On the Subaru flat six offered by www.smallcar.com.   The motor in question
is the 3.3l SVX.  Available in the US from 1992 to 1997-8.  The 2.7 was a
problem design available in the XT-6.  The current offering is a 3.0l six
for the Outback series and maybe the sedans.  The 2.5l DOHC four is just the
six without two cylinders and is a very nice motor with an excellent service
record and more than suitable as an upgrade with 165lbs-ft of torque.

This 3.3l has an amazingly flat torque vs rpm characteristic with a maximum
of ~225lbs-ft at 4400 rpm.  Setting the cruising (70mph) rpm to 3700 rpm or
so by using the standard 0.86 top gear/4.86 ring and pinion/215-75x15 tires
allows plenty of latte-tude for the superslab (100mph is 5200rpm) and puts
the operating range below the torque peak for spirited passing.

The 50-75 time is certainly an improvement and can be handled briskly by
third gear or quite adeqately in 4th..

Practical redline is 6500.  So the operating range in top gear is
~2000rpm -- 6000rpm  (40-110mph)  Available torque is >180lbs-ft throughout
the range.

Keeping in mind that the vanagon is a truck with, in my case, a 5300lb GVW,
upgrading the brakes is a necessary complement to the upgraded engine
performance.

For mosey-mode, the normal vanagon touring/camping/poppywatching mode for
me,  fuel consumption will be in the 18mpg range.  An overactive throttle
muscle can reduce this number significantly.  But since my old syncro
averaged ~18 in mosey mode there isn't much difference.  On ramp, passing,
and alpine performance are greatly enhanced and that in my opinion is where
the vanagon needed improvement.

cheers,

pensioner