I got the Gene Berg catalog over the weekend, looking for 
some stuff for my '64. This place is famous for hodrodding aircooled VW
engines. You almost have to read between the lines, but it is clear that
at some time their shop van was an early wasserboxer, and they have
"played" with it. 

The first thing that caught my attention was a do-it yourself
programmable fuel injection setup, and a paragraph or two about 
how they used it to optimize the FI on their vanagon. 

No mention of any other mods at that point, but later, in the crankshaft
section, they note that the can produce stroker cranks for wasserboxers.
No part number or anything, just a "call us if you want to know more". 

They also note that Mahle makes a set of 98 mm pistons and cylinders for
the wasserboxer for about $2000. This brings us back to the Ahnendorp
threads from last spring, a German supplier who would give you a stroker
and cylinder kit to bring the wasserboxer up to about 2.4 liters. Total
parts cost was vaguely $5000, if my memory is correct.

Now, my Vanagon goes fine down the highway. It will cruise at 70+ all
day, and frankly that's as fast as I feel comfortable with in most road
conditions. Acceleration: hey, this is almost a three ton VW bus, I have
few expectations, being slow off the line doesn't bother me. What does
get me, though, is the hills. On the highway, I'd like to continue up
the Interstate hills at around 3800 RPM for as long as possible. Off
road, the one time I needed to get winched up a hill, I had traction, I
just did not have the power to do the climb.

So here is a specific question: I'm thinking what I need first is
torque, not hp, and that could be just a stroker crank. Is this correct?

Not a single price in the Berg catalog, BTW. They are reprinting the
price list and will send it next month. Meantime, they will price stuff
over the phone. I'll talk to them this evening.

Tom F.