for fuel mileage I would say you can expect around 19 to 20 mpg, with a high
of about 21 mpg on the highway, with a manual trans Vanagon.
As low as 17 mpg if you push it hard, like at 70 mph .
  You might consider in inline four, 1.8 Jetta/gold engine.
One guy on here runs that with a 5 speed trans in a fairly early vagabond
and he reports 23 mpg on the highway, and a one time high of 27 mpg.
those engines are plentiful and inexpensive, and if you use diesel vanagon
engine mounting parts, it's a bolt-in.
   I'll be installing a 16 valve version of this engine into my personal
vanagon when I find the time.  Should be a nice little engine ......123 hp
at 5,800 rpm.

Subaru - a 2.2 Subaru engine will deliver 21 mpg with a bit more
.........I've had an engine conversion customer of mine report a high of 24
mpg, fully loaded in a westy on a summertime trip to Colorado, including
high altitude driving, like up to 11,000 feet.

oh yes....Bostig Ford Zetec engine ..........2.0 liters, inline 4, 16
valves.........those should do in the low 20's I think, and better than a
waterboxer for sure.

'what you can use that's already there' - probably mainly the cooling system
stuff that's been added to change your vanagon  from air-cooled to liquid
cooled.....all that should transfer over, but seems to me not much else.
Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michelle Garofano" <mystigal@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 6:11 PM
Subject: used Vanagon engine

> Greetings all!
>
> To you folks who have done your engine swaps and have an old (but good)
> Vanagon engine that needs a new home, I'm in the market, as it were (I'm
> in
> the Seattle area).  I recently purchased a 1981 Westfalia that had been
> converted to water-cooled with a Mazda RX-7 rotary engine... which gobbles
> oil like crazy & requires an elaborate ritual of maneuvers to get it to
> start... two things I'd just rather not deal with.  I'm looking for gas
> mileage more than power, and would appreciate advice on which engine
> (1.9L,
> 2.1L, etc.) gets the best mileage for hauling the weight of a full-camper
> Westy.  Since all the conversion gear is already in place for the Mazda
> engine, I'm also looking into what else might work with my current set
> up...
> though my recent experience (& research I've done around it) has soured me
> on rotary engines in general, and I'm not interested in going deisel at
> this
> point in time.
>
> Happy Travels,
> Mish