Here's what I did.

Reseal the motor.
Drive it.
Start collecting inline parts.

When you have a substantial percentage of the parts to make the conversion,
get started. (It will take WAY longer than you expect. A year in my case.)

Remember to take the vitals of the waterboxer before you pull it.  Video is
a good selling point.  Having that available easily doubled the amount I
sold the motor for.

I collected parts for about 4 years before I pulled the trigger. I had:
Engine mounts, bell housing, cooling hoses, a low mileage motor and a couple
wiring harnesses and most importantly, the help of a couple friends that
were way more familiar than I as to how this was going to happen.

Look at ABA lower end with a counterflow head. Digifant EMS. It is the
simplest solution that fits under the engine cover. I have an
Adventurewagen, so encroachment into the passenger compartment was no big
deal. Hence, I decided to stay with cross flow head and the Motronic EMS
that came with the ABA motor. Counterflow & digifant would have shortened
the development time about 9 months as it was the wiring that was the
largest stumbling block (and it will fit under the lid.) Mating the '97 OBD
2 EMS to an '84 Vanagon was a challenge.

Cost? By the time I sold the removed waterboxer stuff, my cost was under
$500.  A lot of dollars changed hands, but the net cost was under $500.

Spares? I have a less than 90k motor sitting on a pallet waiting for when I
wear this one out.  $200. Changing it will be a plug n play operation. I
figure about 6 hours between drive in and drive out. And if I choose, I can
freshen it at my convenience.

Worth it?  17 mpg up to 21 mpg. I can run down the Columbia River Gorge at
70 mph if I so desire. I can climb the 7% grade between Pendleton and La
Grande, OR at 65 mph in third if I'm in a hurry. Fully loaded.

I smile every time I step on the loud pedal. 9 months later.  I still smile.

Worth every penny. Worth every minute it took. And it's all still
Volkswagen.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Stewart
Sent: Monday, December 23, 2013 1:19 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] Engine woes - what to do?

Todd, I'm facing the exact same situation. My 85 weekender with about a
hundred sixty five thousand miles is leaking coolant from the right head . I
too am agonizing over rebuild, engine swap, and if so which one? They all
seem to have their pros and cons, I've been leaning towards an inline VW 4
cylinder, but everything I read says 93 or earlier engine, which means they
are going to have high mileage, and is it really worth the effort?

Todd Last <rubatoguy@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

<snip>
>I was wondering if I could get opinions on the best course of action in
>this situation, not wanting to spend tens of thousands of dollars. Would
>list memebers give me their 2 cents worth and if possible, what the
>aproximate costs for the various solutions range from?  I'm not sure if it
>makes more sence to just install new heads and hope for the best, or go
>full bore and swap the engine.