Dave Milo

Mighty close, but it seems to fit. The heater in the pic that you posted last night does not seem concentric, (the electrical plug location) whereas in Neil's heater it "appears" centered. I don't believe there is any difference in the block location of the heaters between a 2.2 and 2.5L, and the SC mount is the same part number. Dave

Now that I see the picture, I understand. When I got home tonight, I took some pictures of that location, with a steel rule and a tape measure. Not too precise, but here is what I got: approximately 1/2" from the sealing surface of the sealing plug to the top of the mount rail. Approximately 1 7/16" from the outboard outer diameter of the sealing surface inwards towards the oil pan to the outer face of the mount rail. I couldn't tell how far the heater projected from your photo, so I googled a P/N A0910AS100 heater element and saw a picture of that. I don't think that it will fit from what I see, but I would be happy to email you the pictures I took, such as they are. Dave

I don't have any experience with engine block heaters so far, -20°F is about a low as we get here in southwestern PA. However, just for reference, the SC mount wraps around the oil pan sides such that if you were to remove the pan with the engine installed, the pan attachment flange edges would just clear (or maybe scrape a little, but it will come off) the arms of the SC mount. The front, rear, and bottom of the oil pan have no real interferance from the mount, only the sides. Speaking of oil pan removal, with the SC mount, the dip stick tube brace on the right side of the pan (in a Vanagon, remember) is cut away to allow the tube to pass through a hole in the right hand SC mount. When removing the pan, it has to be tilted down on the left side a bit and wiggled to let the tube become free. If some blanket or such had to be adhered to the side of the pan, it might also present a problem getting to the flange attach bolts, but again, Iv'e never seen a subie pan heater. Hope this helps, Dave

Some folks have experimented by removing the lower two KEP adapter studs (attaching the VW transmission), drilling out the theaded holes in the adapter to close tolerance, and installing larger (stronger) bolts. Both ends of the lower fasteners are accesable from the bottom; might have to grind the side of the bolt head to fit from the engine side. From what I have read, this is mostly an issue for serious off-roaders (read: Syncro), and one or two SVX powered vans. I own and have converted two vans ( a Syncro and a 2wd Carat) using the SC mount, and I really like it. The only downside is installing a shortened oil pan. Someone needs to come up with a shortened oil pan that projects forward (for more capacity) for use with the SC mount. Some folks just shorten the pan and then "over service" the oil level. So far, I haven't done either, but I don't off-road. Other than that nit, I think the SC mount is a sanitary unit. Cheers, Dave