Eric,

I did a upgrade to my 1988 Vanagon 2.1L wasserboxer.
I counterweighted the crank, increased cam lift and duration, 1.25 ratio
rockers, cromoly push rods and spring retainers, solid rocker shafts, Walker
Turbo muffler, Rotating assembly balanced, pistons and rods balanced,
ceramic coatings on ALL parts that touch heat and head sealing surface,
Bosch quad tip platinum plugs, matched ported exhaust, heads, air runners,
oil pump, throttle body, racing valve locks, racing clutch bolts, five speed
tranny with locking diff and .70 fifth gear.  I can get to 75 mph with a
1.03 fourth gear, in fifth I can cruise at 70 to 75 easy, been to 85 mph
once to avoid getting stuck behind slow traffic.  My gas milage has remained
at 20 mph whether in city or highway.  I am having to retune the FI. It was
set with a wornout air flow meter before I owned the van. I have spent
@$6000.  But that included all new German hoses, thermostat and housing,
water pipe (passenger side plastic coolant housing) water pump, AFM, brake
master cylinder, clutch master and slave, new rotors, pads, caliper rebuild
kits, bearings, muffler wrap, wire covers, seals, plus many tools and other
parts.  I used stainless steel hardware on 90 percent of the engine.
This is some of what I have done so far...

Robert

> Has anyone done a comparison of pros and cons for an engine swap versus
> a nicely modified waterboxer?  Looking at things like ratio rockers,
> chip work, flowed heads (and polished), maybe bigger valves, camshaft,
> perf. exhaust, better intake, even lighter connecting rods for higer
> RPMs and lest fatique, etc. It might be cheaper and/or easier to just
> make a bad-ass waterboxer engine than spend the time money and headache
> on a swap. I know head mods along with some of the others can make a BIG
> HP and torque difference.  I certainly want to explore it before I do a
> swap.

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