# Vw Bus People!



## Hand/of/Midas (Sep 19, 2007)

how do you guys carry your bikes? ive got a roofrack on my car,but think i want to keep the teek roof rack for coolness factor, so i might throw a hitch on. but wonder what ya'll do. if any of you are even out there........


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## Boofhead (Apr 23, 2004)

I have a '77 Westfalia and have been stuggling with the same issue for years. I had my bikes mounted on the front using a rack I made out of some tubular steel for a few years but was never very happy with them there. I had them inside for a while too but having a muddy mountain bike inside my nice clean bus only got me into hot water with my wife. 
I found this rack system on bus depot just recently and it looks great. I haven't picked one up yet but the reviews I've read look good.

http://www.busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=KA0026


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## forkboy (Apr 20, 2004)

Boofhead said:


> I found this rack system on bus depot just recently and it looks great. I haven't picked one up yet but the reviews I've read look good.
> 
> http://www.busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=KA0026


I've had one of those Fiamma racks for about 8 years. It's held up great.
With my oooooooooold yeti...









Cons:
You need a cable lock. 
You need a stick to hold up the rear hatch even with no bikes in the rack
The standard holders are OK but having one of the odd holders is nice too.

Pros - you can fit 3 bikes on there - it's snug, but they definitely fit. Even big bikes.
And they are all out of the way.


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## f2f4 (Aug 10, 2007)

I wish I could find a VW bus for sale in Jersey that isn't broken. I would buy it in a heartbeat.


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## 9GUY9 (Jul 14, 2007)

Do the VW bus's share much with the air cooled bugs, as far as engine and drivetrain goes?


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## hydrogeek (Feb 20, 2006)

*It depends on the year...*

The early buses had the same engines as the bug up until the early 70's. The transmissions have always been different though. Early busses had a very similar gear box but with separate gear reduction boxes at the end of the axles to reduce the gear ratios. The later buses just built the reduction into the transmission. The bus transmissions have always been built stronger because they have to push more weight. They are a favorite for off-road racers. In the 70's the buses went to a type 4 motor, similar to the 914 Porsche, then on to water cooled, then Audi motors, then I lost track.


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## 9GUY9 (Jul 14, 2007)

hydrogeek said:


> The early buses had the same engines as the bug up until the early 70's. The transmissions have always been different though. Early busses had a very similar gear box but with separate gear reduction boxes at the end of the axles to reduce the gear ratios. The later buses just built the reduction into the transmission. The bus transmissions have always been built stronger because they have to push more weight. They are a favorite for off-road racers. In the 70's the buses went to a type 4 motor, similar to the 914 Porsche, then on to water cooled, then Audi motors, then I lost track.


Cool, SO I assume bug performance parts will work on a early bus . What are some good site to lean more about them?


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## Polk (Jan 19, 2004)

9GUY9 said:


> Cool, SO I assume bug performance parts will work on a early bus . What are some good site to lean more about them?


Assuming your have a Type I engine, start looking for air cooled VW performance web sites. www.cal-look.com is a good place to start. The Shop Talk Forums are also not bad. CB Performance and aircooled.net are a couple good parts sources.

Take some time and learn what works best. You can slap a few parts on and temporarily gain some performance, but you may end up with a scattered engine. I built a 2110cc engine for my 1968 Beetle eight years ago and have had it apart a few times since then for various improvements. Big engines can be reliable (I put about 20,000 miles on mine) but you need to know what you are doing.

If you just want to keep up with traffic, there are a few bolt-on items that can help a lot. Assuming you have a stock 1300, 1500, or 1600, here are my thoughts. First, you need dual port heads. Your engine may have them already. Get some Kadron style carburetors. These days Empi makes them, but people will know what you mean if you say Kadron. Learn how to set up the jetting; that will make a big difference in how how it runs. Your stock distributor won't work with the Kads; a 009 distributor is a good basic distributor, asy to set up, and inexpensive. Lastly, an exhaust system. For a mostly stock engine as I have described, go with a 1 3/8" header (non-merged) that works with your stock heater boxes (or J-tubes if you have removed the heaters) and either a single or dual quiet pack. A single will flow enough, but a dual does look cool!

My first performance engine was similar to this and it ran great. A good boost or the stock power, but easy to work on.


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## BlueTrain (Jan 24, 2005)

there ya go..
http://www.vwsites.com/bus.php

oh, and very nice bus OP.


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## Hand/of/Midas (Sep 19, 2007)

BlueTrain said:


> oh, and very nice bus OP.


i have to rebuild the engine as the #4 piston gets almost no compression. am going to do that soon, what are some upgrades i should do at the same time? its a 2000cc BTW.


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## ChromedToast (Sep 19, 2006)

Hand/of/Midas said:


> i have to rebuild the engine as the #4 piston gets almost no compression. am going to do that soon, what are some upgrades i should do at the same time? its a 2000cc BTW.


Subaru motor conversion.


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## overtorqued_nut (Oct 24, 2005)

ChromedToast said:


> Subaru motor conversion.


Seconding this. You can go as practical or wild as you want. You will have to do a fair amount of electronic trickery, but you will have a modern engine. Could you imagine a modded STi engine in there? Well that might be a bit too much power actually...:eekster:


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## HitchSource.com (May 7, 2008)

*My Eurovan*

I've had a '78 Westy, an '85 Westy, and now have an '02 Eurovan Westy. My company has over 50 hitch racks and this is the one I personally use... The Softride Dura bike rack comes in a 1.25" or 2" version and it folds down enough to open the rear hatch on any of the VWs. IMHO it's the way to go.

The Eurovan hitch is well designed, but receiver hitches for the older models are hard to come by because of the way they mount to the frame.



















More info: 2" Eurovan Trailer Hitch

More Info: Softride Bike Racks


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## ChromedToast (Sep 19, 2006)

overtorqued_nut said:


> Seconding this. You can go as practical or wild as you want. You will have to do a fair amount of electronic trickery, but you will have a modern engine. Could you imagine a modded STi engine in there? Well that might be a bit too much power actually...:eekster:


May be newer, but just a doable in the older ones.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3


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## hydrogeek (Feb 20, 2006)

Hand/of/Midas said:


> i have to rebuild the engine as the #4 piston gets almost no compression. am going to do that soon, what are some upgrades i should do at the same time? its a 2000cc BTW.


The best place to start is have the crank and the rods balanced. Buy a good performance cam, not too wild so you can tune the motor. Use good german made parts, pistons, rings, valves, etc. Buy the best seals that you can also, trust me, if comes from Brazil, don't use it. If you have the bucks have the heads opened up and ported for more airflow. Do you already have dual carbs? You can replace the carb and intakes with aftermarket parts for more performance also. As stated before, get a better exhaust than the stock setup.


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## dog.gone (Mar 14, 2009)

Great thread. 

Other than motorcycles, I haven't owned a vehicle for a few years - or a vw bus for even longer - but I miss my busses ('68 bus & '72 camper) and would love to eventually get another to carry my bike.


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## J_Westy (Jan 7, 2009)

HitchSource.com said:


> I've had a '78 Westy, an '85 Westy, and now have an '02 Eurovan Westy.


Here's our Eurovan with a Paulchen rack with a Stowaway cargobox mounted on the hitch underneath.

Not sure how readily Paulchen racks are available? But they sure are sturdy.


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## NHDirtWorshipper (Jun 29, 2011)

Resurrecting this thread to see if anyone has come up with an efficient way to carry their bikes on a pre-'73 Bus.
I have a '71 with a poptop, so a roof rack is out of the question. Ideally I would like a hitch rack, but it doesn't seem that you can mount a hitch on the early bay-windows?!?
I have a cheapo Bell trunk rack for my Hyundai that would probably fit the Vdub, and it's fine for my commuter, but I'm not sure I'd trust it with my Fuel EX.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.


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## motard5 (Apr 9, 2007)

Just to make all the bus lovers jealous.

California Dreaming: Volkswagen California Beach Van - WOT on Motor Trend


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## DavidR1 (Jul 7, 2008)

The Ca Beach van is sweet...but not $54k sweet. If they dropped the price by $20k they would sell, but that price is to high.

I'm looking forward to a new VW Van in the US. I was really hoping the Bulli proto would take off, but haven't heard anything about it.


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## mtec (Sep 23, 2010)

NHDirtWorshipper said:


> Resurrecting this thread to see if anyone has come up with an efficient way to carry their bikes on a pre-'73 Bus.
> I have a '71 with a poptop, so a roof rack is out of the question. Ideally I would like a hitch rack, but it doesn't seem that you can mount a hitch on the early bay-windows?!?


This is on my '72...


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## NHDirtWorshipper (Jun 29, 2011)

mtec said:


> This is on my '72...


Is that hitch just welded to your bumper? Did you do that yourself?


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## mtec (Sep 23, 2010)

I wouldn't say its just welded to it, it has a 2x2" steel squaretube with .25" wall thickness that spans the width between the frame mounts on the inside of the bumper. 

Stout as hell. Someone else did it, but they did it right.


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