Advice on buying a used bus for trip

mellcomm
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:03 pm

Advice on buying a used bus for trip

Post by mellcomm »

I am thinking about making a cross country trip this summer, and I am thinking about buying a fixer upper bus since the "ready to go" types are a bit out of my price range.

Can anyone tell me if one year is better/easier to work on than another? I know nothing about VW's so anything would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Steve
rapidroy
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:14 pm

Re: Advice on buying a used bus for trip

Post by rapidroy »

Hi,
I had a 79 window bus. Fuel injected 2 litre. It was my first fuel injected vehicle. A dozen V8 american/cars and trucks before that. My van was pretty simple. I didn't have to open up the motor or tranny as that had been done by the previous owner. I knew guys who had the 1.7 lite dual carb models and they stripped them down quite easily. I didn't have a lot of issue with mine. Had calipers sticking and a few other minor issues. Really had a blast in that thing. Tough keeping it straight on the highway during gusty cross winds on the open prairies!

good luck, have fun.
LudwigVan
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:26 pm

Re: Advice on buying a used bus for trip

Post by LudwigVan »

This was great in the 1980s as there were people all around NA who know how to work on these cars.

In 2016, no.

You need to be proficient to the point of being able to do valve adjustments, change plugs, all igntiion parts, and fix brakes, wheel bearings, axle shafts all by yourself as there are no longer shops that know these cars.

Case in point. On the 1972-79 Bay Window Bus with the 'pancake' engine (Type IV) - if you over tighten the oil drain plug when changing the oil, you just destroyed your cam bearings and your engine. It takes a mere 10 foot pounds of torque and you had better use a calibrated torque wrench.
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