Power Increase

Check out the snail trail build thread on the bus scion, prety sure that's a 1600 in the snail

Pretty sure Nug put a 74 crank in there

Have a read here

http://www.aircooled.net/vw-performance-easy-mods-bolt-on/

Consider brake, suspension and handling upgrades first.
Cheaper and get the most out of what you have

Jon seems to have a new carb as well - 28mm vent 34 pict

http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Super-Stock-34-PICT-3-34-3-Carburetor-12V-Bocar-p/super-stock-34-3.htm

Not cheap - but

Yeah, i dropped a 74mm stroker crank in and and engle 100 and i love it! moves my big ass heavy bus without a struggle.

although opinions are like assholes (everyones got one)... my opinion is try gain torque for a big bus like i did... the stock 1600 is more then adequate to work with and can be bettered with good breathing.... dual dbl barrel carbs (36-40mm dellorto or webbers) and a nice breathing exhaust... for beetles i know a lot of guys run ratio rockers to increase performance but I'm not sure i would bother in a bus... i personally would rather change the cam and inspect the inside and then build it properly for the application (thats my opinion only)

i got told cranks are like crowbars (leverage) the bigger the bar the easier the leverage is (torque) .... and bigger cranks = more torque.... i opted for the 74mm for ease of building my first stroker but made it more difficult on myself with using short rods and stock pistons (a lot of piston skirt clearancing). although my engine is the same width as stock, a 76-78mm with b-pistons i think would be just as easy to build.

and cam has a lot to do with it to... an engle 100 is a very small improvement over a stock cam but increases lower down torque and the engle 110 moves your torque further up the Rpm range. Not a great deal but i wanted a lot of torque as low as possible as I'm pushing 2 tone plus a lot of windage. there are plenty other cams to choose from but i to am only learning and engle seemed to have a good name for themselves..

stock heads are more the workable with most things under 2L it all comes down to porting, and valve grinds etc... (again My opinion and not saying bigger valves heads won't increase performance but thats for another day)

keep in mind kombi gear boxes were geared down to work with stock 1600's so it should be fine to just bolt straight in. just depends how deep you wanna go into the engine build/mods .... there is a lot to be said for just a good set of carbs, my experiences have told me not to bother with dual single barrel carbs, and although i got told this early in the piece i learnt the hard way and thought my engine combo was nice but just missing the oomph i thought i was building.... since i put the dellorto's on i have never been happier.... smooth, easy driving with ALOT more power.... and a nice exhaust helps complete the package...

this is based all on my own, hands on experiences.... I'm sure if your left the stock bottom end and just added 90.5 pistons and cylinders you would see just as nice of a performance increase as its all extra cc but there are a million ways to skin a cat... its just how i went about it and to say I'm over the moon with my set up is an understatement 👍