EG33 in VW van; supercharging EG33?

[vw1]

I guess this forum is the place to post this...

This posting is about an EG 33 transplant into a VW T3 (Transporter [Type 2] series 3) Caravelle GL van (“Vanagon” in North America; yes, I have a bad habit of organizing text in such a way as to require lots of parentheses). I ask about supercharging the EG33.

I bought the van in 1998; it had the factory 5-speed manual trans with custom-made overdriven 4th & 5th gears and a Holden (Australian GM) 3.8 V6. It went very well and was still acelerating at 180kmh, with no instability. These vans are well-known in Europe for their good (even sporty) handlig, due to good steering geometry, low center of mass etc. I hoped the trans would last long enough to allow me to prepare the van for a Porsche trans-plant, but it only took 4 months for a mainshaft bearing to fail… a rear-engined VW bugbear. I’m surprised that the trans didn’t break, as they are not strong enough to handle the stock VW engine for long.

The van sat in storage in another city (it failed on a trip) for a few years, while I searched for and bought an EG33 Alcyone SVX engine from a used JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) import. Eventually I found and bought a 1989 Porsche G50/50 Turbo trans from a wrecker in Germany. The price was good for a G50, but by mistake they sent a G50/50, which has LSD and synchro on reverse. I bought a KEP (Kennedy) adaptor (“adapter” is a misspelling) plate and flywheel and used the stock Porsche clutch. Eventually I had the engine & trans installed, and there the project sits today, 9 years after I bought the van. It has sat for that time in various places in 3 cities, and been towed many km by my faithful 1989 Corolla diesel 1.8 van.

When I bought the trans I had a bit of money, and grabbed a 4-wheel Porsche 993 brake adaptor kit and a set of 18” alloy wheels & tires with 114x5 studpattern. I have a set of Konis, which will be set to hard rebound. I will eventually order a set of H&R Sport springs, which presently go for $209 in the US if you look around, but will wait until the $NZ improves against the $US.

I am awaiting arrival of a later-year front suspension from the US, so that I can fit the front Porsche discs, which won’t fit an 86-or-earlier van.

For engine management I am going to use a Link Electrosystems computer. This should yield about 250+hp. I hope to get moving on the job shortly. Exhaust will be a stainless extractor system, probably dual; EG33s don’t need a balance pipe. A 6-into-1 would fit best, but 6-into-2 is best for performance.

What I would have most liked is to convert a VW Caravelle Syncro (4WD) or convert my van to 4WD, but this would require me to buy (with what money?) a 4WD Porsche trans & matching front diff, as well as ship a Syncro front-end with subframe from the US.

Anyway I have a few questions about EG33s, and a comment or two.

There were 24,000 SVXs made, not 18,000 as Americans believe. The US market received 18,000 of the total production. Apparently manuals were available in Japan, but extremely rare, as Japanese are lazy and don’t want to have to bother with changing gear by themselves.

Turbochargers are superchargers, period; I really hate it when people talk about “turbos vs superchargers”. It’s like talking about “insects and animals”. Any method of forced induction is a supercharger, whether driven by belt (a Paxton is a belt-driven turbo), chain, shaft, eccentric, gear, electric torpedo motor, schwartzenegger etc.

Looking on the net, it appears that the EG33 had forged pistons, rods and crankshaft as standard. Therefore it should be unnecessary to replace any of these items with aftermarket units before supercharging, right? I know that boy-wonders who increase the boost on their Impreza WRX STis bend rods.

Was there in fact a factory SVX turbo? I hadn’t ever heard of this until I was Googling the other day. Did it have lower compression that the NA engine?

I am interested in putting a Lysholm-type (“twinscrew”) supercharger on the van’s engine, whether it’s an Autorotor or Sprintex (both brands owned by the patentholder Opcon), Eaton (NOT a Roots-type Eaton!), Kenne Bell or Whipple. Lysholms blow from 0RPM to redline, don’t have blowby problems, unlike Roots (a 19th-century design), and produce minimal waste heat and so don’t really need an intercooler. By dithering I missed out on a NOS Whipple for the equivalent of $1200US, for which I kick myself whenever I remember it.

I have asked a Subaru “expert” about power increases by using a Lysholm; he said that 340hp should be feasible with engine reliability, without any internal modifications.

Can anyone help me with GOOD advice on this? BTDT?

Anything I’ve forgotten to mention?

Anyone know where to get a Lysholm (used or new) of a suitable capacity at a “sensible” price? They don’t seem to turn-up on eBay etc. What capacity charger would I need?

Hmmm… think I’ll post as well on a possible Corolla-SXV conversion too.

Please respond to me at my e-mail address, as I hate using the net with my “dialup” connection:
<goose1047@gmail.com>

[subbieatnz]

Welcomes Dude. Im in Christchurch.

Ok here what i know....

There where not any factory Manual SVXs.
No turbo verson... There is a pic of a prototype Svx with turbo on it. but Ive heard that was only a Clay mock up.

Im 99.99999% that EG33 did not come with forged pistons conrod etc

I let others fill in the rest

[STeeL25T]

I got a friend in Christchurch. Wish we could have got citizenship here, apparently they do it like a lottery.

[sicksubie]

#1. No SVX came in a manual, ever...
#2. I cant say whether or not the stock internals are forged, but I will say that you have to run less than 8ish psi if you are keeping the internals stock
#3. There is a huge difference between superchargers and turbochargers. S/C's the power increase is linear and with turbos the power increase is exponential. S/C's suck (literally) in most high RPM applications while that is where turbos thrive....
#4 I have a lysholm supercharger currently on my car and trust me you will want an intercooler and or methanol/water injection.
#5 No SVX came turbo. ever...

[Sean486]

Originally Posted by vw1

Japanese are lazy and don’t want to have to bother with changing gear by themselves.

No offense to you, but this seems like a pretty stupid statement. The Japanese are about as far from being lazy as you can get.

[sicksubie]

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Maybe the initial statement was a weak attempt at sarcasm, but it is utterly not true