I've had my 82 diesel vanagon camper for a couple of months and a couple of
thousand miles now.  Everything seems to be working okay and chugging along,
but I know that to be completely worry free there are a number of things
that need to be fixed on the vehicle.  I was beginning to weigh these costs
against the cost of replacing the engine altogether.  The vehicle has over
200k on the original engine and I know it's not going to last forever.  I do
want to keep this vehicle forever, however.  I don't really mind the poor
performance of my van, but obviously would prefer more power without
sacrificing economy.

Stuff my van needs (as far as I can tell):

 - fix oil leaking between engine and tranny
 - fix other oil leak from engine - drips onto engine guard and then onto
floor (or onto tailgate)
 - CV joints
 - various seals
 - timing job - belt, pulleys, other belts, etc

....pretty much the engine is going to need to be pulled and gone through to
fix the leaks, etc and I guess I'd be looking at between $500 and $1000 to
have it done (I don't wish to do the work myself).  Even with that I'm still
going to have a 200k mile engine and just don't know how long it will be
before something else goes wrong.

My Vanagon is my daily driver and I love having the ability to pull over,
make a cup of tea and catch 40 winks whenever I wish.  I don't mind sinking
a couple of thousand for a replacement engine.  However, I'm not sure what
would work and what would be best for me.  I would be interested in comments
from anyone else who has replaced the engine in their vanagon.

Here's what I've gathered so far in terms of engine choices:

 - 1.9 NA Turbo - sounds good, fits well, lot more torque, bit more power,
same longevity, same economy, probobly needs an air-cooled gearbox

 - TDi - this would completly transform my vanagon into a super-vanagon.  I
know these engines are bulletproof and very economical.  I also know they
are a nightmare in terms of chips, wires, and generally setting up in the
vanagon (right?).  Expensive.

 - Subaru - seems to be a better choice for the wasserboxer than for the
diesel.  It would be nice to keep the vanagon completely VW and the Subaru
engines are pretty thirsty, fuel-wise

 - GTi, other 4-cyl petrol engine - probobly a good value for money package,
but wouldn't the vanagon still be underpowered (these are still small
engines)?  Probobly fuel economy is not that great.

In a perfect world I would like: more power for hills and overtaking,
ability to cruise at 65 - 70 mph, same or similar fuel economy (25 - 30
mpg), reasonable ease of finding parts (and complete engine!), reasonable
ease of having my VW mechanic install it.

Comments?  Advise?  Relative costs per option?  Where do I begin?

Any help much appreciated.

Jon

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