I've been semi busy this off season working on my little sand toy. I dropped down the cyl size to 90.5 mm from the old 92 mm. So it's no longer a 2180 but a 2110 cc engine. My turbo set up didn't like the thin walls of the 92's. Lots of problems that I hope to avoid for the next few seasons. I'm now running total seal ring in the second groove to improve compression and blow by from the stock rings.
And with the addition of the little gadget shown in the photo I should be able to run more timing, more boost and still keep the motor cooler. A low cost solution I just didn't think about before.
Very hopeful this really solves my yearly rebuilds for one reason or another.
When a guy can't afford anything but a VW I guess we live with them. Still much cheaper than a big V-8 or even a good Subi or the like.