On 3/14/98 Tim spoke thusly:

<At the risk of irritating folks (do I care?) go look at a
Subaru engine.  It has 2 large diameter rad oulets and 2 1/2" heater
outlets.  Everything else to do with the coolant is fully within the block.
The heads are clamped down hard onto thin gaskets, using bolts into a block,
not studs that rust out.  They last 300K kms with only basic attention.
This is how good design works.>

I, for one, have spent a good deal of time looking at Subaru engines and I
agree.
The horizontally-opposed engine is a truly well concieved design - simple and
reliable due to it's inherently good balancing.
It's just a plain shame that VW dropped the Germanic standard by not improving
the Wasserbox engine into what it could have been.

I've been spending my time looking at the 2.5 litre DOHC Subaru engines of
late.
The power and torque curves seem well matched to the Vanagon gearbox and the
extra power would sure be nice.
They're things of beauty and I have a feeling that one will find it's way into
my '87 Vanagon sometime in the next few years.

Sam Bateman
'87 Vanagon GL