>I'm going to rebuild my  84 Westy this winter and would like to begin
>getting opinions from those individuals that are unafraid to get there
>hands dirty and don't believe in sending their cars in for others' to do
>the work.  What I don't want to do is drop a chevy V-6 or some other
>such nonsense and trash a very fine machine,

I think by limiting yourself to the waterboxer, you are trashing a very fine
machine.  Hopping up a WB is tempting fate.  You may have 135k on your WB,
but most people don't get that lucky.  Would you call a factory 2.3 liter 4
cyl that makes 200 hp nonsense?  Fords EEC-IV control system is years ahead
of VW's digifant.  Digifant can't come close to the resolution of EEC-IV.
Does your motor have a knock sensor?  EEC-IV does, and maps timing for each
individual cylinder.  For the cost of your rebuild, I can take my pick of
2.3 turbo motors in my salvage yard AND rebuild it.  Oh yeah, and plug in
twice the HP of your blueprinted, balanced, pushrod motor.  My head gaskets
cost 20 bux, how bout yours?  You think my cast iron head is gonna warp?
Nope.  Hmmm, don't have to worry about head gasket leaks,  it doesn't happen
on my motor.  Gee, what am I thinking, tossing my waterboxer and putting
this nonsense motor in my van?
Sorry if this discussion is not intelligent enough for you, it makes sense
to me.