Love The One You're With
or
Why You Should, or Should Not, Keep your Vanagon Stock
Disclaimers:
It is my goal to only provide accurate and factual information. If any facts that I state in this article are incorrect, please email me, and if determined to be inaccurate I will update the article with the correct information. My target audience for this post is not the gear heads among us. This post is targeting new or non-grease monkey types, so I have tried to avoid being too technical. Finally, I am sharing my opinion on a point of view that I believe to be too often neglected. I am not attempting to talk you into or out of anything. That decision is yours.
How many 30-year old cars do you still regularly see driving around? 40-year old cars? 50-year old cars!?! Of those, how many are Volkswagens? A lot. With their original motors in many cases. Why? Because despite being quirky designs, with plenty of compromises, they were incredibly well designed. Engines in the back, rear-wheel drive, air-cooled motors, water-cooled motors based on air-cooled motor design, boxer configurations, many of these attributes are automotive oddities, however, over the decades their design was engineered to the point where they became amazingly reliable. So why then is everyone in such a hurry to rip them out and perform an engine conversion? Here are a few things I hear all the time…
“It’s so slow, I can only climb mountain grades in 3rd gear at 45mph”
“It’s unreliable”
“It’s hard to work on”
“Its an old engine design”
“Everyone says I should put in a Subaru or Diesel”
All of these statements are true to an extent. The engines, and for this post I am talking about Vanagon’s and Waterboxer engines or WBX for short, in particular, are underpowered for the size of the vehicle they are pushing. Many, after 30 or more years of faithful service, are becoming unreliable due to age, neglect, or a combination. It can be hard to find someone good to work on them if you are not handy yourself. And it is an antiquated engine design. But none of these are good reasons in my opinion to rip it out and replace the engine with a conversion (Subaru, Ford, Diesel, etc).
What folks don't realize in their quest to rip out their old, slow, antiquated WBX motors is that their Vanagon was designed as a complete system, designed front to back based on an engine putting out at most a little over 100hp (as was the case in some euro spec Vanagon engines). When you swap out the heart of a vehicle, the engine, with one putting out, in many cases one with much more horsepower (The Subaru 2.5 with 160hp is quite common) you're upsetting the balance of what the vehicles various components were designed to handle. “No problem!” You might say, “There are plenty of aftermarket solutions out there that have been designed to overcome these shortcomings” and you’d be right! But what’s that you say? You’re on a budget? You thought you’d throw in another engine and drive off into the sunset? Think again.
What most people do not understand when they buy a Vanagon and intend to do an engine conversion, is that the conversion itself, ripping out the old WBX and installing that shiny new motor and the $10,000 to $20,000 or more that the process entails, is only the price of admission. Your Vanagon that’s now faster should have better brakes to stop it ($$), your old transmission (a weak point in Vanagons when pushed beyond stock power), must be removed and rebuilt or it’s likely to fail in short order ($$), your old stock CV joints that were not designed for nearly double the horsepower, those need to be upgraded too ($$) and so on and so forth. Nearly every mechanical system in the Vanagon will be stressed by a more powerful Vanagon that is now being driven harder by its owner who thinks that since they just spent $20k on an engine conversion that they are now driving the Vanagon equivalent of a Porsche 911. This means that many of the old parts on the van, that were just hanging on with the stock power, stock brakes, etc will now be pushed to failure. Furthermore, the new replacement parts you install are oftentimes of lower quality than the original bits that were on your van, which combined with their new requirements to help push a heavier (you can carry more stuff now with your extra power) and faster Van means that those new bits that you installed likely won’t last the same 30 years that the original part did on your old Van, oftentimes much less.
It is my goal to only provide accurate and factual information. If any facts that I state in this article are incorrect, please email me, and if determined to be inaccurate I will update the article with the correct information. My target audience for this post is not the gear heads among us. This post is targeting new or non-grease monkey types, so I have tried to avoid being too technical. Finally, I am sharing my opinion on a point of view that I believe to be too often neglected. I am not attempting to talk you into or out of anything. That decision is yours.
How many 30-year old cars do you still regularly see driving around? 40-year old cars? 50-year old cars!?! Of those, how many are Volkswagens? A lot. With their original motors in many cases. Why? Because despite being quirky designs, with plenty of compromises, they were incredibly well designed. Engines in the back, rear-wheel drive, air-cooled motors, water-cooled motors based on air-cooled motor design, boxer configurations, many of these attributes are automotive oddities, however, over the decades their design was engineered to the point where they became amazingly reliable. So why then is everyone in such a hurry to rip them out and perform an engine conversion? Here are a few things I hear all the time…
“It’s so slow, I can only climb mountain grades in 3rd gear at 45mph”
“It’s unreliable”
“It’s hard to work on”
“Its an old engine design”
“Everyone says I should put in a Subaru or Diesel”
All of these statements are true to an extent. The engines, and for this post I am talking about Vanagon’s and Waterboxer engines or WBX for short, in particular, are underpowered for the size of the vehicle they are pushing. Many, after 30 or more years of faithful service, are becoming unreliable due to age, neglect, or a combination. It can be hard to find someone good to work on them if you are not handy yourself. And it is an antiquated engine design. But none of these are good reasons in my opinion to rip it out and replace the engine with a conversion (Subaru, Ford, Diesel, etc).
What folks don't realize in their quest to rip out their old, slow, antiquated WBX motors is that their Vanagon was designed as a complete system, designed front to back based on an engine putting out at most a little over 100hp (as was the case in some euro spec Vanagon engines). When you swap out the heart of a vehicle, the engine, with one putting out, in many cases one with much more horsepower (The Subaru 2.5 with 160hp is quite common) you're upsetting the balance of what the vehicles various components were designed to handle. “No problem!” You might say, “There are plenty of aftermarket solutions out there that have been designed to overcome these shortcomings” and you’d be right! But what’s that you say? You’re on a budget? You thought you’d throw in another engine and drive off into the sunset? Think again.
What most people do not understand when they buy a Vanagon and intend to do an engine conversion, is that the conversion itself, ripping out the old WBX and installing that shiny new motor and the $10,000 to $20,000 or more that the process entails, is only the price of admission. Your Vanagon that’s now faster should have better brakes to stop it ($$), your old transmission (a weak point in Vanagons when pushed beyond stock power), must be removed and rebuilt or it’s likely to fail in short order ($$), your old stock CV joints that were not designed for nearly double the horsepower, those need to be upgraded too ($$) and so on and so forth. Nearly every mechanical system in the Vanagon will be stressed by a more powerful Vanagon that is now being driven harder by its owner who thinks that since they just spent $20k on an engine conversion that they are now driving the Vanagon equivalent of a Porsche 911. This means that many of the old parts on the van, that were just hanging on with the stock power, stock brakes, etc will now be pushed to failure. Furthermore, the new replacement parts you install are oftentimes of lower quality than the original bits that were on your van, which combined with their new requirements to help push a heavier (you can carry more stuff now with your extra power) and faster Van means that those new bits that you installed likely won’t last the same 30 years that the original part did on your old Van, oftentimes much less.
Certainly with enough money, time, and fine-tuning a Vanagon engine conversion can be done, either by yourself if you are mechanically inclined, or by spending a lot of money with a shop, that is very reliable and much more powerful than stock. However for far less time, money, and fine-tuning you can rebuild or maintain your Vanagon as it was designed by its very talented German engineers and enjoy many more years of reliable service and quite possibly experience fewer hiccups along the way by maintaining a complete system that was designed to work in harmony. The humble Waterboxer engine has many loyalists, both those who love its unique character and who find it a joy to work on and maintain. In recent years a plethora of aftermarket parts have come out for our Waterboxers that address some of its shortcomings such as old wiring harnesses and troublesome fuel injection parts. GoWesty for example has designed an entire engine wiring and ECU system that replaces old, worn out, and hard-to-source parts with a completely new and modern system, complete with OBD (onboard diagnostics). mansispeed.com recently released upgraded fuel injectors with a modern design that help with power and engine smoothness. I’ve been running those injectors on my 91 Syncro Miki, since earlier this year and love the difference. That same company recently released tuned cylinder heads which claim to add 25 or more horsepower for a couple of thousand dollars. There are also tons of parts to be had for WBX motors, both used parts of which there are hundreds or thousands for sale at any given time on TheSamba.com classifieds or new from sources such as VanCafe, GoWesty, BusDepot, Vanagain, and more. It is then easier than ever to rebuild your Waterboxer completely or to refresh it and maintain it depending on your particular situation.
So then keeping your old WBX alive or rebuilding it may make more sense than an engine conversion, provided you find the right rebuilder with plenty of experience in Vanagons and a good reputation. But why else might you want to retain your old WBX? As I stated earlier the Vanagon was designed by its very talented German Engineers as a complete system, and your Transaxle is another key part of that system. It was designed to push a vehicle of somewhere around 100hp, and the bearings inside, its heat management, and the gears themselves were designed with this power output in mind. When you add a bigger motor to your Vanagon, you are putting additional stress on your Transaxle, period. Yes, there are things you can do to help alleviate some of these stresses, such as oiling plates, upgraded bearings, oil coolers, and more, but again, we are talking potentially lots of money for these upgrades and a Transaxle rebuild. Even then, the transaxle isn’t likely to last as long as if you were to keep your Van stock. It's quite common for a TDI to blow a transmission within a thousand miles of installation, due to the high torque at low rpm’s that those motors produce. I went through not one, but two transaxle rebuilds on my Subaru 2.5 powered 2WD Vanagon in approximately 50,000 miles, the first failure coming only 5,000 miles after installing my Subaru engine. If you have a rare Syncro, as I do currently, it's transmission alone in stock form runs about $5,000 (if you can find one), and rebuilding one can easily run $5,000 to $10,000 or more depending on what upgraded parts you add and who your chosen rebuilder is. If you keep your Vanagon stock, and well maintained, that expensive transaxle will last longer, period. Lower power (and thus stress) equals longer drivetrain life.
So then keeping your old WBX alive or rebuilding it may make more sense than an engine conversion, provided you find the right rebuilder with plenty of experience in Vanagons and a good reputation. But why else might you want to retain your old WBX? As I stated earlier the Vanagon was designed by its very talented German Engineers as a complete system, and your Transaxle is another key part of that system. It was designed to push a vehicle of somewhere around 100hp, and the bearings inside, its heat management, and the gears themselves were designed with this power output in mind. When you add a bigger motor to your Vanagon, you are putting additional stress on your Transaxle, period. Yes, there are things you can do to help alleviate some of these stresses, such as oiling plates, upgraded bearings, oil coolers, and more, but again, we are talking potentially lots of money for these upgrades and a Transaxle rebuild. Even then, the transaxle isn’t likely to last as long as if you were to keep your Van stock. It's quite common for a TDI to blow a transmission within a thousand miles of installation, due to the high torque at low rpm’s that those motors produce. I went through not one, but two transaxle rebuilds on my Subaru 2.5 powered 2WD Vanagon in approximately 50,000 miles, the first failure coming only 5,000 miles after installing my Subaru engine. If you have a rare Syncro, as I do currently, it's transmission alone in stock form runs about $5,000 (if you can find one), and rebuilding one can easily run $5,000 to $10,000 or more depending on what upgraded parts you add and who your chosen rebuilder is. If you keep your Vanagon stock, and well maintained, that expensive transaxle will last longer, period. Lower power (and thus stress) equals longer drivetrain life.
The situation is much the same with other parts of your Van, its CV’s for example were designed for a certain amount of stress, adding a more powerful motor, and then accelerating quickly in lower gears will add much more stress to your stock CV joints. There are aftermarket fixes, the best being Porsche 930 CV joints and axles, but again, you're talking lots of money to swap everything out. Stay stock, keep the suspension geometry more or less stock, and guess what? Your stock CV joints are going to last a long longer. Adding a suspension lift to your Van is another thing that will quickly decimate your CV joints if you don't switch them out for stronger joints (Porsche 930) with more articulation ($$$).
I have found that the WBX, in particular, is a joy to wrench on. Undoubtedly the Subaru is a more modern design, with fewer coolant hoses to fail, components that are cheaper and easier to obtain, etc, but the WBX when you take just a little bit of time to understand how it works is very easy to wrench on and keep going. I have found that nearly every issue that I’ve encountered has a whole catalog of information and solutions to be found from TheSamba.com, GoWesty.com's library, and YouTube. Swapping out ignition coils, spark plugs, distributor caps and rotors, and belts are all simple tasks on the WBX, they are all easy to access and swap out. Another nice thing is that there is no timing belt to worry about. On an engine with a timing belt, if that snaps, or skips a tooth, it’s goodbye engine (The Subaru 2.2 is an exception to this), if you lose a belt on your WBX (and you know and understand the warning lights on your dash) you pull over, throw on your spare and your off again. The more time I spend getting my WBX dialed in, the more I enjoy it, both for its simplicity, and its character. The burble that a nicely tuned WBX makes, with a nice exhaust is sublime.
I have found that the WBX, in particular, is a joy to wrench on. Undoubtedly the Subaru is a more modern design, with fewer coolant hoses to fail, components that are cheaper and easier to obtain, etc, but the WBX when you take just a little bit of time to understand how it works is very easy to wrench on and keep going. I have found that nearly every issue that I’ve encountered has a whole catalog of information and solutions to be found from TheSamba.com, GoWesty.com's library, and YouTube. Swapping out ignition coils, spark plugs, distributor caps and rotors, and belts are all simple tasks on the WBX, they are all easy to access and swap out. Another nice thing is that there is no timing belt to worry about. On an engine with a timing belt, if that snaps, or skips a tooth, it’s goodbye engine (The Subaru 2.2 is an exception to this), if you lose a belt on your WBX (and you know and understand the warning lights on your dash) you pull over, throw on your spare and your off again. The more time I spend getting my WBX dialed in, the more I enjoy it, both for its simplicity, and its character. The burble that a nicely tuned WBX makes, with a nice exhaust is sublime.
Playa Tecolote, La Paz Baja Mexico, Winter 2020/21
Philosophy
The Vanagon is a slow vehicle. This should come as no surprise to someone who purchases one. If it were the only Van you could take camping, I might be more understanding of folks’ attempts to make it go faster. But it’s not. Mercedes Sprinters, Ford Transits, and Ram ProMasters are just a few modern Vans that come to mind that are modern, powerful, and will happily cruise all day up and down hills at 70mph. Your humble Vanagon, in stock form, loaded down with camping gear and people, will not do that. It was never designed to do that. So why force it to? I used to love fast cars myself, having owned fast BMWs, and Ducati Motorcycles to name a few. Driving a slow Vanagon was also a shock to me in the beginning, and like many, I set out to make it more in line with what I thought it should be. In doing so, I failed to appreciate it for what it was (speaking specifically of my highly modified 2WD). So what is it? Quite simply the Vanagon will take you, your family, and your things, comfortably across town, or across the continent (provided it is well maintained) at 55-65 mph and 35-50 mph up hills and mountain passes. It's happiest on backcountry roads, not interstates. And it just so happens, those back roads, are where the fun is! Driving slowly, with the windows down on a warm sunny day admiring the scenery passing slowly by, and then driving up a forest road to a secluded camping spot. That’s what it's all about in a Vanagon. Learn to love that. Learn to seek that out. Save your money. Save your time. Save the headaches. Want to drive fast? Buy a Mercedes Sprinter. Owning Vanagons has changed my life. I quite literally went from the fast lane to the slow lane. Learning to slow down and enjoy simplicity are the greatest gifts that the Vanagon has given me. It has become a metaphor for the simpler life I continually seek, with varying degrees of success. Learn to embrace the occasional breakdown, as the best stories aren’t made when everything goes perfectly.
The Vanagon is a slow vehicle. This should come as no surprise to someone who purchases one. If it were the only Van you could take camping, I might be more understanding of folks’ attempts to make it go faster. But it’s not. Mercedes Sprinters, Ford Transits, and Ram ProMasters are just a few modern Vans that come to mind that are modern, powerful, and will happily cruise all day up and down hills at 70mph. Your humble Vanagon, in stock form, loaded down with camping gear and people, will not do that. It was never designed to do that. So why force it to? I used to love fast cars myself, having owned fast BMWs, and Ducati Motorcycles to name a few. Driving a slow Vanagon was also a shock to me in the beginning, and like many, I set out to make it more in line with what I thought it should be. In doing so, I failed to appreciate it for what it was (speaking specifically of my highly modified 2WD). So what is it? Quite simply the Vanagon will take you, your family, and your things, comfortably across town, or across the continent (provided it is well maintained) at 55-65 mph and 35-50 mph up hills and mountain passes. It's happiest on backcountry roads, not interstates. And it just so happens, those back roads, are where the fun is! Driving slowly, with the windows down on a warm sunny day admiring the scenery passing slowly by, and then driving up a forest road to a secluded camping spot. That’s what it's all about in a Vanagon. Learn to love that. Learn to seek that out. Save your money. Save your time. Save the headaches. Want to drive fast? Buy a Mercedes Sprinter. Owning Vanagons has changed my life. I quite literally went from the fast lane to the slow lane. Learning to slow down and enjoy simplicity are the greatest gifts that the Vanagon has given me. It has become a metaphor for the simpler life I continually seek, with varying degrees of success. Learn to embrace the occasional breakdown, as the best stories aren’t made when everything goes perfectly.
Who should consider an Engine Conversion?
Despite all of the reasons listed above, there is still a place for engine conversions, otherwise, they wouldn’t exist. There are instances where I think engine conversions make a lot of sense and should be seriously considered. The first is if you are an enthusiast. I am. I love tinkering with my Van, and seeing where it can be improved. There are many that fall into this camp, and they are willing to spend the money that is required to update and upgrade everything in their Vans with a good shop. This is very expensive. I had nearly $70,000 invested in my 2WD Hightop Westfalia (not all of it engine-related). It is my opinion that if you are going to go down this path, and install a Subaru, TDI, or another higher-powered motor, that you had better be committed to going all the way, and going through everything, or don’t do it at all. To me, an engine conversion should be an all-or-nothing type of thing. Going all in is expensive, and it will take you a lot of time to get it all dialed in. But for the right person, with deep enough pockets, and or the time to do it yourself, the result can be a beautiful beast of a Vanagon.
The next type of person who should consider an engine conversion is those who are not willing to take the time to find one of the very few, talented, reliable, trustworthy engine rebuilders out there. There are operations out there who, for a couple of thousand dollars will rebuild your WBX and send you on your way. I’m here to tell you, that’s probably too cheap. A good rebuild will probably run you $5,000 to $7,000 or more depending on what else needs to be replaced at the same time, no two rebuilds are typically the same. The guy or gal your looking for is probably not on Craigslist. Take the time to do your homework, ask around thesamba.com, some of the many Facebook groups, etc to find a good rebuilder. If you don't live near one or don't want to take the time to find them, it may be easier for you to simply take your Van to one of the many well-known engine conversion shops, pay their fee, and be on your way.
Another type of person who could consider an engine conversion is a DIY Mechanic. This is similar to the first scenario I spoke of, however rather than taking their Van to a shop for the engine conversion, they take the time to do it themselves. This is a great option, as it teaches you a lot about how your Van works, helpful if issues come up down the line, and it can be done for a lot less money (especially in the case of a Subaru conversion). The combination of saving money, and learning the ins and outs of your van yourself is a fantastic reason to consider doing an engine swap yourself. Though you will need decent mechanical abilities and lots of space and time to do this, so it's not realistic for some.
Despite all of the reasons listed above, there is still a place for engine conversions, otherwise, they wouldn’t exist. There are instances where I think engine conversions make a lot of sense and should be seriously considered. The first is if you are an enthusiast. I am. I love tinkering with my Van, and seeing where it can be improved. There are many that fall into this camp, and they are willing to spend the money that is required to update and upgrade everything in their Vans with a good shop. This is very expensive. I had nearly $70,000 invested in my 2WD Hightop Westfalia (not all of it engine-related). It is my opinion that if you are going to go down this path, and install a Subaru, TDI, or another higher-powered motor, that you had better be committed to going all the way, and going through everything, or don’t do it at all. To me, an engine conversion should be an all-or-nothing type of thing. Going all in is expensive, and it will take you a lot of time to get it all dialed in. But for the right person, with deep enough pockets, and or the time to do it yourself, the result can be a beautiful beast of a Vanagon.
The next type of person who should consider an engine conversion is those who are not willing to take the time to find one of the very few, talented, reliable, trustworthy engine rebuilders out there. There are operations out there who, for a couple of thousand dollars will rebuild your WBX and send you on your way. I’m here to tell you, that’s probably too cheap. A good rebuild will probably run you $5,000 to $7,000 or more depending on what else needs to be replaced at the same time, no two rebuilds are typically the same. The guy or gal your looking for is probably not on Craigslist. Take the time to do your homework, ask around thesamba.com, some of the many Facebook groups, etc to find a good rebuilder. If you don't live near one or don't want to take the time to find them, it may be easier for you to simply take your Van to one of the many well-known engine conversion shops, pay their fee, and be on your way.
Another type of person who could consider an engine conversion is a DIY Mechanic. This is similar to the first scenario I spoke of, however rather than taking their Van to a shop for the engine conversion, they take the time to do it themselves. This is a great option, as it teaches you a lot about how your Van works, helpful if issues come up down the line, and it can be done for a lot less money (especially in the case of a Subaru conversion). The combination of saving money, and learning the ins and outs of your van yourself is a fantastic reason to consider doing an engine swap yourself. Though you will need decent mechanical abilities and lots of space and time to do this, so it's not realistic for some.
La Paz, Mexico--Winter 2020/21
Conclusion
The stock vs conversion argument has raged at least since the Vanagon was still in production. It won’t end with me putting out this article. But what I have noticed through my past years of Vanagon ownership is a general consensus among the uninformed, that ripping out the stock engine and doing an engine conversion is something that every Vanagon owner should plan for, and the earlier in your Vanagon ownership it’s done, the better. It's almost as if people go into Vanagon ownership with the idea that no matter if the engine is running well or not, it must be replaced. I was guilty of this until I got my current van Miki. As the engine was running reasonably well, I wanted to take the better part of a year and live with the WBX to learn it before ripping it out for something else. I drove the van from my home in La Paz, Baja Mexico, to Puerto Vallarta, then to Guanajuato in the mountainous interior, then to Monterrey near the Texas border, and then back again, to Patzcuaro, Michoacán, Puerto Vallarta, Culiacan, and then back to La Paz where several months ago I had the engine torn down and rebuilt at Geraldo’s VW’s in La Paz. I chose to rebuild it not because it wasn’t running great (it was!), but because over those 5,000 miles I drove during the summer of 2020 I fell in love with it. I decided to preemptively tear it down and rebuild it so that I knew its condition, and had a good baseline. It's now the final days of 2020, and I've done about 1000 miles on it since the rebuild and its running unbelievably well and I continue to be amazed at how easy it is to maintain, and how much fun it is to wrench on it. Its character and personality are a perfect match for the Vanagon and at this point, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to keep it. Might that change someday? Sure. But the point of me writing this isn’t to convince you to keep it, or to convince you that engine conversions are bad. It's simply to try to show you that the Vanagon conversion is not the only way. It's not the default way. That there is beauty and fun to be had with the engine your Vanagon came with. Think carefully before you rip it out. And if after thinking carefully and weighing everything I've mentioned you think an engine conversion is still for you, then by all means do it and enjoy it. The humble under-appreciated Waterboxer deserves all our love and consideration. Long live the WBX!
The stock vs conversion argument has raged at least since the Vanagon was still in production. It won’t end with me putting out this article. But what I have noticed through my past years of Vanagon ownership is a general consensus among the uninformed, that ripping out the stock engine and doing an engine conversion is something that every Vanagon owner should plan for, and the earlier in your Vanagon ownership it’s done, the better. It's almost as if people go into Vanagon ownership with the idea that no matter if the engine is running well or not, it must be replaced. I was guilty of this until I got my current van Miki. As the engine was running reasonably well, I wanted to take the better part of a year and live with the WBX to learn it before ripping it out for something else. I drove the van from my home in La Paz, Baja Mexico, to Puerto Vallarta, then to Guanajuato in the mountainous interior, then to Monterrey near the Texas border, and then back again, to Patzcuaro, Michoacán, Puerto Vallarta, Culiacan, and then back to La Paz where several months ago I had the engine torn down and rebuilt at Geraldo’s VW’s in La Paz. I chose to rebuild it not because it wasn’t running great (it was!), but because over those 5,000 miles I drove during the summer of 2020 I fell in love with it. I decided to preemptively tear it down and rebuild it so that I knew its condition, and had a good baseline. It's now the final days of 2020, and I've done about 1000 miles on it since the rebuild and its running unbelievably well and I continue to be amazed at how easy it is to maintain, and how much fun it is to wrench on it. Its character and personality are a perfect match for the Vanagon and at this point, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to keep it. Might that change someday? Sure. But the point of me writing this isn’t to convince you to keep it, or to convince you that engine conversions are bad. It's simply to try to show you that the Vanagon conversion is not the only way. It's not the default way. That there is beauty and fun to be had with the engine your Vanagon came with. Think carefully before you rip it out. And if after thinking carefully and weighing everything I've mentioned you think an engine conversion is still for you, then by all means do it and enjoy it. The humble under-appreciated Waterboxer deserves all our love and consideration. Long live the WBX!
Miki driving slowly through Redwood National Park in Northern California, September 2023
UPDATE 10/14/23: Its now been 3 years since the rebuild on my WBX installed in Miki. About a year after the first rebuild, I had it torn down again, not due to any issue, but because I wanted to make some upgrades. I installed 2.2 Pistons from GoWesty, ratio rocker arms, a GoWesty Throttle Body, and a few other goodies. This past summer (summer 2023), I drove Miki from La Paz, Mexico, to Whistler in British Columbia, and back again. A further 6000 miles. I continue to love my waterboxer and am seriously considering doubling down and adding the magnificent Mansispeed EFI system. I did have one of the head gaskets leak and was replaced post rebuild, no rhyme or reason as to why, our best guess was that I got a defective water jacket seal. Since replacing that, its run with zero issues. To date, I probably have 12,000 miles on this engine. For reference, I also currently own a 1.9L AAZ Diesel powered Syncro Tintop, and a Subaru 2.2 converted Syncro Doka. They all have their pros and cons.
Miki. Same van, different paint job. Whistler, British Columbia --September 2023