Coming soon to a road near you... again

Well, life has a way of surprising us sometimes, doesn't it?

As you know (if you've been reading along these past few months), the Vanagon died way back in October. The bottom end of the engine finally just got tired and wore out on me. That, or the oil pump went and took the bearings with it. Either way, the damage was done.

I contemplated what to do next. Eventually, I got my Mercedes 220D project running again, and put the Vanagon into the garage, presumably for long-term storage until I could afford an engine swap. I even sold the 220D and used the proceeds to start my "Save the Vanagon" fund. As best I could figure, it would be a few years before I could afford to swap in a Subaru EJ22 engine or a Bostig Ford Zetec.

Last week, somewhat randomly, I ran across a local ad on Craigslist... for a good-running VW Vanagon 2.1L waterboxer longblock... cheap. Apparently, it was a running takeout from an engine swap, and I knew the seller already. Well, 24 hours later (give or take a bit) that engine was loaded in the back of the Legacy and I was headed home.

I haven't done much yet, aside from moving the engine out of the Subaru and into the garage. I start this weekend.

The engine is out of an automatic, so I'll need to swap out the flexplate for my clutch and flywheel (from my engine, which is still very much mounted in my van), as well as some other ancillaries which are much newer on my engine. But, I should be rolling again long before the summer.

I know I swore up and down that I wouldn't be putting another VW engine back in, but I couldn't pass it up at this price. This keeps me rolling until I can afford a proper engine swap.