Help Please. My son is determined to buy a 1600cc manual Type 2 Bay window model. I know nothing about these,as he wants me to look at it, so would appreciate any advice on faults or problems with the bodywork mainly. The person selling is prepared to put it on a ramp to inspect the underside. Please don't talk him out of it. I know he's going to buy one!.
Thanks John
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John,
The fact is most of these are patch welded heaps. I appreciate the appeal so I'm not knocking them if the boy wants one.
Friends spent months and months welding in new panels on one, working rearwards only to find the engine was held in (just) by metal as cruncy as cornflakes...they gave up and scrapped it.
Another 30yr old VW locally is patch welded to the minimum for each MOT, in the end the patches have virtually joined up underneath. It looks brilliant from the top in a bright paint job with big raodwheels and a sports stering wheel.
You must take an expert in VW's to look at this, bit like if I looked at a Land Rover for you I could cut through the waffle and spot a dog in five minutes.
Good luck.
David
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........big raodwheels.......
These are a special fittment on Beetles of course.
Edit Button can't arrive too soon.
David
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I wasn't impressed with the raodwheels, but I do want one of those "sports stering wheels"
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Mark,
Trying to eat my tea and post to two sites. (Should I say eat my tee and post two too sites!) Kids running around trying to snatch the mouse.......the usual Friday night....and it's only Thursday.
David
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> Trying to eat my tea and post to two sites. (Should I say eat
> my tee and post two too sites!)
If that includes drinking tea, then I'm jealous. Oh for a decent cup of tea with real milk. And the thought of a decent fried egg & bacon sandwich in new bread !
On the other hand, its winter and therefore sunny & 32 degrees C, and I can hear the beer calling from the beach, and tomorrow is a holiday.
The only important thing I have to do this weekend is to get a new gardener because the dogs bit the other one this morning and he quit. What a wuss, he's got another leg !
M.
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So what's your milk made from....and the bread?
David
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The only milk you can buy here is the long-life stuff. Its the same as the Long Life that you can buy in the UK, comes in cartons and lasts forever. Tastes like @!#$%$ though.
As for the bread, it is that horrible over processed stuff. Its sliced, dry and tasteless. It doesn't toast properly and just goes rock hard.
I've got coleman's mustard, you can get some kind of ham, but the bread's naff
I've got Kellogg's cornflakes, but the milk is lousy.
I've got HP sauce, but the sausages are awful.
I've got chips, but I can't get vinegar
Life is tough.
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Mark,
If you miss new bread, get a bread machine, seriously. We bought one made by LG >2 years ago for 49UKP in Sheffield Cole brothers, (hi Carole) and have hardly bought a loaf since. Make own bread, breadcakes, pizza dough, its fantabulous. Never a failure yet. Everyone who visits us goes away and buys one as they reckon the bread tastes is like it used to be when they were kids.
Plus you can do all those fancy puffy wossname breads like focaccia, sun dried tomato and so one.
If you can't get decent bread flour email me and I can give you a link for the shop where we buy our stuff from he's got a website and exports all over but can't find it at the moment.
As we are talking off topic about snap, what's happened to the best ice cream ever made, Ben & Jerry's Dilberts Totally Nuts?
Anyway to drag this thread back to motors, I used to have one of these Type 2 Devon conversion, as you say rust is the major enemy, but most else is bullet proof. Oh yes that worm & peg steering box is a bugg*r once its past its prime so look at that. Get a 1600 single port engine as the twin ports are more likely to have head problems. Check all the linkages, esp the throttle wire levers etc as they wear with big mileage.
Also when he's bought one, I say when not if, where DID I put those surfing beads, go to an MOT tester who understands Type 2 VW vans, it will save a lot of heartache.
Happy days,
Stuart
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> If you miss new bread, get a bread machine, seriously.
Does this *really* taste like new bread, or is it like that homebrew beer which everybody reckons tastes like beer but it doesn't ?
If it really does, then since I am in the UK in a couple of weeks, where on earth can I buy one ?
And by virtue of offering assistance in return, try this .. www.benjerry.co.uk/
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> Does this *really* taste like new bread, or is it like that
> homebrew beer which everybody reckons tastes like beer but it
> doesn't ?
Home brewed beer yuk!
The recipes in the book (included) have to be followed more or less exactly. Eg we put a bit less (minus25%) sugar in ours as the standard mix is too sweet, but experiment till you get it right.
> If it really does, then since I am in the UK in a couple of
> weeks, where on earth can I buy one ?
For sale all over in electrical shops, you will be staggered by the choice. LG's actually were for sale in Sainsbury's a while ago for ~£50. You can spend a fortune on them, up to 200UKP maybe even more, but ours is right at the cheap end and works fine.
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Right, well that'll be on the shopping list then.
All I've got to do now is buy a cow and breakfast cereal and afternoon tea will be back on the menu.
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"buy a cow and breakfast cereal and afternoon tea will be back on the menu."
Presumably the breakfast cereal is for the chocolate crispie buns then? ;-D
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Dilbert's World Totally Nuts
(RIP 2001)
For those of you with a nutty predilection this was always a flavour close to your heart!!! It was a butter almond ice cream with roasted hazelnuts, praline pecans and white fudge-coated almonds
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He's a surfer, isn't he ? Or at least something similar.
The engines on these either go on for ever, or are cheap/simple to repair. (aside from knuckle-skin loss). I ran one from Montpelier to Southampton with a failed cylinder. It was slow, but it got there.
However, you do need to worry about the body work. Signs of rust, accident repair, previous damage etc. etc.
If its going on a ramp, my experience would suggest that any problem will probably be visible. - inside the wings, under the carpets, around the fuel tank, front bulkead, etc. etc.
Check which camper conversion it is and who it was done by. This can just fall apart leaving you wiht an empty minibus. However, even then the issues are obvious.
Your problem is not likely to be finding the problem; the issue is going to be convincing your son that the problem matters.
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I've looked at and driven several of these that belonged to friends. I almost bought one earlier this year, but I got scared and bought a Citroen BX instead (!). They all had a great time in them, and they were very reliable beasts, but they all turned out to be far more rusty than they thought. This is what I wrote the last time somebody asked this question:
Your main enemy is rust. Look under the front seats, in the wheel arches front and rear, the sills and the door hinges. And make sure (that's REALLY sure) that the chassis hasn't been patched up with filler. If there is ANY sign of a repair, such as a patch of new-ish underseal or such like, ask to see receipts or photographs of the repair and if you have any doubt at all walk away. There are a lot of rusty old heaps out there with gleaming new paint ready for the summer. If you can get one with an oil temp. gauge (the oil is also the coolant) so much the better. If not, it might be worth having one fitted. Later models (post-1972 I think) are better in a crash and have disk brakes, although many earlier ones will have had them fitted anyway.
There are still a lot of these around, in various stages of decay, so don't buy the first one you look at just because it's convenient. If I were you I'd go to a dealer like BPS in Hindhead, or Halifax Beetles. They offer warranties, amazingly, and have a reputation to think of. But you will pay more.
Chris
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I owned a "splittie" in the late seventies. It had been originally 6 volt uprated to 12 except that it had an appetite for starters. I spent almost all my time fighting rust. I have seen many of these and they literally rust before your eyes. For the same money as he is going to spend on a rebuilt camper buy a later T4 and DIY. (Bilbo's at South Godstone are the people to talk to.)
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Following on from Andrew's point.....
It really is better to do your own conversion. Its not difficult or expensive and other than the gas cooker, its non hazardous.
I did this myself and the transit minibus is the ideal vehicle to do it with. Trouble is, in the surfing community nothing has the credibility of the VW.
If converting your own transit appeals, especially if he is a windsurfer, then I did this a couple of times and the second was a great deal better than the first because of things I learned. Advice and suggestions are def. available.
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Thanks for the prompt advice. Sorry he's not a surfer. Just on a gap year before Uni and fancied touring Europe. Andrew, we're only at the Kent end of the M26 so Godstone will be worth a try.
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if you go to yahoo auctions, then click on travel and transportation, then click on recreational vehicles, you often see nice VW campers for sale, the one i saw was light blue and cream, and modern and retro inside, and even has a pepsi bottle cooler, i think its £1350 to buy it out of the auction, if you email the seller. please let me know how you get on.
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go to the same auction page for a VW camper haynes manual, the current bid is £4. it covers 1968 - 197?.
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I might as well start a car by car entry on the Type 2 Bay Window. My mum had one in the 1970s, so we've all been there. Got some more stuff buried away in old computer files and will revive for the entry some time later on.
HJ
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John
Make the sale subject to the vehicle passing an M.O.T.
If it fails, seller pays. If it passes you pay.
Careful as to who is elected to carry out the test.
But youth will have its way and your wallet........
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Hey,
Seriously have a look at the later Vans - 1980 - 83 they are vastly more robust, and less likely to be rotten, although they aren't so cute to look at they will give far less bother long term .I had a 1982 X Danbury conversion, until last year when I sold it - (18mpg) and it was utterly reliable
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Don't know what junior's budget is for the VW, but it might save a lot of worry if you lent/gave him the extra money to buy a new one. At least one company imports these aircooled vans and minibuses unofficially from Mexico, including a bare version that can be fitted out. They're not wildly expensive ...They also sell aircooled Beetles for about £7000
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