For me, in a nutshell....

'81 air cooled Westy to water cooled Jetta engine. Zero regrets. Way
lower emissions, better fuel efficiency, and I can easily hold 50 MPH
in 3rd (stock tires, WBX tranny) up steep-ish grades. But.....

From the POV of  an enthusiast who's learned a lot since he did his
swap.....   ;)

Though the cooling system install wasn't all that involved, adapting
the engine was. There may be more Suby guys who have done this than
VAG swaps.

Check the Suby yahoo group. There was a fellow there who did the air
cooled swap and posted a bunch of useful info. This at least 4 years
ago. I also run an email list. There may be some who've done the air
to water cooled swap there. (see link below)

I'm quite happy with my swap.

Neil.

On 9/12/13, Fuhrel, Robert <robert.fuhrel@csn.edu> wrote:

> 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.

> 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,  >
> Bob
>

--
Neil n

Blog: tubaneil.blogspot.ca

'88 Westy http://tinyurl.com/c8rlw6p

'81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"  http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

Vanagon VAG *Gas* inline-VR Engine Swap Group:

http://tinyurl.com/d7gd5ej