At 08:25 PM 9/5/2000 -0400, Robert Lilley wrote: >In a message dated 9/5/2000 5:22:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time, >wdavidson@thegrid.net writes: > > > a rebuilt high performance experiment... (perhaps experiment is not the > > right word... try hobby engine) > >The WBX is a combination of best of both the T1 and T4 engines. > >And what I have USED is PROVEN T1 performance parts not guesses or cheap >parts hoping to last. I have tried too many HP parts that did not work (many >are still being used today to unknowing people, slick advertising) in my past >18 years of VW T1, T4 and WBX engine experience. I have used what has worked >for me and not used what has not worked for me. > > >[[[[ SNIP ]]] >I did not change the compression (you could get the higher compression >pistons). I made the intake flow more and with the chip tuned the FI system >hotter. >The HP estimate before the chip is @120 to 130 after the chip 132 to 156 HP. > >VW dropped the 2L I4 for the 2.3 to 2.6 I5 because the I4 did not make enough >power. VW also is using the .457 five speeds with the 2.6L engines because >they can handle the power the I5s put out.

I'm normally a lurker on this list, but this discussion caught my eye. My '87 bus is very close to the 180k mark on the original bottom end (Heads replaced at 120k) and I know that I will have to do something in the very near future. Here are some issues that I have with both trains of thought:

1) Is the I4 swap smog legal in California?

2) Has anything been done to the hot WBX to reduced/eliminate the dreaded head corrosion?

3) Is a hot WBX (high-flow heads, rockers, headers, ecu) still smogable in California?

Number 2, in my opinion, is still the WBX's Achilles heel. Especially when you consider that high-flow heads are going to cost roughly double of replacement stock heads... But at this point I'm still undecided as to which route to go. If I could drop my bus at a shop, plus 10k, and have a 1.8T + 5 speed swapped in I'd do it in a heart beat...

-Sebastian Hill '87 Wolf. Ed. Vanagon '00 Passat GL