>Friend Richard's 1600dp is almost dead.  In just over a year its gone
>from fairly healthy to 1/2 the power of a 1100cc! :)
>So he is going to buy a new engine.  Cost no object.  He wants to
>be able to crush my 1776.

Before anyone yells at me for *not* making this suggestion:   :^)

If you want more power, why not go with an engine designed for more power?
Kennedy makes adapters that can let you mount many different engines in
your VW-- Japanese, American, European; 4, 6, 8 cyl, rotary. Total cost
will be at or less than a properly built big-bore VW. You do have to
do some fabrication yourself, depending on engine. But you won't be
overstressing your engine and hoping it doesn't blow apart.

Things are not completely rosy in these conversions: I'm currently
having a clutch/pilot bearing problem with my '80 Vanagon that has
a 2,8L Chevy V6 engine. Cause not yet known, but I suspect imbalance
and/or misalignment of the engine and tranny, and maybe the clutch.
(Or, it could be as simple as the PO forgetting to lube the pilot
bearing when he put it in.)

But when it ran (I put 6,000 miles on it before this happened), it was
very quick for a Vanagon, kept up with traffic well, etc. Not a hot
rod in the absolute sense, but the same power as most V6 minivans,
which made it a real pleasure to drive. Gas mileage? Uh... well, it
was a real pleasure to drive! Handled very well, too.

Hurry, hurry, kids, be the only one on your block...

You might also contact Bill Kennedy out at NJIT in New Jersey.
    _______
   /\ o o o\         Steve Maher   smaher@gi.com   75461,1717
  /o \ o o o\_______   San Diego, California
 <    >------>   o /|
  \ o/  o   /_____/o|      '80 VW V6anagon
   \/______/     |oo|        '66 Mustang Coupevertible
         |   o   |o/       '89 Son Sherwin
         |_______|/
                     http://www.lookup.com/homepages/76242/home.html