Robert, You take this engine thing way too personally... and then you try to promote it to everyone else as the best option...

1. Few of us on the list have the skills to duplicate your engine. 2. Even with all your skills you may have over looked something... something that may not show up for many 10's of thousands of miles. 3. Even if your engine is perfect it is doubtful that everyone who attempts these 'improvements' would attain the same level of perfection. 4. A big advantage to buying an assembly line engine that has been out for years is that at least the major problems have been identified ... maybe even eliminated... and there are no skills required other than writing a check. 5. The Tii engine to which you were comparing your engine comes with a warranty... yours does not.

None of this is meant as a personal slight against you or your engine...

all I'm saying is that the two engines (yours and the Tii) are apples and oranges...

The Tii is a proven thing with a warranty that does not depend on the buyer having any skills (can pay a mechanic to install)... your engine is not a proven thing with no warranty and it requires more skills than most of us on the list have....

(despite the fact that many people may have make similar improvements over the years each one is a different product and there is no track record for any one method being tested over many iterations, over many skill levels for the builders, over the years... over many thousands of miles... over many different driving conditions and driving styles... each one is a unique situation).

I have no objection to your engine 'improvements'... I actually admire your skills to do this... I only object to promoting it to the list as comparable to buying a new production engine... they're really very different things and certainly not for everyone...

Bill

----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Lilley" <Wolfvan88@AOL.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2000 5:48 AM Subject: Re: Thinking swap? Engine options are only half the story...What ...

> In a message dated 9/5/2000 9:07:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > wdavidson@thegrid.net writes: > > > When you get 50 of these out there with 100 k on each one of them then > > you'll know what you have as far as dependably goes... until then it is an > > experiment. > > Bill, > Have you ever looked at the Gene Berg Enterprises web site? > > www.geneberg.com > > Do you know HOW many T1 engine and T4 engine are running around "hopped up" > and live a long life? If the engine is BUILT for the power it makes, it can > handle it and live a long life. > > So, tell me, What did I do to shorten the engines life?? > > Was it the: > Counterweighted crank? > Or maybe the Full race balancing? > Maybe the ceramic coatings? > Could it be the match porting of the intake, exhaust and oil pump? > Or the Blueprinting of the engine? > The use of STRONGER than stock parts? > The use of a transmission that REDUCES the RPMs for a given speed?? Did this > shorten the engines life? > Or any of the other parts used to make it run better? Have they shortened the > engines life? > All NEW German bearing, seals, head bolts, flywheel bolts? > The new FI parts? > > I know, maybe the new ECU chip that I am planning to put on, this is it right? > The one that will make the engine run better and cooler. > > What?? So Tell me What?? > > Robert >