It has always puzzled me that VW had all the parts to install the 1.8 GTi
engine in the Vanagon from the very beginning of the waterboxer days (the
diesels of '82~'83 had all the mounting parts). Instead they chose to spend
more $$ to (re)design an ancient engine with watercooled heads and wet
sleeves that in no way would ever be as strong as the inline-4 engine! Funny
that now many are 'converting' to the very setup that VW should have had the
sense to supply in the beginning (the Tiico engine conversion).

Karl Mullendore
Westy Ventures
1987 Syncro Westfalia 1.9TD

----- Original Message -----
> because they didnt have half a brain to dump the wbx and put something
more
> reliable back there.