>>>>I see a lot of people with missing or shrivelled-up spark plug wire seals<<<

The conclusion:
In the past 2 years iv'e seen many type2 engine (i should include Vanagon
engine also!) iv'e seen only 2 clean AC engine over... 100.
Mine is one of them... When i see an AC engine with so much dirt and oil on
it, no wonder that the owner is complaining about overheat! Those fins need
to be clean to cool down the engine, heads, core and tranny.

Same stuff for vanagon owner, i have seen one clean engine over 100, it was
mine.

Yea, i may be crasy, why should an wasser be clean, no need, the coolant
does the job, not the air... well, i will say, i can see every part in case
i need to work on it or find a leak, yea am crasy. When  i cleaned my FI
system in and out i gain 50 km per tank... that is a true story, is there
someone else here that does 530km/330miles with one full tank on a 2.1L.
http://www.benplace.com/engine/engine_after1.jpg

Yea am crasy, that what my girl is telling me when i polish head for 10 hours.

Have a good one, drive safe, be nice, say thanks...and smile once in a wile.
Ben