Anyone remember this project? It's been on the back burner for a long time. Today she took to the road (with some help). It's off to the body shop where it'll get smoothed and painted. I'll keep you guys (and gals) posted on it's progress.











Here's the rest of the pics, for those who haven't seen it before:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Tattooingsc/vw/

I was just thinking about that bus the other day. Good to see it again. Keep us posted. Brad

Sweet! Did you keep the original VW motor? If it were me, I would put a turbo 2.2 Dodge motor in that thing.

Reed,

I'm not sure if the motor's original or not, but it does look to me like a vw motor. I haven't gotten into the mechanics of it other than running rear brake lines and extending the shifter linkage and wiring. I did drive it, and was amazed how peppy this thing is for the amount of weight that was added to it. It's 3 vans, exactly 26' 2-1/2" from bumper to bumper.

The welding that was done was incredible. I did the work underneath with the van on a 2 post lift and it didn't flex at all.

Boot, if anyone can make one of these fugly VW busses look good its you. Good luck, and dont they make a porsche motor that will bolt in there?

LOVE IT

Awesome. If the body doesn't flex then you are in good shape. That is always the complaint i hear about stretched vehicles- they flex and then break. If that body stood up to being towed like that, then it should be OK.

A few years back I was toying with the idea of getting a vintage type II VW bus, but all the stories I read about fires, bad heat, poor electrical systems, and the difficulty of working on them made me decide against it. Before I abandoned the idea altogether I did some research and found companies that sell adapter plates to let you mount quite a wide variety of motors to the VW axle. I like the Chrysler 2.2 motor because it is a good durable motor and was factory built with a turbo. If you found a junked mid 80s turbo lebaron or new yorker you could even incorporate the digital dash. That would be sweet.

26' 2 1/2". Hmm, my sister used to have a 65 Cadillac that was 21 or 22 feet long, and I think my standard length 89 Ford comes in right around 20 feet. It would be very odd driving a cab forward vehicle that was that long.

Great to see it again!

I stumbled upon a website a few years back where a fellow over in Europe had a VW bus that he installed a Toyota 22R engine in. Those engines were used back in the 80's in RWD Celicas and the pickups. Not sure what else. But anyhow those 22R engines are VERY reliable and had lots of pep.

Sweet