78 bus
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germansupplyscott
- Posts: 887
- Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2001 12:01 am
78 bus
the heater boxes and exhaust on that year bus are very expensive to replace, especially the exhaust "elbows" that connect the heater boxes to the manifolds. they are NLA, actually. so make sure they are good, or you will have to replace the whole exhaust, changing it to a 72-74 spec, which will cost a bundle. if you keep the bus, you will likely make this change some day anyway, but for now make sure the whole exhaust is good, or if not budget for a big bill to replace it.
check the front beam carefully, they rust out. look for rust on the curved parts of it, and on the middle part where the steering pitman arm pivots on the beam.
check for too much camber in the rear wheels, this means tired torsion arms.
make see if the heater/defroster cables work. they are fixable, but a bit of a pain to do.
look for good functioning of the sliding door.
compression near 120 is fine, btw, for a used motor. try to drain the oilo and look for metal bits.
good luck,
scott lyons
check the front beam carefully, they rust out. look for rust on the curved parts of it, and on the middle part where the steering pitman arm pivots on the beam.
check for too much camber in the rear wheels, this means tired torsion arms.
make see if the heater/defroster cables work. they are fixable, but a bit of a pain to do.
look for good functioning of the sliding door.
compression near 120 is fine, btw, for a used motor. try to drain the oilo and look for metal bits.
good luck,
scott lyons
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DungBeetle
78 bus
thank you. i will definately look at all that stuff. we are about to have another baby in the family and will need all the seats. this one has all the seats and seatbelts. i just need it to last until we can get a more reliable vehicle at tax time. then it becomes mine to do with what i please. i own a '64 beetle and this might possibly be my first bus. it does have some of the usual rust at the bottom of the windsheild and on the bottoms of the doors. but it is fixable if taken care of fairly quickly. the door did slide easily also.
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Derek May
- Posts: 217
- Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2001 1:01 am
78 bus
The 412 tranny will have too tall gearing. It will probably fit, as the engine is the same, but anything but a bus tranny is a bad idea, unless you are putting in an engine that has gobs more power.
The '78 came with the 091 tranny, which is a as tough a tranny as VW ever made for aircooled. Earlier buses had an 02 tranny, which can get bad synchros. But even with bad synchros, if you time the shift just so, the things keep going and going.
Its unlikely you'll have problems with the tranny, and they tend to fade away starting with bad synchomesh rather than have spectacular failures.
I've got a 75, and echo everything already said regarding the heat-exchangers/exhaust system, except to add that the amount of heat you will get even out of a functioning system is pitiful unless you've also got a BA6 auxiliary gas heater installed. You can tell by looking for a green knob next to the emergency flashers that has a clockwork timer mechanism activated by pushing it in, and turning clockwise.
Often the sytem is 'broken' according to the PO, but easily repaired. Most people, shops included, are intimadated by the heaters, but they aren't bad. Check www.type2.com library for resources on the heater, including a link to an on-line manual that is invaluable in testing and repairing. Also check the exhaust pipe out of the thing, they can rust out and you have to get creative to fabricate your own, they aren't something you can find.
Most often, the problem comes down either to a dirty glow plug or even more common, a blown in-line fuse. The system has a failsafe heat detector which will blow the fuse if things get too hot. As they age, the thing seems to get hypersensitive and blow if you idle too long (less air moving through to cary out the heat) at high temp settings.
You definately need good tin at the heat exchangers to keep the air flowing to keep it working properly.
Finally, there is misinformation on how the knob works. Many people activate the timer all the time, but you don't need to. All you do is turn the know clockwise to turn it on. The heater control lever needs to be at the very bottom too. The knob has a thermostat, the more you crank it, the more heat you get. The timer is to warm the van when the key is out of the ignition and engine isn't running.
The '78 came with the 091 tranny, which is a as tough a tranny as VW ever made for aircooled. Earlier buses had an 02 tranny, which can get bad synchros. But even with bad synchros, if you time the shift just so, the things keep going and going.
Its unlikely you'll have problems with the tranny, and they tend to fade away starting with bad synchomesh rather than have spectacular failures.
I've got a 75, and echo everything already said regarding the heat-exchangers/exhaust system, except to add that the amount of heat you will get even out of a functioning system is pitiful unless you've also got a BA6 auxiliary gas heater installed. You can tell by looking for a green knob next to the emergency flashers that has a clockwork timer mechanism activated by pushing it in, and turning clockwise.
Often the sytem is 'broken' according to the PO, but easily repaired. Most people, shops included, are intimadated by the heaters, but they aren't bad. Check www.type2.com library for resources on the heater, including a link to an on-line manual that is invaluable in testing and repairing. Also check the exhaust pipe out of the thing, they can rust out and you have to get creative to fabricate your own, they aren't something you can find.
Most often, the problem comes down either to a dirty glow plug or even more common, a blown in-line fuse. The system has a failsafe heat detector which will blow the fuse if things get too hot. As they age, the thing seems to get hypersensitive and blow if you idle too long (less air moving through to cary out the heat) at high temp settings.
You definately need good tin at the heat exchangers to keep the air flowing to keep it working properly.
Finally, there is misinformation on how the knob works. Many people activate the timer all the time, but you don't need to. All you do is turn the know clockwise to turn it on. The heater control lever needs to be at the very bottom too. The knob has a thermostat, the more you crank it, the more heat you get. The timer is to warm the van when the key is out of the ignition and engine isn't running.