74 Hardtop Westy restoration question

[sfish2002]

I am the son of the original owner of a 1974 Westfalia hardtop (automatic) which was purchased in Germany and shipped to the states back in '74. It has the 1800cc type 4 motor and is all original except for the carb (a single two bbl Weber was used to replace the dual Solex setup and it's always hesitated from the start (probably jetting). I'm planning on replacing this back to a dual carb setup, mostly likely Weber IDFs). I run it weekly although I need to tear down the motor to replace the front seal as it lets go of its oil in about 15 minutes after it heats up. In any event I've been scouring the internet looking at options and am thinking that I'm going to rebuild the engine in the spring. There are a lot of alternatives at varying price points and as a result, I have two questions.

First, as the engine is original do you think it would make more sense to buy a long block and keep the original engine as a separate 'spare' (for potential resale if I ever consider it) given that I don't care about achieving much more performance than stock (although a few extra ponies would be nice for travel with a packed bus but only if it doesn't compromise the reliability and driveability) or to rebuild this one? I'd like to keep the engine at 1800cc but would consider a slightly larger bore.

Second, given that a little more performance would be nice, again as long as it doesn't compromise reliability (remember it's an auto trans) does anybody have any experience and input about which suppliers to consider and which to stay away from? I'm not trying to start a flame war here just looking for experience/input that's different from most of what I've read given that performance isn't my priority.
I've looked at GEX, SCAT, Pauter, and Raby engine components (I'm considering the heads, exhaust (a must as the old one has a lot of rust), a cam, and valvetrain refresh mostly although I'll likely replace the bearings and certainly all seals in addition to whatever else is needed with a bus that has 80k miles and 40 years on it). I read a lot of bad things about GEX and some about SCAT but I do not want to hot rod the bus, I just want to drive it regularly (maybe 5-8k miles/year) and get a littel extra get up and go if possible. If I were able to make 78-80 hp I'd be plenty happy. Raby's stuff looks good but to be honest it's almost an order of magnitude more expensive than all others (I'm not saying anything about whether or not it's worth it, I don't have any experience here) and I suspect that's primarily related to a) the relatively low demand/low numbers required for new/reworked AMC heads and b) a desire to make appreciable profit but again, I have no first hand experience here so I'm just not sure the high cost would be justified for me. As reliability is paramount Raby's engine components may be what makes the most sense but I'd like your opinions.
Sorry for the long post but any assistance/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Stan

[nodrenim]

From my personal experience with GEX, I would cross them off my list of companies to do business with. Too much hassle, no gain. After reading articles on here, and from what I have heard in the field, I would consider Headflow masters. From what I can gather they are tops in the field.

[white74westy]

[Jake Raby]

[wcfvw69]

Stan, if I was lucky enough to have a bus that had been in my family so long, I'd certainly want to get the best for it which is what it appears you're trying to accomplish.

My bus has a type 1 engine in it. If I had a type 4 engine in it, the first place I'd look is at Raby's parts. As he mentioned, a lot of time, effort and development went into those parts and if you want the best, you have to pay for it.

Having worked owned and worked on my VW's for over 30+ years, I can't stress enough to buy the best quality parts you can. Yes, I've gone the cheaper way on some parts purchases and ALWAYS got bit for it. That's the one common theme you see posted on The Samba, day after day. People get cheap then wonder why there part didn't fit or only lasted a few days or months.

Headflow Masters seems to have a stellar reputation on this site. I've NEVER read anything negative about that business on this site, which is rare.

Gex- OMG, avoid at all costs.

Kudos to you for soliciting feedback from others on this topic. I often post questions like this too to try find the best quality parts I can before I buy them.
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