Bostig Engineering - Vanagon Engine Conversions

About Us Brady(Left) and Jim(Right) are Bostig Engineering full timers, not Ma and Pa Kettle. Bostig is also composed of Tim Dolan(turbo systems and engine management), Kyle Lacey(EFI harness design and fabrication), and Jay Brown(documentation). We also owe much gratitude to Lorne Silkes and Andrew Sharicz, and former part timers Sean Foege and Brady Pisha.
Jim: I've been working on cars since before I could drive legally. The joke always was that my affinity and knack for everything I did was a direct result of genetics. What else would you get from a Japanese father and german mother.. an Akiba and Egelhoff would likely yield a guy with a passion for cars, beer, photography, technology and an unsettling yearning for global domination ha, hmmm ok so just about everything is true. But really I got my start working at the home of a neighbor. Andrew and his brother Matt, both geniuses and with understanding in so many interesting fields, used to have any number of projects going on. From rebuilding old machine tools, to hilarious oinking pig-shaped external hard drives, to RC planes and rockets, welding, fabrication, and literally a basement that somehow contained EVERYTHING like a basement sized guy version of Mary Poppin's bag or Doraemon's(childhood japanese cartoon character I loved) front pocket. I got my "formal" start in cars at Minuteman Technical Vocational in Lexington, MA. "Mr. D", our ardent teacher and former bodybuilder set the pace, but also allowed me the freedom I really needed. I was allowed to skip class time on material I already understood to spend time in the automotive electronics room with CD after CD and volume after volume of schematics, wiring diagrams, and tech manuals really getting a solid footing on the electro-mechanical interfaces and now software-electro-mechanical interfaces that are modern cars. I was introduced to computers much earlier still. Memories of tandy machines and cassette tape drives still bounce around to my own amazement compared to what we have now. I always stayed in full pace with current computer technologies realizing that a good grasp would certainly yield entry to nearly anything I'd decide I wanted to do. For a while I transitioned to computers almost fully, leaving cars for my spare time and relegated to hobby. For the years I lived in Tokyo(which is where Brady and I actually met), of course I had no car, and dearly missed working on them and driving them. After I returned the US, served as CTO for a small technology based startup in Chicago, and then made a return to the Boston area as a senior engineer I realized something. I realized that all of my free time and energy was going into cars. Even in Chicago, I moonlighted at a little shell station on the southside on Racine, where I worked with Luis a Mexican born mechanic of mind boggling capability. He had astounding out-of-the-box thinking(which he explained is a must for a successful mechanic in Mexico, where "proper" parts for things is often just a concept and not a practical reality) as a direct result of his depth of understanding. You cannot successfully think outside of the box with any regularity unless you already know the box, it's limitations, and know something of the possibilities beyond. After returning to Boston, and following the national identity shake up/wake up that was 9/11, I decided I needed to stop fighting myself. Taking an idea from the movie "Office Space" I stopped going to work. I didn't quit, I just didn't go to work for nearly 2 months(still got paid too). Instead of getting fired, I got a fat severance check and sank everything I had into a little shop west of Boston with two friends, and started fixing cars. Since then, the whole aspect has evolved, from running a repair and custom shop to now learning how to become a manufacturer.. and once again, the link to computers enabled the entire process. Indeed today we exist as a automotive aftermarket micro-manufacturer, something that could not exist without the internet, not just because of our market, but in every single aspect of our operations. And likewise, the capability that we have as a micro-manufacturer is also astounding as compared to the resources we "should" have. 10 years ago, let alone further back, our operation would simply not be possible for two people to achieve. It is indeed only because of the strangle hold on technology and keeping pace to that fast moving train that we can and do exist. We are criticized harshly by competitors for putting these capabilities into use, usually in contrast to millions of development dollars spent by OEMs. But this is mostly because the critics themselves don't share a good enough understanding of what is now possible, what the OEMs themselves do, what we actually do, let alone what we are capable of. More importantly though, an agitated competitor is also an indicator of success, so perhaps I should be flattered rather than defensive. I just ask not that you believe what we say, but simply examine what we are proving, and look for the same of our competition. We continue to evolve, enhance, and grow in our capabilities in leaps and bounds. Seldom a day goes by that a wall doesn't come tumbling down, or an old frustration doesn't give way to high fives and celebratory profanity. This is what drives it. As 2008 begins, we are again moving quickly. After being the first to develop and define a turnkey engine conversion for vanagons, we have come to a new realization. The ultimate extension and benefit of the system we have developed is not just it's simplicity, but is a result of this simplicity. Achieving a solid understanding of our conversion, the reasoning behind it, and the engine it is built around is not difficult. The knowledge needed to successfully maintain the conversion is quite basic, and since we never deal in anything more granular than bolt on parts, or an entire engine, no knowledge of working on or with engine internals is ever required, ever. This engine can be rebuilt, but it's pointless to do so when low mileage replacements are so inexpensive, and the labor to swap the engine in/out is so easy. These traits are unique amongst conversion choices. Additionally we are in a unique position to be able to teach and convey this knowledge and information, as we are the only single company to develop and maintain development on an entire engine conversion system ourselves. We have complete information, because we created the entire system, this is true of no other provider. A turnkey is like giving the customer a fish, the Bostig Core is about teaching customers how to fish. Our goal for this year is to re-define to the community the notion of a "kit". The Bostig Core has already had great success in development install groups. We are carrying that success into the new year and building upon it. In 2008 we will release the turbo upgrade for the Bostig Conversion, the Bostig Core kit, and revision 2.0 upgrades for both turnkey customers and Core customers. We will do again what we did in 2005, and what the last 3 years of work have lead to, which is a substantial raising of the bar(insert departure angle joke here) for ourselves, and our competition. Our ultimate goals in all of this continue to evolve as well, will we one day grow and learn enough to be able to fulfill a dream and release an entire vehicle? The only thing I can say with any certainty about our long-term roadmap is, we're only just getting started. Thanks for reading, Jim	Brady:	Jay:Lead on the Core documentation effort, and is a Core customer I have been totally obsessed with pretty much anything mechanical since I was a little kid. Taking things apart to see how they work was a huge part of my childhood (often much to my parents dismay) and is still one of my all-time favorite pursuits. The whole concept of "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" never really clicked with me. I guess I am more aligned with the school of thought that "Idle hands do the devil’s work", so as it stands today, tinkering is my religion. A spent my college days studying abnormal psychology and English literature. Neither of which I really planned to do anything with after school, but they are both pretty interesting to me and seemed like a good way to spend four years of my life until I figured out what I wanted to do long-term, "when I grew up". Since the Ghostbusters weren’t hiring when I graduated in 1994 I had to look for alternative employment. As is the typical practice for abnormal psych majors, I decided to work a series of strange, totally unrelated jobs for 7-8 years before becoming a full-time carpenter (seriously, it seems like about half of the carpenters I know were psych majors). I knew that I needed something that would allow me to use my head as well as my hands and would offer a creative outlet at the same time. Since there are relatively few jobs offering all of these pre-requisites, I started working with a small custom builder and have been blissfully pounding nails ever since. About 10 years ago my first VW bus came to find me and gave me yet another way to guarantee that I would never have any free time. I quickly immersed myself in the madness that is the world of classic Volkswagens. I was living and breathing VWs, always on the lookout for the perfect deal on the perfect bus, but all the while thinking "Damn I hate downshifting on hills, this thing needs a better engine." Then one day while looking up a part number for the latest failed component in my ’85 Westy’s fuel injection system I noticed an ad for Bostig. I did some research, weighed the various options, drove my wife crazy for 3 weeks with incessant van talk that she has no interest in, and finally decided to take the plunge into the Zetec Conversion. After a few emails and phone calls to Jim and Brady I found myself volunteering to spearhead the documentation effort for the install manuals and whatever other written materials I could help with. I figure this way, I can do my part to make sure that other people will become as obsessed with their Vanagons as I am with mine. I may be crazy,but at least I am not alone.
The first turnkey conversion, and the only OBDII(read recent) engine conversion system developed from top to tail by one company: We started work on an engine conversion in the fall of 04 when Brady asked me which of the available engine conversions would be the best option to replace his 2nd waterboxer engine. I was running Bostig as a custom and repair shop since I started it in 02, doing mostly engine swaps, power upgrades, and head work/porting/flowbenching. None of the conversions available were really worth the money, nor were they up to speed with mainstream aftermarket levels of expected capability, durability, or quality. This stemmed mostly from the simple fact that while part of the automotive aftermarket, the Vanagon community tended not to be primarily composed of gearheads and car guys; but travelers, eclectics, romantics, utilitarians, and other rather "non-conventional" folks. None of the extant solutions were good for 2004. They were ok, but Brady would have destroyed any one of them as he did his boxer rebuild, and would have ended up paying additional thousands all over again to keep his beloved syncro on the road long term. he needed a conversion that would be totally "Brady-proof". Anyone that knows Brady well, knows that he doesn't just use what he has, he uses the **** out of it. So I took two days to go over some options, and came back with one. "Let's put a zetec in there". Befitting the same principles as the intent of the vanagon itself(more from less, efficiency, utility, capability) and a little creative energy the path was set. That winter, the prototype was born from a $200, 20k mile zetec engine bought in Brooklyn NY. Shortly thereafter, another one was started, this time for a paying customer. It was delivered in May of 05. Fast forward to present. At just under 50 conversions, we're a long way from where we started, but still very much the same. The ideas, the refusal to compromise on certain principles even in the face of general market indifference, we are building a business around the strengths of our knowledge, our perseverance, our diligence, and our genuine love and concern for the interests of our community and customer base. Playing the role of upstart underdog to a micro-market where OEM automotive brand shopping is still understood as a relevant practice, and competitors support only the demand that exists freely making public remarks such as "we don't do XYZ because none of our customers has ever asked for it", we stick to something said by Henry Ford. Said not as the creator of a brand, but as an innovator, he said "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they all would have said faster horses". We didn't want a faster horse either. As more and more people realize and understand what we are doing(and we get better at presenting it), and realize how fundamentally different we are from our competition both in ideology and capability, we think they will agree. For the unconvinced die-hard brand shoppers out there: Go back further, before your own memories, and realize that Ford had a legacy of success with another little inline 4 they produced and installed in a car called the model T. Oddly enough, that's where our actual shop got it's own start too. Bostig(front) in the 1930's as Gus Auto Service, with a New Model T Tudor on the roof, all 2.9L and 20HP of it. Bostig(from space) on a recent summer Tuesday(it was trash day in the photo), two vanagons parked up and behind the shop. We're only a phone call away, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. Our open source VoIP PBX phone system will find us :) or email us at: info[at]bostig[dot]com or call: 617.272.3800 Bostig Engineering 85 Walnut St. Boston, MA 02136