Replacing the 1.9 with a 1.9 is so easy you shouldn't ever think of having
someone else do it. All they can do is screw it up.
I did mine  in my garage in a day with a rolling floor jack, some straps, a
come-a-long, and some 4x4 wooden blocks. Things every Vanagon owner should
have.
The upgrade (?) to a 2.1 is pretty easy, the list archives will talk you
through the changes required. Only about 30,000 emails on the  subject.
If it were mine, I would take the opportunity to think about a Subie
upgrade and never worry about it again.

tim in san jose

On Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 12:38 PM, Steve Bonde <seb007@live.com> wrote:

> I just finished an upgrade to a 2000 Forester 2.5 rebuilt engine using a
> Rocky Mountain Westy kit. It couldn't have been easier to do myself. They
> walked me through the hard parts and Mark, Joe, and Mike were always ready
> to answer my questions.
>
> Since I live a reasonable distance from them and just had rotator cuff
> repair, I took it to them to do a checkout on my work and some finishing
> touches.
>
> Don't be so quick to decide you can't do it yourself and because it's so
> straight forward your mechanic should breeze through it.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Nov 15, 2016, at 1:24 PM, Ryan Perry <rjdperry@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > My 84, 1.9 manual westy with 198k miles, Artie McPartie, has gone the way
> > of the ghost. Driving down hwy yesterday after a pretty good clip up hill
> > the engine lost power and will no longer start. Towed to my mechanic and
> it
> > is 0 compression in cylinders 1 and 3. He didn't dig much deeper other
> than
> > it needs a new engine.
> >
> > I am at a loss here. I know I have gotten many years out of my van and
> will
> > get many more and should expect that any investment will get me returns.
> I
> > also knew this day was coming after getting the dreaded oil light after
> hwy
> > stretches. I am not made of money and want to make a good decision on
> next
> > steps.
> >
> > And with that, I turn to this...the smartest group of van owners I know.
> >
> > I want to keep a waterboxer, I know the engine and I like its
> simplicity. I
> > would love to upgrade to a 2.1 or more if it is worth the price. I am
> > located in Asheville, NC and would not be doing any of the work myself.
> My
> > mechanic can take delivery and do the install. (I do my fair share of
> work
> > but feel this is out of my league)
> >
> > So, any ideas out there on next steps? Thanks in advance for your help!
> > Ryan
>

--
Where ever you are, there you be. Unless you're driving my van, in which
case, you ain't got there yet.