Robert, I am not handy and it sounds like you might not be either :)  I always have a professional work on my car.  It was always suggested to me that anything non-standard will only cause grief if you need service while travelling.  I think that was good advice.
I can only imagine it would be a ton of work to install something water cooled but what do i know.
I think I am agreeing with Scott here - I like aircooled motors and find them simpler and more reliable than waterboxers.  The 2.0 aircooled was pretty good but I've never met one that didn't toast a cylinder after 90 or 100k miles.  I think that's as normal as leaky heads (Dennis Haynes being the exception!)
Jeff

> Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 18:13:23 +0000
> From: robert.fuhrel@CSN.EDU
> Subject: request for information, please
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> 
> Greetings, I just got the bad news (maybe good news in the long run) that the engine in my air-cooled '83 Westy is old and worn out, one cylinder shot, and so on, and the mechanic, new to me, who seems honest and has a great reputation in my new town of Lakeland, Florida, recommends getting a different engine.  He said I could drive this around town but that it might do more damage and would be running on only 75% power.
> I've had the Vanagon for eighteen years, all in Las Vegas, where a superb, fast, inexpensive and honest mechanic named Robert Madrid kept it going all that time.  It is in overall excellent shape.
> So,  I am asking list members if anyone knows someone in the Tampa-Lakeland (Orlando only if necessary, please) area who can put a different engine in, and what should I get if I can?  I almost certainly can't afford a Porsche engine though I've heard that is possible, but it must entail all kinds of other modifications, probably transmission and so on. I also know vaguely that Subaru swaps can be done but know nothing about which Subaru engines would work. Perhaps another VW engine would be fine, but I'd like a little more power than what I've had all these years, something that would allow me to go faster than 35mph on hills (though Florida has few, from LV to anywhere I went up and down many hills no faster than that.)  Any information will be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
> 
> Best,
> 
> Bob