Date:         Fri, 3 Mar 1995 18:43:28 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@townshend.Corp.Megatest.COM (William Abbott)
Subject:      83 wasserboxer swap?

	Shirley,
	Sorry to hear about the demise of your original wasserboxer engine.
	If you want a camper to to drive, I recomend going pure stock, 
because its simple, people can work on it, you can get it smogged, you can 
sell it easily, etc. If you want a hobby, and there's nothing wrong with
cars as a hobby, then by all means look into swaps!

	I bought my '70 single-cab without a motor and thought about
various hot-rod options, finally settling on pure stock except for
hydraulic valves and a breakerless ignition. 55 horsepower- one
could give them individual names. But WAY simple.

	I don't have any experience with them, but there's an outfit
near Sacramento that specializes in Vanagon motors and advertizes
in Dune Buggies and Hot VWs.

	Note that for California smog, you have to have the NEWER of
the car or engine smog controls- so if you put in a '93 Corrado motor,
you have to have the 93 Corrado motor smog stuff, but if you put in a 
70 bus 1600 single-port/single-carb engine you'll have to have the *'83*
smog stuff the camper came with.

	Having all the smog stuff means having the exhaust and inlet
tracts as well as the sensors, warning lights, blah blah blah. I don't
know how you could put anything other than another Vanagon/Bus motor into
the space without changing the inlet and exhaust. DMV are COMPLETELY
unhelpful about this- they won't even describe what *stock* is- they
basicly play dumb and tell you to put in the same engine it came with.
But you can call them and get a pamphlet. And if you're not in a
smog-certificate-every-2-years county, you could always Just Do It,
at least until it was time to sell the car :-)

	Having said all that, my first choice for a swap would be an 
8-valve VW GTI // motor 1800cc, hydraulic valves, 105 hp, fun, fun,
fun! The Diesel Vanagon mounted the same block so there must be VW
adaptor pieces to mount it. Intake and exhaust would have to be custom 
unless you find a supplier. I believe you can get a new engine, repeat
NEW engine, of this kind for about $1800, to which you have to add the
Fuel Injection, plumbing, intake/exhaust and mounts. You'd need a donor
Golf/Jetta.
	When I thought I had time to do a swap, this is what I
wanted to put in my 914 :-)

	The most comon motor in the world is the Chevy 350 and you could
probably buy one new for less than the GTI motor, but its going to weigh more,
need custom adaptors, etc. But you'd be hard pressed to NOT get 150
hp out of it and they are both cheap to own and run forever. The Buick
V6 is well spoken of and probably nearly as cheap and lighter/smaller.

	Hope this helps.

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				|######\     _==_     /######|	
	cheers!			|#######\   = \/ =   /#######|
	Bill Abbott		|########\  =\/\/=  /########|
	'70 single cab		|#########\  -__-  /#########|
	'93 Corrado		|##########\      /##########|
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