Morris,

I had the longblock replaced in my 84 westy last april. After checking
out the options from the west coast (which seemed like pretty good
products) I went to my local VW dealer, who has a good mechanic that I
trust, and bought my long block from them and had them install it for
me. The reason I did this is that the shipping a long block from the
west coast to Wisconsin costs as well as shipping the core out to them
for exchange. The dealers price last year was $2,300 plus installation.
My final price from the dealer was around $3,300. For this they took out
the old engine, installed the new one (with new heads and valves and
water pump) and replaced various vacuum hoses and nuts and bolts that
were needed. Oh, I almost forgot, the price included one new header pipe
from VW.

One important reason for choosing the dealer is that the engine and work
comes with a 12,000 or 12 month warranty good anywhere in the U.S. That
is important to me as we like to take our Westy to remote places and if
I break down on a national forest road in the upper peninsula of
Michigan and I'm under warranty, there are dealers within 100 miles or
so. If I bought the engine from a business in California I've got
problems.

If you can find a dealer you trust I'd go with them. Then follow the
advice on this list to keep your complicated little engine running for
as long as you can.

Good Luck,
Bob
84 westy, der bus