Well, I started tearing the bottom end of my 188,000 mile replacement motor for my sidekick.  What an amazing little motor these are.  the crank looks like it came from the polisher at the machine shop.  cyl 1 is only .001 out of round. the rest are perfectly round.  I cant believe its in this good of shape with that many miles.  I see why you love these engines!!  The 8v head needs some work and the stock tbi intake is horrible, but the bottom end is amazing.  it even has a girdle..  I can see the intake and exhaust valves are shrouded pretty good on the outside of the cylinders.  I think with a new designed tbi intake and some good porting, these engines should make an easy 105-115 hp.

Well, sounds like a good start. Lets have some pics of your head work and such.

It's been a while, but Zaggy was posting so pretty good numbers with
head and cam work, except I think he was using a carburetor for the
engine because it was in his light airplane, it may of even been a home
built, but he was gauging the HP by the RPM the engine could pull the
prop up to, and was getting around 100 HP on an 8V engine if I remember
correctly, anyway, please post what you are doing, ohh, and I didn't rebuild
my engine until 230,000 miles, and that's when I added the turbo to it, same
everything internals, new rings and bearings, so yes, properly taken care of
these are amazing little engines

Wild 

It's been a while, but Zaggy was posting so pretty good numbers with
head and cam work, except I think he was using a carburetor for the
engine because it was in his light airplane, it may of even been a home
built, but he was gauging the HP by the RPM the engine could pull the
prop up to, and was getting around 100 HP on an 8V engine if I remember
correctly, anyway, please post what you are doing, ohh, and I didn't rebuild
my engine until 230,000 miles, and that's when I added the turbo to it, same
everything internals, new rings and bearings, so yes, properly taken care of
these are amazing little engines

Wild 

Zaggy was using twin Stromberg carbs

ive done some mild port work and unshrouded the valves.  most work was in the bowl area.  I think ports are big enough.  there was quite abit of porting done on the intake.  still working on the little wings inside.  im making a spacer for the tbi with a big radius at the bottom and will  bore the intake to match.  eventually i will make a new custom intake and make a remote thermostat similar to what the Tlll dodge turbo motors had.  I will try to get some pics this weekend.  any info where u guys are getting stainless valves??  I think someone used a smaller exhaust valve on cyl 1

Also, im gonna ceramic coat the piston tops and combustion chamber with thermal barrier from techline.  probably the intake runners too.  gotta keep as much heat out as possible.  I cant for the life of me figure out why they ran coolant around the runners.  unless its for emission reasons.  that really kills hp

I cant for the life of me figure out why they ran coolant around the runners.  unless its for emission reasons.  that really kills hp

This is TBI with a wet manifold right?

Wet manifolds need to be warmed to prevent the fuel from condensing on the walls of the runners resulting in a lean mixture, in the days before fuel injection and "closed loop fueling algorithms" a richer mixture was required to circumvent this , and it was common practise to warm the manifold (I've seen folks strap copper tubes to it and flow coolant through the tubes) so that you could lean the mixture out and squeeze a few more miles out of every gallon.

VWs air cooled engine used exhaust to heat the manifold and keep it from freezing up. 

I'm pretty certain those VWs would have been carburetted - yes - carburettor or intake icing was a problem in cold, damp weather, primarily due to what is known as the "latent heat of vaporisation" - I've always wondered if that was a problem on EFI systems.

the intake doesnt look to be designed for performance.  too many turns.  I have build several turbo dodge motors and ran methanol, never had a problem with intake charge being too cold.  I suppose in alaska it could be a problem, lol.  I think there is enough heat from the engine and engine bay to warm the charge up enough to avoid the ice issue.  but I am certain a new intake could net an easy 5 or more hp. and NO I dont believe all the ricer crap of 15 hp with a cold air, another 20 from a header, ect....  but I do believe with the right combo, the 8v engine can make 100-110 hp.  it has a bit of shrouding on the intake and exhaust valve.  I believe the ports are big enough, but it needs some bowl work as it turns from the port as it enters the bowl area and looks like it uses one half of the port more.  I have my own cnc equipment and built and designed numerous intakes and turbo manifolds for dodges, mitsu, nissans.  So, I will keep u posted on what happens.

I have build several turbo dodge motors and ran methanol, never had a problem with intake charge being too cold.

Injected or carburetted?

injected.  also, on our dodge tbi cars.  they came with a 2.5 four cyl.  never had coolant heating the intake and it didnt drop fuel out of suspension.  I hear what your saying, but even with a new designed intake manifold, its gonna heat up from contact with the head.  if its a problem, then I will build something to heat the fuel before the throttle body.  I think the hp gain will come from better runners to the head ports.  the stock tbi ones arent that great for flow.  if it doesnt work, then it doesnt.  im not trying to build a race engine.  its only 97 ci.  it can only do so much without nitrous or some forced induction.  I just want to bump compression, have a better flowing head and maximize what is there.  I feel the intake manifold can be improved on.  I know newer cars run hotter and that helps them with emissions.  a hotter engine runs leaner.  to a point anyway. 

I tell ya what, if this intake works good, i'll build u one FREE. then send plans to a vendor for everyone else.  I have built and designed alot of performance part in the past for dodge cars.  I dont want to get caught burning midnight oil running both cnc mancines making parts all the time again.  thats how divorces can happen.  lol.  im here simply because I fell in love with these vehicles in Puerto Rico and will share my drag racing experience to help make a little more power. 

Even on a dry manifold, under the right conditions you could get some
icing, but it would have to be really cold and damp, the low pressure zone
after the butterfly could drop to freezing, but not where I live.

Turbo engines create enough heat to prevent icing up of the intake so
a heated manifold wouldn't really be needed.

Most of these intake heating systems are designed for areas of the world
that are really cold in the winter, but because you never know where a
vehicle is going to be driven, everyone gets the cold weather equipment

Wild

we used cummins and powerstroke intercoolers on the old dodges.  I guess im drawn to engines where there isnt much aftermarket. lol.  but with some testing and fab skills, you can make something.  I hope my past sucess with old school dodges helps here.  if it does, im gonna pass my findings on to vendors so they can help the masses.  I know alot of dodge guys like my designs.  I do it cause its a good challenge.