Date:         Sat, 6 Sep 2008 11:45:17 -0700
Reply-To:     Evan Mac Donald <vanagon_dad@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Evan Mac Donald <vanagon_dad@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Increased WBX displacement
Comments: cc: rubatoguy@COMCAST.NET
In-Reply-To:  <090420081654.27136.48C012C80005E2DB00006A002207021633979A09019B0E0D9A9D@comcast.net>
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I am building a 2.2, which started life as a 2.1. I will be happy with such a relatively small increase, because it will be replacing a 1.9. All I am doing is putting slightly larger bore ( 0.5mm) pistons in mine. Up to 2.3 can be gained with just larger cylinders, but any thing after that starts into "machine shop" territory. You will need to have a stroker crank, and maybe new length rods, and maybe the case machined for rotating clearance. Heads will also need work, to get bigger bore cylinders in them. Air-cooled guys have been taking 1600 cc motors up to and past 2250 cc for a long time, so the techniques are not new. But, waterboxers do not get alot of that type of hot-rodding, in most part because of their relative rarity. As usual, the sticking point is the actual man on the job. Good man, and good work, usually means no problems. Make your choices early on, plan ahead, and get all the parts lined up, so they can work together. If you just want
 to stay stock, probably GoWesty is the better choice, because externally, there is no difference. All the regular stuff can still be used. Maintenance, and future issues, should always be a consideration in any "big" modification like this. The question you need to ask yourself amounts to "How much trouble am I willing to put up with the next time_______(insert expensive part here) breaks?"

--- On Thu, 9/4/08, Todd Last <rubatoguy@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

From: Todd Last <rubatoguy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Increased WBX displacement
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Date: Thursday, September 4, 2008, 4:54 PM

Is anyone running a larger displacement WBX engine?
I notice various vendors offer 2.2, 2.3. 2.4 and even 2.5l engines.

Ignoring for the moment that the cost of some puts you into the same ballpark
as an engine conversion, is there any shared wisdom on the reliability of these
increased displacement engines? Are they a viable option at rebuild time?

Interesting to note that some of the more respected vendors only offer stock
displacement rebuilds.

Opinions, please.

Todd
'88 Westy