There was a synchro that was not running for sale in my town back in 2006-7 when I was in med school for $2000.....but I was in med school and had no storage or money. I knew I would regret that

Mark/911euro - tell your wife the "cute Westy" is for her, to avoid the

Mark/Kelty - From 27 years of loading experience for both trips to Home Depot/Lowes/etc. & family long XC trips with our 88 Westy, that F/R balance can vary widely!

I've put in way over max of paving stones on the center floor for 1.5 miles Home Depot to home, but am in limits for trips - but then it was still down to 35 mph, then 30, then 25 on the 3 successive big I-70 WB grades over the Rockies with me + 2 kids & our stuff!!!! It's an Auto, so that robs some of the meager 95 HP!

95 HP - another thing in common with the 73-74 914-2.0's! ....at about 1/2 the wt.!
... + F & R sway bars too!

When I take the Westy on mountain twisties (without my wife, who doesn't like it too fast), I'm amazed at how well it handles for such a tall & skinny wheelbase (relative to ht.) vehicle!

After all 48 months during the factory warranty of complaining about the left lean on our Westy from new & them saying no problem, when I changed out the springs & shocks F & R in 2013 - it turned out the factory put in the std. duty tin top springs instead of the HD Westy ones.

New proper HD factory springs & shocks - NO MORE LEAN!! Dang dealership idiots & factory mis-assembly cost me several $100s 25 years later, & the proper HD springs would not have sagged in all probability!

As to cost of ownership, the `88 Westy has cost 3-4x as much as for my `85 BMW 325e over the years per my Quicken Reports I do every so foten. So quality was not a high point at VW in the 1980s!!

Anyone else in the east or southeast with an AC Vanagon or Westy have trouble with cold condensate water dripping down on the rear seat & stowage are in back??

Every trip when we got into the Texas Panhandle & on east we had a frigid rain forest from our AC dripping! I finally rigged up a gutter & drain spout with a wallpaper glue trough & some clear fridge water hose to catch & drain it. In SoCal & Southwest it's dry enough to not be a problem.

Cheers!
Tom
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Speaking of Synchros...what about this Quantum? There IS a big dent up front. Don't see many of these.

Quantum

Audi engine/drive train? Seems like it would be easy to upgrade that to something newer/better/faster. 1.8T or something?

I was fascinated with the B32 when I first discovered it (I was looking for a Type 2 T2b Westfalia). The other VW-Porsche!

Porsche B32 walk around video

Porsche B32: The Porsche Camper Van That Almost Was

real 4x4 has a 2 speed transfer case, anything else is just all wheel drive.

So what do I call it when I have a lockable diff on the rear wheels and a decoupler on my drive shaft to disengage from the front axle?

a selectable all wheel drive with a locking diff.

do you have a high/low range transfer case......

granny low 1st gear doesn't count, i have that and the high low on the jeep.... a real 4x4

Well....can you fix omelettes and capuccinos for breakfast in your kitchen after a good nights sleep in your comfy bed when you get to the end of the trail?

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Can you find the Westy in this picture?
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Eileen got a lot of attention at the desert event I went to this past week.

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One gentleman there said he looked at a nice SYNCRO the previous week, and the seller was only asking $8k for it

I figured it was probably already gone, so I didn't bother to get the seller's contact info


P.S. Just going through a week of email(s) ... got a notification that my new Yokohama Geolander ATS 215/65-16 tires should be delivered here tomorrow - I guess I'd better get to cleaning up and painting the one remaining unfinished MBZ CLK wheel

Awesome Mark. Looks like fun.

Here's one for $8k...but it's got some rust. Probably better to pay more locally than import this one... Looks like it's covered in salt too.

$8k Synchro


Good deal though given what these are going for.

Seems to be a real diversity of attitudes in this crowd.

I went on The Samba and local Craig's List and it seems the market has exploded. I don't think I saw a Westy below 12k and that was an air-cooled Vanagon. Anything below 10k is probably going to need a lot of work. Whew.

Ham Radio people ... a lot of us are musicians too. Had some good jam sessions


This is the creation I came up with this year. Several people helped - by dumping a pile of junk at my camp site

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It's a fun gig ...

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/cto/4889094251.html


http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/cto/4874857448.html

no relation

So there's just one strange thing about this Vanagon...totally fixable, but hilariously odd...

Bondovan

The bondo looks like the state of Texas in reverse. Maybe he should just paint it like a relief map.

LOL! GRIND THAT DOWN DUDE!!!!

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And here's a version you can actually see without a magnifying glass.

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Well, we ended up getting into a trailer/RV space for the Ocean Mesa Vintage Trailer Rally this past weekend, so our Westy got bumped for our 1960 Avion T20 TT instead. We were taking the Westy if staying in the tent camping spaces.

So no chance yet to do some nice post resto pix at the beach, plus it turned out El Capitan State Beach campground below where we were was closed up due to a water well problem anyway, so we couldn't have gotten down there for the beach front pix anyway.

On another note, I had a jackass come by on his bicycle & ask if I wanted to sell the Westy when it was parked on the street during the auto-musical chairs we have to do to get the Avion back in the driveway.

What was insulting was he offered me a whole $4500! ... that's right - no zeros missing !!!!

He knew about Westies too, so it's not like he could've even thought it was a reasonable price for one even not knowing how much resto we've done!

He came by the house about a year ago & offered $6500 telling me that his uncle restores & sells them up in San Ferd Valley, but he doesn't remember that.

My answer was the same both times: "Get out of here fool!"

I just hate those rip off a-holes like him! Geesh!

Cheers!
Tom
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You're missing the point Chris..... That's Modern Art! ... not a repair!

To be fair he actually explains it very well. He had some extra bondo every once in a while and just smeared it there every time instead of throwing it away...never planning to actually fix the dent that way, just temporarily.

$6500 offer for your Westy? The really nice blue one ????

I've actually seen artwork like that with bondo on canvas for sale in galleries in Laguna Beach!

Yes - the nice blue restored one owner of ours (we only have the one, unlike some on here), but he only offered $4500 on Sunday!

The guy is a goofball looking for a steal!

I told him he should try a guy around the corner with a terminal project pre-87 non-Westfalia pop-top conversion (American - blanking on the name now) & he may sell it for 4500, but he said no, he wants a real westy only - so he knows them.

I suggested that he look at NADA, KBB & GoWesty for REAL prices/values, before he insults anyone else with a Westy.

We used to call guys like that a Doofus!

Tom
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This looks very nice....

89 Carat

Not many pics...but a full re-spray couldn't have been cheap.

What ....?

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E-Bay Link - Poor Vanagon

Dudes...here's a synchro and it comes with a Subie 6 with wiring harness/computer...$7500... the rust situation would need to be investigated,

Synchro package deal

I kinda like it.....in a perverted sort of way. At least it's air cooled.

Ummmm.....this is interesting....Syncro with an SVX engine partially installed...just needs to be finished. Wiring harness, intake, exhaust not done (wiring IS one of the sucky parts). No affiliation, just pointing it out. $7k seems like a decent deal depending on the overall condition.

Synchro SVX Vannie

Oh man, if I had $7K to blow I would snatch that up in a heart beat. Has most of all the things I would want. Dang I bet it sells fast, even to one of the restoration places that get $75K for restored versions.

Seems like a decent deal...heck it even comes with an extra Subie 6 for your 914!

It's gone...anyone here? The $7000 syncro is still in play.

Yeah, I bought it - and my wife came unglued




... JK ...

But you sold some stuff Mark ! Net zero gain right ?! What's one more Vanagon in the scheme of your collection? You could get to Arizona really fast too. "Hang on honey, little short cut here...be there in a jif..."

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If the Westy sells, I may keep the 'BB' - when Dianne's '71 is done, we'll have a 914 here and one in AZ

Good the ad says sale pending...

Yeah probably a good thing for those of us mid-project (all of us ). Great deal though. The man hours it takes to pull that engine and install it in the Vanagon...big PITA already done. It does need an intake and exhaust fabbed and the wiring isn't done, and you know how fun that is. But it's a syncro...with an engine...for $7500...

What did the MSDS 3.2 conversion kit consist of? I recently pickup a '86 Doka. I prefer the old school 911 in a bus approach. I've run a few different 911 motors in my '68 d/c 911 2.4E, stock 3.2, slightly modded 3.2, and currently a modded 3.3 930 turbo.

Do you LOVE this or HATE it?

Stretch a gon

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It'll be one or the other most likely.

I think 'Limogon' would be a better name for it

Looks like it was done nicely, but just not my cup of tea. The turning radius must suck.

I'd like to see pix of the interior.

Hate it,

Now if it was a Westy, and a Single cab bed on back. I would trade my 914 out, and go SCCA Pro Solo tour with a nice Forumla V, or modified rail setup. Nothing like a tube frame car, with a Subaru engine, and lots of huge wings to make for a fun less than 60 seconds.

Thats just me, the wife might have different ideas

Hi Gumba,
I've checked out your 930 powered bus in the conversion section of Pelican...it's over the top !
I could email you a pic of the entire kit (not in production at this time), just pm me your email.
Basically the customer just needed the; vehicle, engine, harness, transaxle , 911 L+R outer motor mounts (or Elephant racing), flywheel ,disc, fuel delivery system, converted tach, DME /other mgmt. with mgmt. harness.
1999 prices were approx.
$2,400 2wd kit
$2,600 4wd kit
$3,300 2wd kit for g50
Marty

....1000 words....

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Tom
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Egads ... there's more than one of those on the loose?

Actually, after looking at both pix more, I think it's the same one (note the slightly discolored sliding door mechanism panel at the rear), just with a different set of wheels and window decals ...

Could be Mark!?

There was a build thread link to another site with that one too .... but more like a cut-n-paste or weld thread!

IIRC it was Dave K who posted it a few years back on my topic, when I had said my wife wanted to know if she could pull her "new to us" vintage Avion trailer (sim. to old Airstream) with "her cute little van" ... as an option for her with her van.


Tom
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Years ago I did see a stretched camper van at the VW Classic, in the OC (held every June) that was pretty rough.
The windshield banner read;
"Westfailure"

My Westy's license is Tintipi. This one could be Twintintipi.

There is a member here by the name of Otmar who has an EV 914 that also has a duplex Westy that is two different colors with a zipper painted at the junction. Last I heard he was going to mate a Tesla power train chassis to a Westy.

Edit: turns out he's putting the Tesla power under his stretched Westy. Here's his blog: Stretchla

Love it

The good news is that the pic at the top IS the same van as the one for sale on the previous page. Looking at the pics there's not a LOT more room in there than a regular Westy. Would be fun to drop that off at the valet though .

Mark - I think I saw that Westfailure there too! .... Hilarious!!

Frankly, I think that one of those little lightweight Euro trailers like an Eriba Puck in tow with a Westy is a better solution for added camping space, than a 2x Westy.

They're <1000 lbs. & within the limited towing capacity of a Splitty, Bay or WBX/Vano Westy, cuz they were designed for Bugs & other small Euro cars of the 50's-80's (& are still out there today). They occasionally show up FS on evil-bay & trailer sites, & we've seen a few here in SoCal at vintage trailer events, one pulled by a 2002 Cab (Euro), & a couple of others behind a Splitty & a Bay Window Van (tin-top non-Westies).

That way you can leave the trailer unhitched, if you want to run off somewhere else in the van while camping, but still have the extra bed space for the kids, another couple, etc. Screened-in side awnings, rear hatch & side tents work well too to expand the enclosed space.


Tom
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http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/09/10/...ntcmp=obnetwork

I'll take this little g63 6x6 from Sindelfingen.
Just a few clicks down the road from Wolfsburg Click to view attachment