Why do people say these are no good? I was looking at a 1.8 on craigs that seemed like a pretty good deal. I need a motor and trans for my buggy and was also looking to just buy a complete venango bus with motor and tranny in it for a reasonable price. Seems like that would be a good route to go. Kill two birds with one stone.

i bought a vanagon and put drive train in buggy. mainly wanted the trans. an 84 sideshift. motor was a dog! bulit rpm slowly and had the power of a 1600. though the fuel injection was nice! motor was heavy and parts expensive. wound up giving to friend who has one in street buggy and building a stroker.

It's not that they're no good because in many ways they are a better design, but they aren't ideal for a buggy in stock form. Their isn't as much aftermarket parts selection either and this usually means higher prices but better quality. You can build a cheap type 1 stroker motor for much less than you can make a type 4 motor suitable for a woods buggy. Sometimes you can find good deals on big type 4 motors though because either someone doesn't know what they have or they just want to go a different route....I bought a complete used 2800 long block for around $2000 (the crank and heads alone on that motor were worth more than that). You can build a much bigger motor with a type 4 than with a type 1, but it won't be cheap. I've had several people give me stock type 4 motors, so they aren't worth much.....but they can be made to be pretty good offroad motors.