The VW 1500/1600 is a great engine to learn on. Simple, easy to maintain and the parts are cheap. Lots of cheap used parts available, too. Once you learn a VW you can easily translate that knowledge to most piston aviation engines, and to Porche, Subaru and other horizontally opposed engines. Considering when the original design was conceived by Dr. Porche (1930’s) it’s really a pretty amazing little engine. A little dated and not nearly as reliable as today’s engines without constant maintenance, though. Honda and others are lightyears ahead of the old VW’s in terms of reliability.
How does it take to the ethanol blends? That’s been my main concern. And the converters? Are most of the models already adapted?