1978 Volkswagen Bus/Vanagon

Westfalia Minivan/Van

4 - Cyl.

Automatic

Gasoline

This vehicle was featured in a UK Pizza Hut TV advertisement. Warning. I might get a little misty when you drive this bus away. My original vision was to take a year off and drive it around the country with my wife and daughter. Unfortunately, life sometimes has other plans for us. I’ll spare you the details, but I feel it gives some context to the extensive work I have put into this bus. It has a few surface rust spots, but it has the original Mexico Beige paint and hasn’t had any body work, e.g. no accidents. There is a small dent on the driver’s door, but this could easily be dealt with. The original interior is fabulous except the front seats could use some new stuffing and a reupholster, but they’re completely serviceable. The front and rear tables are included (the front one is kinda rare), as is the canvas child cot that sits above the front seats (my 6 year old sleeps here). All original curtains and the rear screen are also present. The only thing missing is the garbage box/camp seat that fits between the front seats, which, to be honest, is more of a hindrance than anything else. 113,000 documented miles. Everything is original. Less than 10,000 miles on a complete overhaul. I have over $5,000 into this vehicle in just parts. Overhaul Engine: Complete rebuild with new cylinders, original heads redone by headflow masters of CA with oversize stainless valves and new springs. The Block was line-bored and the whole motor blueprinted and balanced. Compression chamber volumes were balanced and compression matched. I think I set it at 8.9:1 which is optimized for regular 87 octane gasoline. It has a Raby cam with solid lifters and cromoly pushrods. The motor was dyno’d last fall at 110, 687 miles (113,007 miles on it now) 66 hp at 4259 RPM and 89 lb.ft of torque at 3659 RPM. Please keep in mind this is at the wheels, not on some test bench. You can pass people on the interstate and it will do 90 mph no problem. Dakota Digital Cylinder Head Temperature gauge installed along with VDO oil temp. and oil pressure gauges with proper Porsche 914 sending unit. The exhaust system was converted to the better ’72-’74 system with brand new heater boxes (one of them is OEM VW and the other is a dutch brand), Ernst exhaust and tailpipe. New SVDA distributor and Pertronix electronic ignition and Flamethrower Coil. Always 20/50 Synthetic oil. Transmission: Rare automatic. I originally thought it was going to be a dog to drive, but the transmission is so well mated to the engine that it drives beautifully. The entire automatic transmission was disassembled with new clutch and friction plates installed. All new rubber seals. Anything that was worn was replaced. CV joints repacked with fresh grease. It works beautifully. Brakes: Everything redone except for the front calipers. New brake hoses, brake lines, rear wheel cylinders, shoes, master cylinder (the expensive German one, not the cheap made in Mexico one). Work perfectly. Other important stuff: New battery, rebuilt starter, rebuilt alternator. Blaupunkt CD player with iPod/iPhone connector and removeable faceplate. Charges while you drive. Fresh air fans aka ambulance fans (an option only available in Australia and Canada) which give some great defogging airflow. Electric windshield washer. Hella H4 headlights. Windshield is 2 years old (I hit a turkey and took out the old one) and has a new high-quality German rubber seal. Tires have 3,000 miles on them. Continental Vanco tires all around. Koni adjustable shocks. These are seriously amazing. Locking gas cap in additional to original VW one. Set of custom tye-dyed sheets for the top bunk (made by me). New water pump and switch for sink. It does not have the second battery installed so the fridge functions when plugged into AC power. New diodes in the inverter. Retractable seat belts installed. Repair records from 1983 on and I’ll include a copy of the official service manual, not that you should need it :) I did all of this above because I wanted it to be totally reliable for a year on the road. I hope that all this work I put into it can go to bring a little happiness to you or to you and your family. I live 5 minutes from the MSP International airport so fly in and drive it home anywhere in the country. RossOn Aug-22-11 at 10:43:50 PDT, seller added the following information: Looks like I can't add any more pictures!?! Oh well. Here are some more. http://www.flickr.com/photos/44411062@N00/ There is a picture of the poptop, the top bed, and a graph of the dyno test performed by the shop including the air/fuel mixture at RPM. It was tuned on the dyno as well.