Type IV Beetle In The Works!

Hello All,

I've got my daily driver '73 Std. Beetle. I've got a complete 2.0L
type IV engine in the garage and the '76 van it came out of. I've got
the Joe Cali book. What I need is a few parts and a little advice...

First, the engine. The van's been parked for about 10 years due to an
undiagnosed fuel injection problem. A couple years before that the
engine was "rebuilt" by my friend's granddad (now deceased). I've
pulled off the 1/2 cylinder head. I am going to clean them up and
check for cracks, but judging from how nice they look I think may have
been redone as part of the rebuild. There's no reason to think the
seats have dropped or anything horrible like that. Before I took it
apart I did a compression check and got 115-130 psi, except for
cylinder 2 which only made 70 psi. The barrels still show the marks
from a home hone job but the rings look clean, so I assume the rebuild
consisted of cleaned up cylinders and new rings. If I'm doing it, I
want to do things right, which to me means new pistons and cylinders,
and if I'm doing that I figure why not go with an oversize 96mm set.
The 96's sold by Aircooled.net seem kind of pricey though, on the
order of $600 bucks. What is the difference between theirs and the
sets you see on eBay for less than half that price?

For cooling, I'm leaning toward the DTM shroud. My only problem with
it is that I want a thermostat on the engine, which I understand can
be retrofitted if you're mechanically clever. Also the car has a
nearly complete A/C system that I do eventually want to get going
again. Anybody know about mounting the compressor with a DTM shroud?
I believe that The Legendary Shad Laws has a type IV engine and A/
C...any pictures of his setup?

Now, the car. Eventually I'll go with a re-geared overdrive
transmission, but thats not in the immediate plans. However, the
driver's side C/V joint is pretty worn and I don't imagine it will
survive long behind the 2.0L engine. The car isn't going to be a
dragster, just a spirited daily driver, so will standard beetle C/V
joints be enough or should I plan on upgrading to something stronger?

Obviously this will be a big project and I'm just getting started, but
I've got enough time and money to throw at it to get it done in a few
months. Any help from the group in this would be greatly appreciated!

Peace,
Harry

PS. The deal here is, I'm trading my buddy the complete, running
Mexican 1600dp from my Beetle for the complete, non-running 2.0L type
IV from his van. We're both happy, but I was just curious if this
sounded like a fair trade to you guys.