TIICO did a great job bringing an affordable engine conversion to the
Vanagon community.  Unfortunately they didn't sort out the inherent 2nd
harmonic "buzziness" associated with any I-4 engine (the exception being
Mitsubishi and Porsche I-4's which used a Mitsubishi designed
counterbalancer).  Vibration is extremely destructive to any engine
installation.  I-4's can be quieted down with proper development and
"tuning" of everything bolted to it.  But it does take work and TIICO to
this day hasn't done it. One of the shops that has installed a bunch of
TIICO's is now sourcing/selling a A3 style accessory drive, but TIICO itself
has't done a thing.
    Many TIICO parts are the same as US parts, but you have to work at it
and you need to know the part numbers. Many TIICO owners have been very
satisfied and have had minimal problems.  Many TIICO owners have been
extremely unhappy and plagued by vibration related breakages and
catastrophic engine failure.  I don't know what the ratio to happy/unhappy is.
    As far a Kennedy and Subaru conversions, everyone doing them raves about
Kennedy's quality. The very few (<1%) of his adapters that have had problems
were almost certainly "Installer error". Kennedy has never claimed to be
"turn-key" kit supplier. Mr. Kennedy did do the legwork early on to get his
"kit" CARB certified- several years, in fact, before TIICO did. The shops on
the West Coast have been very busy converting vans and haven't needed to
offer a "turn-key" Subaru kit.  The number of owners converting to Subaru
power is increasing and should soon overtake the number of TIICO's sold. We
are now offering a "turn-key" Subaru kit to fill in what we percieve to be a
demand for it.

John
Vanaru.com