8 ms·

Which, hilariously, is very much in the realm of a "normal" engine conversion project. There probably aren't many Vanagon owners on HN but the hacker mentality

Which, hilariously, is very much in the realm of a "normal" engine conversion project. There probably aren't many Vanagon owners on HN but the hacker mentality very much applies. The two most popular gas conversions quote out in the 12k-18k range. It's not apples-to-apples with what it would take to integrate this crate motor, but it's not orders of magnitude off. https://smallcar.com/vanagon-2.2-and-2.5-conversions/ https://smallcar.com/vanagon-2.2-and-2.5-conversions/ https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-kits-20-deposit-total-price-7895/ https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-k...

lelanthran 5y ago
> The two most popular gas conversions quote out in the 12k-18k range. ... > https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-k https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-k... That second link says $8k, not $15k.
- earthscienceman 5y ago
  Just as the other comment said, "that's only the conversion kit". I didn't want to wax poetic about the various input costs to a project like that but let's just say I and several of my friends know how much they can cost on both the upper and lower ends. If you DIY hack it together with junkyard motor and spend nothing on anything you can get away with a self-made conversion for ~5k. If you're buying your parts from a kit like these links and using new crate motors then you will never get under 12k. Not to mention the cost differences of you doing the work vs a mechanic. The cheapest turn-key mechanic-done conversion with a new motor won't be under 15k and will likely push in the 20k+ range.
  - hinkley 5y ago
    Drivetrain labor is a huge cost. If your transmission goes out you are likely to get a refurbed transmission rather than fixing the one you have. It’s much cheaper to rebuild them ahead of time and ship them around than to do it on demand. It’s very likely you will see a disproportionate number of conversions being done for vehicles that are experiencing transmission or engine failure, because then you are comparing the cost of conversion against a $4-5k repair bill.
cmrdporcupine 5y ago
$15k is way too low of an estimate. Even if you have a machine shop and the skills can do all the machining and welding yourself. To do the conversion, you'd need (just for components in addition to the motor): controller/inverter (a hefty one), DC-DC converter, charger + BMS, battery, cooling system, accessory adapters for AC/heat, brake pump, etc. + a pile of contactors and wire and other high voltage components. Then you gotta build motor mounts, adapt to existing manual transmission or figure out some other gear reduction + attach to axles, cases for batteries and other components, wiring, etc. It'd be a big project and probably around $40k all in by the time you were done. I can see some of the EV conversion specialty shops using this Ford motor as part of their services though because it is higher wattage than most of the products the DIY market is used to. Note that this is a higher voltage motor than most DIY electric car conversions are done with, too. So harder to work with safely and harder to configure battery pack.
- earthscienceman 5y ago
  That's completely reasonable, and I don't disagree with anything you've said. Still not an order of magnitude though! Anyone doing an engine conversion on a project car is burning money anyway, and while it won't be for everyone... 40k is not in the realm of impossible for a lot of the car DIY crowd. In fact, of all the circles I've ever touched on, car mod crowds are probably the most willing to spend ludicrous bucks on an unnecessary project. Make fun of the rich guy buying $7000 status watches, god knows I will, but there are thousands of relatively "poor" people in every American city spending 10's of thousands on their shitboxes... and I love it.
  - Guest19023892 5y ago
    > Make fun of the rich guy buying $7000 status watches, god knows I will I'm going off-topic, but just a heads up, there's a fairly large watch community out there (https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/ https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/) that have a passion for watches and treat it as a hobby like any other. They're probably one of the friendliest online communities I've come across. I haven't bought any thousand dollar watches, but I've spent a decent amount of time reading about watches and releases, and I know there's a lot of people out there that save up their money for years, decades, or life, to buy a $7,000 grail watch they've dreamed of owning. They might look like rich guys wearing a dumb Rolex status watch to an outsider, but sometimes that couldn't be further from the truth.
scrappyjoe 5y ago
Vanagon Syncro owner here! I can’t imagine ever parting with mine. My stated plan is to convert it to electric in 2025. There’s good progress being made forging a path - see the DreamEV guys on YouTube for a currently ongoing 2wd Tesla vanagon conversion. They documented all the steps, are pretty entertaining, and just finished like 2 weeks ago. If I was to do it now, I’d go Tesla engines front and rear to keep the AWD and ditch the engine and both diffs, which are the most troublesome part of the syncro anyway. In 5 years, who knows. Maybe I’ll transplant the parts from a scrapped 2023 Cyber Truck!
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Which one do you have? T4, T5? Or even a T3?
- jeffrallen 5y ago
  1974 T2 owner here, and converting it to electric is my retirement project, in 15 years or so. Got to keep these museum pieces alive and relevant!
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Museum pieces are supposed to be authentic.

lelanthran 5y ago

> The two most popular gas conversions quote out in the 12k-18k range. ... > https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-k https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-k... That second link says $8k, not $15k.

earthscienceman 5y ago
Just as the other comment said, "that's only the conversion kit". I didn't want to wax poetic about the various input costs to a project like that but let's just say I and several of my friends know how much they can cost on both the upper and lower ends. If you DIY hack it together with junkyard motor and spend nothing on anything you can get away with a self-made conversion for ~5k. If you're buying your parts from a kit like these links and using new crate motors then you will never get under 12k. Not to mention the cost differences of you doing the work vs a mechanic. The cheapest turn-key mechanic-done conversion with a new motor won't be under 15k and will likely push in the 20k+ range.
- hinkley 5y ago
  Drivetrain labor is a huge cost. If your transmission goes out you are likely to get a refurbed transmission rather than fixing the one you have. It’s much cheaper to rebuild them ahead of time and ship them around than to do it on demand. It’s very likely you will see a disproportionate number of conversions being done for vehicles that are experiencing transmission or engine failure, because then you are comparing the cost of conversion against a $4-5k repair bill.

cmrdporcupine 5y ago

$15k is way too low of an estimate. Even if you have a machine shop and the skills can do all the machining and welding yourself. To do the conversion, you'd need (just for components in addition to the motor): controller/inverter (a hefty one), DC-DC converter, charger + BMS, battery, cooling system, accessory adapters for AC/heat, brake pump, etc. + a pile of contactors and wire and other high voltage components. Then you gotta build motor mounts, adapt to existing manual transmission or figure out some other gear reduction + attach to axles, cases for batteries and other components, wiring, etc. It'd be a big project and probably around $40k all in by the time you were done. I can see some of the EV conversion specialty shops using this Ford motor as part of their services though because it is higher wattage than most of the products the DIY market is used to. Note that this is a higher voltage motor than most DIY electric car conversions are done with, too. So harder to work with safely and harder to configure battery pack.

earthscienceman 5y ago
That's completely reasonable, and I don't disagree with anything you've said. Still not an order of magnitude though! Anyone doing an engine conversion on a project car is burning money anyway, and while it won't be for everyone... 40k is not in the realm of impossible for a lot of the car DIY crowd. In fact, of all the circles I've ever touched on, car mod crowds are probably the most willing to spend ludicrous bucks on an unnecessary project. Make fun of the rich guy buying $7000 status watches, god knows I will, but there are thousands of relatively "poor" people in every American city spending 10's of thousands on their shitboxes... and I love it.
- Guest19023892 5y ago
  > Make fun of the rich guy buying $7000 status watches, god knows I will I'm going off-topic, but just a heads up, there's a fairly large watch community out there (https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/ https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/) that have a passion for watches and treat it as a hobby like any other. They're probably one of the friendliest online communities I've come across. I haven't bought any thousand dollar watches, but I've spent a decent amount of time reading about watches and releases, and I know there's a lot of people out there that save up their money for years, decades, or life, to buy a $7,000 grail watch they've dreamed of owning. They might look like rich guys wearing a dumb Rolex status watch to an outsider, but sometimes that couldn't be further from the truth.

scrappyjoe 5y ago

Vanagon Syncro owner here! I can’t imagine ever parting with mine. My stated plan is to convert it to electric in 2025. There’s good progress being made forging a path - see the DreamEV guys on YouTube for a currently ongoing 2wd Tesla vanagon conversion. They documented all the steps, are pretty entertaining, and just finished like 2 weeks ago. If I was to do it now, I’d go Tesla engines front and rear to keep the AWD and ditch the engine and both diffs, which are the most troublesome part of the syncro anyway. In 5 years, who knows. Maybe I’ll transplant the parts from a scrapped 2023 Cyber Truck!

jacquesm 5y ago
Which one do you have? T4, T5? Or even a T3?
jeffrallen 5y ago
1974 T2 owner here, and converting it to electric is my retirement project, in 15 years or so. Got to keep these museum pieces alive and relevant!
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Museum pieces are supposed to be authentic.