Dan Houg seems to want rhapsodic Car-&-Driver style paragraphs about the
feel of a six cylinder Vanagon.  You may want to track down one of the
$-unlimited people who put in a 3.2liter Turbo with Porsche 5-speed and
brakes off a 959.  That's not me. 

The relatively conservative and inexpensive conversion I did does these
things different from your van:
1. sounds terrific
2. cruises at 75 without sounding strained (or indicating strain via
temp) even though with stock gearbox it is turning same 4k+ rpms as yours
3. pushes driver back against the seat in third gear (difference in
1st and 2nd not that noticeable)
4. accelerates, rather than just moves speedo needle, in fourth.

That's it.  It's not better than sex.  It's not what a sports car is 
supposed to be.  It probably IS what a Vanagon is supposed to be:  the
performance of a modern V-6 minivan without compromising anything you
like about Vanagons except the gas mileage -- and that was already bad
anyway.

It's also a great hobby.  I can enjoy it now, and yet there's effectively
no limit on the amount of time and money I could spend and still be 
making sensible positive changes.

B.