I had my 1986 vanagon rebuilt may a year ago by a company in California.
Some feat as I live in Florida.  Here is their URL
http://www.fastgermanauto.com/ .  My vanagon had about 235,000 miles on it
when it was rebuilt.    They normally do core exchanges, but they had none
when mine was sent in so they rebuilt my own engine.  I plan to drive it
another 10 years at least, if not another 20 years.
I've been thoroughly please with the engine. and have put aout another
20,000 on it this past year.
Hope this helps
Charlie

----- Original Message -----
From: "Milo's Kitchen" <sagmoore@ZOOMINTERNET.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 9:56 PM
Subject: Overhauled/Rebuilt replacement Engines

> Hi Folks,
> We have decided to keep our 87 Syncro for 8 more years, and try for more
or
> less trouble free. In order to help accomplish this in the engine
> department, we are considering obtaining an overhauled (Def: reassembled
to
> overhaul tolerances) or rebuilt (Def: reassembled to new tolerances)
> replacement engine. Putting the fuel injection, cooling system and
> electrical systems aside, the two choices that come to mind are Boston Bob
> and Go Westy. I've been away at school for the past 5 months; seems I
> remember a place in Colorado that was offering a 2.2 L engine discussed on
> the list in May of this year. The archives aren't working for me tonight
> (page can't be displayed). Can someone please refresh my memory? I don't
> have the time, tools or experience to do a proper job on a waterboxer,
want
> to keep it original, and I don't like what I hear about the inlines.
> Thanks all,
>
> Dave Milo
>