VW Bus Engine Swap to AUDI 5E

Engine and Transmission Support

This is the best view of the whole engine support. It's the huge black tube from the left just behind the air cleaner box, going behind the oil pane, underneath the engine, and above the last muffler.

Mounting details are shown in the drawing. The screw is a M10 thread and secured with a washer and spring washer combination. The square tube and the solid steel block have to be manufactured by yourself, or, if you took this option, it is included in the conversion kit.

The left view onto the engine support. The support bar is regularly built for the South African Kombis. Over there the engine compartment is elavated by 10cm. On top of the black angel, which is welded onto the tube, there is an additional square tube 3 x 4 cm in size. This is welded at the front and rear ends and at four places on the outer side onto the body's frame rail. Slipped into this tube is a solid steel bar with two M10 threads. The white strips you see on the black engine support hold the wires for the starter. The starter is just behind the grey air intake tube. The two grey tubes you see in the background are the standard AUDI 100 downpipe as it comes for engines without turbo charger.

The right connection between the black engine support and body fame rail is done in the same way as the left side. In the foreground, black in black, you see the last muffler. The grey bar on top holds the muffler on it's rear end. It's not ready in this picture: the washers to keep the distance spacing between the bar and the frame rail is not in place.

The rubber mount on the right side does not have to hold much of the engine's weight. Most of the weight is on the left side. The engine is built on a 10 degree angle to the left side. Additional equipment like the starter, alternator, and the huge iron manifold keeps the most of the mass on the left side. This has to be taken into account when dropping the engine. It easily falls down on the left.

There is no space any longer to take a photo of the left engine rubber mounting. From the back, it's just behind the fuel distributor, or from the front, just behind the exhaust downpipe. Take the drawing as a reference, as the right rubber mount, it's the same arrangement you will find at the AUDI 100. But the shielding top of the rubber mount is a South African Kombi special to prevent the rubber from the heat out of the exhaust downpipe. I haven't found this on AUDIs

The transmission support, seen from the front, egalise the lowered engine support and holds the whole power-train at a horizontal level. The additional parts, here shown in red anti-rust paint, is a steel plate, which fits the four holes in the frame rail and allows four small weldings in the front and rear. The four small spacing tubes are welded onto this plate. The black support is the standard made by VW for the regular transmission mounting. The cable in the top of the picture is the left emergency brake line. The grey tube in the lower right is the downpipe, the huge one in the left the first pre-muffler. Still missing is a support for the downpipe. The pipe goes onto an eyeball fitting and really needs this support.