2009/12/6 Joseph Dor� <josephpdore@gmail.com>:
> My wife and I own an '82 Air-Cooled Gasoline-powered Westfalia Vanagon.
>
> It currently has a rebuilt original engine which, I assume, might last
> us another 100,000 - 200,000KM. �When the time comes and all
> compression is lost and rebuilding it for the second time just doesn't
> make sense, is it possible to transplant a new engine into an air-
> cooled? I hear talk of Porche, Subaru, and VW Jetta engines being
> transplanted to Vanagons, but are these not all liquid cooled? �What
> type of engine can be put into an air-cooled body? Does the Vanagon
> need to be modified to be liquid-cooled? Or do engines still exist
> that can operate as air-cooled?

I installed a Jetta 2.0 (ABA engine code) into my formerly air cooled Vanagon.

AFAIK, any engine that fits in a water cooled Vanagon, will fit in an
air cooled Vanagon. Adding the needed cooling system parts isn't
rocket science, but does take time (i.e. dash has to come off) and you
would need to swap in a later model heat/defrost box. Bear in mind
that a new front heater core is NLA. Custom ones are being made, but
are pricey IMO. (largely due to the fact that they are "one offs") One
*might* find a smaller substitute, but the jury *may* still be out on
that one.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=385553&highlight=heater+core

There are other considerations involved aside from time/money needed.
i.e. will the swap somehow affect:

future collector status of vehicle
resale value (though this largely depends on engine choice, quality of
swap, and how swap is done)

Personally I have zero regrets doing mine. Reliable heat, more power,
less emissions, better fuel efficiency, and better parts availablity.
I really enjoy not worrying about head temps. A good used engine is
$300-500.

But..... unless you're doing all or most of the work yourself, when
the time comes for a new engine, I would suggest balancing the
costs/time of swapping to water cooled against a properly rebuilt air
cooled engine + other associated costs. A properly rebuilt air cooled
engine will likely be much less $.

Neil.

-- 
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines