on the car, which has paid for some of the conversion bits - and gave me the engine, loom and wiring for free !!

Nice one Dave . Plus you'll end up with more power than you need. Always a nice feeling.

  Good to see some action down there

So,
Are all your electrics sorted? Not my forte xx

As far as I am aware, I have all the drawings for the electrics as they were removed, and this should be enough to get the test bench working. If so, then I can start playing with a few things before transferring it over to the Buggy - which will be a while yet.

Next job is get the engine off the floor and onto the gearbox   

beetle chassis/ porsche 911 body\ no gearbox but subaru engine stated to be ready to fit straight to aircooled vw g`box.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porsche-911-turbo-wide-body-kit-car-based-on-beetle/303452883638?hash=item46a7338ab6:g:kvcAAOSw-MpeJJWG