If anyone is looking for some new old stock parts to make their zetec look new, I just added some Cam Covers and Front Timing Chain covers to the garage sale page:
Jim's Bostig Blog, Blogstig?
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Saturday, March 22, 2025
March 2025 Update
Hi All,
Ok to start off, the latest on the Honda K24 conversion progress (including a new group purchase and technical milestones), then a quick check in on other stuff in development.
Honda K24 Conversion Progress
The first customer installed K24 conversions are officially underway! After several rounds of beta groups, it’s awesome to see actual users getting the Honda powerplant fitted in their vans. These initial installs are providing great real-world feedback, and so far things are looking sweet.
Given the high interest from vanagonland, we’re opening up this year’s group purchase for the K24 mounting and exhaust kit! This will limited size group (small batches help ensure quality and support), so if you’ve been waiting to jump in, now's the time! The updated mounting/exhaust package has gone through a number of revisions from the beta groups, shaving weight and adding convenience features. Parts should begin shipping out in May. (As always, you can reach out via email for details or snag a spot here.)
We are also offering K24z installs this spring and summer, so if you're sick of boxer engine problems but want the power of a Subie 2.5 in a simpler setup and with much better aftermarket support, now's the time! email k24z@bostig.com
On the engine management front, we’ve made major progress with the Honda factory ECU in our conversion. The K-Pro and Haltech standalones are still great options, but for many reasons getting the factory ECUs working standalone is still the goal (like with the Zetec). It’s now nearly fully functional in standalone mode – meaning we can run the stock Honda engine computer without needing any of the original car’s dashboard or multiplex modules. The drive-by-wire throttle *and* remapping (to control how it ramps vs sensor positions, add valet modes etc) is working flawlessly under the Honda ECU’s control in the Vanagon. Theses were all big hurdles to clear; many worried we might need to incorporate the donor’s instrument cluster or other modules to keep the ECU happy, but that’s not the case.
We’re also making good headway toward a California BAR setup for the K24z conversion. Many of you in California have (understandably) been anxious about whether this swap could get a coveted BAR engine swap sticker. While we can’t promise anything (nature of the BAR ref 1 by 1 inspection process), all signs so far are positive. We’re able to keep the factory emissions equipment and vitally the factory ECU. There’s more work ahead on the documentation and testing side, but at this point it’s no longer just a pipe dream – we’re actively aiming for a BAR-compliant K24z conversion that can pass the referee inspection and get stickered, which is immensely cool.
If enough folks in CA end up going the K24z route, then the next steps could even be re-visiting the CARB EO process, which we are unfortunately very well acquainted with. We failed hard with the Zetec over a decade ago. The catalytic converter manufacturer we needed to use had their CARB EOs rescinded during our application process. The only lucky part was that we got the news before the lab and shed testing, which would have added $5-10k on top of everything we had already lost. That would have been enough additional loss at the time to kill the business completely, which nearly happened.
Zetec Conversion
Even as we focus on the Honda platform, the trusty Zetec program isn’t dead yet. In fact, we have one Zetec turnkey in the pipeline right now: a fresh conversion built around a great 68k-mile engine we sourced recently. That turnkey system should be ready in about 3–4 weeks. If you’ve been wanting a turn-key Zetec, this is a rare opportunity – after this one, there may not be another for a while. (As we mentioned before, we’re winding down batch Zetec kit production, but we’ll continue to support the over a thousand Zetec vans out there and make kits and parts on-demand) Anyone interested in this upcoming turnkey should get in touch soon to discuss details, or place the deposit before someone else does here.
Supercharger for Zetec
Our Zetec supercharger development is ongoing, with steady progress and, importantly, no showstoppers so far. The prototype Supercharged Zetec setups have been running and undergoing testing, and we haven’t hit any major hiccups. It’s still a slow, methodical slog – which is exactly how we prefer to do it, to ensure the end result is rock-solid. No news has been good news here: all the data and feedback coming in from the SC beta units look positive. We’re continuing to refine the setup, and nothing has caught fire or broken apart – always a plus! As long as development stays this uneventful, we’ll be looking at a truly viable bolt-on boost option for Zetec owners.
Project Z
Project Z's development is parallel to the K24z right now since it depends on it. Things like the working DBW and standalone capability with factory ECU are really important! We want any parallel hybrid setup we produce to work in CA, in fact it would *need* to work in CA to be viable at all to produce. Which means it needs to work with the K24z, which was always the goal anyhow (most viable path to an AWD vanagon with 400hp that's MORE reliable than anything with less power).
That’s all for now. As always, thanks for the support and for following along with our whacky van adventures. We’ll keep plugging away and share more updates as we hit the next milestones.
Friday, September 13, 2024
September 2024 update
K24z Honda conversion
The Zetec conversion
Supercharger for Zetec
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Intercooled Gen 5 Eaton SC after scanning for bracket design |
Project Z
JIM PERSONAL NOTE
As a massive South Park fan, it was very cool to see Fairplay and some stuff that's been in episodes. Casa Bonita still wasn't taking general reservations though, next time!
Thursday, April 4, 2024
April 2024 Update
Hi All,
First, updates on the latest product announcements, then some ongoing and future items.
K24z Honda conversion parts for Vanagons!
Used to be you had to pick either the reliability of the Zetec, or the power of a Subaru, now you can have both reliability and power in your van!
There will be a couple turnkeys available this summer, but they are *not* cheap. Going the K24z DIY route has an even proportionally bigger savings than the DIY zetec/turnkey. Expect the K24z turnkey to run in the 17k-20k range. If you are interested, contact us now, as with them being so limited they will almost certainly sell before any online announcement.
The Gunny rack (Rugged aluminum roof rack for tin-top vanagons)
There is only 1 rack left from the first run (that can be coated/painted to a custom color if you like) currently available here:
https://www.bostig.com/bostig-gunny-rack-system/
The Zetec conversion
Supercharger for Zetec
Project Z
Opus One
Jim personal notes
Working now truly alone for the last 6+ months, I think I'm just beginning to understand how much of an impact his loss has had on me. Both how it has affected my life in general, and my work. I am hopeful that the depressive effects will continue to wane, as they haven't been overt or even recognizable, but looking back have certainly been there and have been weighing me down pretty heavily.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Lastest updates Mar 2021
Well here's my sexennial blog post. I really am terrible about keeping up with the blog and making videos, but I'm convinced to make a better effort at it. My guess is that it will end up helping customers and helping Bostig. It might even be entertaining!
So here we go on the latest updates on things people would like to know about by subject.
The SC (Supercharger)
The PZ (Project Zion)
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Me with the 67 hp ZF75 motor from a Zero SR |
- Hugely Improved acceleration
- 2wd -> 4wd
- Improved braking via regen
- Only way to add power and *lower* loads on other driveline parts (300-400 hp vanagon now possible without instantly destroying transmission)
- Errand or Emergency pure electric range
- Huge GINORMOUS house battery for camping
- Improved MPGs during city driving
- Great for rock crawling, (max torque at 0 rpm up front)
- CA legal right out of the box
- Rear powerplant agnostic
Friday, November 20, 2015
Power adder
Right now people have to choose, although many don't realize what they are leaving on the table. Most people have the viewpoint that with a Bostig they are leaving power on the table, and they can get Bostig reliability with a subaru based conversion. In reality with a 2.5 Subie they are leaving reliability on the table, and with a 2.2 they are leaving both reliability along with no power advantage on the table.
The current turbo rev has been in testing since 2009. It is not dead. There have been 4 major revisions, non-intercooled, 2 air/water intercooled, and the air/air intercooled ones that have been running since 09. I don't like the turbo as a power adder for anyone. It has the upside of having upside. If you want to do a crazy build and make 400HP, you can, and break everything in your driveline as often as you want. But it has downsides in that its number of points of failure, modes of failure, and severity of outcome of failure are still such that not anyone can just run it and have it be reliabile, its compeltely subjective and varies by owner. That is not the solution that Vanagon owners need.
The alternative is the opposite, very few points of failure, very friendly modes of failure, and very low severity of outcome for even the most catastrophic modes of failure. Driving a syncro with 180HP and 200ft/lbs of torque that just keeps going and going is so great, more people need to experience it. I'd also like to help avoid more cases of the few unfortunate folks that inadvertently commit Subicide with a gremlin riddled setup after dumping ton's of money into the project to then perhaps scrap the whole idea of a van. People pull Subarus for Bostigs for reliability increases, they learned the hard way the extra 30HP wasn't worth the risks they didn't fully understand. People only pull Bostigs for more power. Like my original plan back in late 2004 called for, we need a good power adder. And I'm almost done.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Groups and Customer Pull
Instead of the traditional customer push model that you are used to in larger or mainstream markets, we use customer pull. Customer push is what most people are familiar with, build a bunch of product, and keep it in inventory, then use price incentives and marketing to move product out of inventory or "push" to the customer. The customer pull model allows us to build a group essential "on demand". The cycle time is longer, for the customer but the results are much better. Value is higher to the customer and the product itself gets updated much more often. We *sometimes* carry kits in inventory, however those kits are usually reserved for documentation work and internal use, however we will sometimes allow people to buy reserve kits for an additional surcharge vs the group purchase price. If you're really in a pinch, you can always ask us if we have any reserve kits available. The surcharge runs $500.
Someone also asked what the differences were between RG2 and RG3, and the answer is yes, but all RG1 and RG2 can be made to RG3 spec with minimal extra time/purchases. The main change is the airbox moving to the driver's side, a change which speeds up airbox modification for fitment and retains the intake resonator which quiets the intake noise even further. Other changes are tune based, and can be updated via email and reflashing of the ECU.
Cheers,
Jim