alternative to six-ing it up..., turbo + waterboxer ??? Options

[dtravni]

hello, 914-ers - i'm sure this is not a new topic - the problem is that i'm new to 914club. anyways, here goes.

my son & i bought a pretty nice 'california car' coupla years ago & we're debating pros/cons of pushing in a 911 6 - not exactly a glide (& not exactly cheap, either). it seems to me that a worthy alternative might be
a 2 (or 2.1) 4 cylinder watercooled Vanagan engine (waterboxer) -
all things considered, a better alternative. in fact, if the aircooled 914 4
could take the thermal loading, adapting a turbo in IT would be even better. i'm of the opinion that the performance would be comparable to a
2.7+ 6, and a whole lot more agreeable in the installation (transmission, motor mounts, cabling, etc). the plumbing (exhaust, intake, & cooling seem to be more straightforward too, compared to the adaptation required for the 6-er).

i'm sure that there are some out there that have considered/done this
installation - i'd be most interested in hearing your advice & tales of joy/woe.

[Katmanken]

Well,

There ya go, insulting Vanna's 2.1 engine. Vanna White, my Vanagon has a 2.1l waserboxer with 186,000 miles and it runs just fine thank you. Worst thing she did was have a head gasket leak.

Took off the heads, sandblasted the pits, used JB weld, and sanded them smooth. Added a coat of zinc chromate (like the factory) put the heads back on and off she went. Didn't even have to remove the engine.

2.1 is a real stump puller. Been times I forgot to rev it up and just popped the clutch. Van started moving and the engine didn't even slow down or grunt.

Only thing i don't like is the 30+ hoses. Seems like VW neglected to put cooling passages in the block and ran hoses around the engine instead of cast passageways.

Factory mounted the thermostat on the firewall (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/blink.gif)

Stock is 110 hp and max RPM is 5200. Marco the Steam engine on Shop Talk Forums has a 300 hp turbo one........

Some people take the waserboxer block, saw off the cooling jacket, add beetle cylinders and heads and make oxyboxers out of them. Type IV style case and sump, beetle crank, heads, and cylinders fit. Add air cooling and go.

Ken