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Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:33 am

Tim...don't feel guilty. Hell I'm a jealous 10 year old over here. I am happy just to look at pictures of your bus. I am breaking the age old commandment, "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's bus."

I thought I had one of the nicest late bays in the Northeast but I am obviously on crack...

My advice to you as I tell my newbie VW buds is to drive it gently but drive it daily. Get to know it so slowly and solidly. Read about it's systems in your spare time so your comfort and familiarity increase.

People ask me how I keep it running and looking so good and I tell them I drive it daily, do regular maintenance, wash it top and bottom, and fix it when it breaks. That's really all you gotta do if you have a bus like yours. :D

Enjoy your bus. Sounds to me like you're in a fine situation. I "quit" life as an executive 6 years ago now. I teach music to about 90 kids in Northern VA, work on my bus, eat a lot of home cooked meals and enjoy my wife and teenagers. It's been a 6 year vacation and I don't plan on stopping.

Frank

Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:45 am

Thanks again everyone for your kind comments and offers of help.

One more note on my decision to pull the trigger on this bus. As you know solid Bays are few and far between here in the Northeast. I was faced with trips out west to look at potential vehicles or having someone else check them out and then paying for shipping. When this one (still needs a name) showed up less than an hour from my house it felt like fate was intervening even though I didn't feel I was quite ready to make the big step off of the cliff.

Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:53 am

Frank-

You are so absolutely right. Sixteen years as a retail executive and then a 'thanks but sorry, it's the economy you know' just before Thanksgiving last year.

So I asked myself what does my heart want me to do, not my head. My heart says I want to do essentially nothing except see this great land of ours and see what comes of it.

I finally realized there is nothing stopping me from keeping me from doing what I want to do rather than society dictating what I should do. The only thing really stopping me is me.

I hope I can find the peace and happiness (and VW knowledge) that you now are enjoying.

Tim

Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:00 am

And you have an awesome story like that to go with it. Badass. 8)

frank79 wrote: I "quit" life as an executive 6 years ago now. I teach music to about 90 kids in Northern VA, work on my bus, eat a lot of home cooked meals and enjoy my wife and teenagers. It's been a 6 year vacation and I don't plan on stopping.

This guy gets it. Not a lot of people do, but he does. Sounds like you're in the same position I am...just starting out living life the way YOU wanna live it. I just posted this in another thread the other day actually, read this book...it changed my life.

You are well on the way to finding VW zen. :vw:

Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:32 am

Congrats, you have an awsome bus! Best way to bond with it is to use it often. Enjoy it and you will soon learn it's quirky behaviors, all VW buses have some :)

And don't worry about breaking down - by the looks of it, your bus might very well keep going for years without problems.

I bought my first VW bus two years ago and I had never done any work on a car except filling gas... It has not been a problem, you learn by doing. And you will feel great when you fix something, even if it is trivial to others :)

I bought my first bus so far north it's equivalent to the north of Alaska and had to drive it home 1550 miles south... I did bring a friend that knew his way around a VW bus, but the bus never let us down. These buses are used to work hard, they are more likely to surprise you than to disappoint you :)

I too have both the Bentley and the Muir book and sometimes they do seem to jump over some steps :) That's why it's good to have both books, one might explain what the other doesn't. Sometimes those books are not enough, so try to locate other bus people in your area.

VW people are allways friendly and helpful when you meet them in person. If you find one, ask if you could hang next time he is fixing something on his bus or bug, it is a great way to learn and you will be surprised by how many new friends you will get :)

And don't be afraid of asking 'stupid' questions; there are none. There's only stupid answers (sometimes). Asking questions is the best way of learning. But search the samba or check your books before you do :)

Remember, even the experts on the Samba with 10.000 posts started out knowing nothing, just like you and me :)

Sun Oct 25, 2009 12:01 pm

Sweet bus! I'm envious. You made the right decision to get the best bus possible to start with. Your mechanical skills wil grow with time and experience and you won't end up hating your bus in the mean time.

Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:04 pm

Beautiful Bus.....and strangely enough, I got the chance to meet Frank79 just yesterday. Great guy, really knows his stuff. Wish I could have had more time to spend with him. I saw pics of yours and said "that looks like Frank's Bus!!!" You will really really like it.........

Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:09 pm

Great looking Bus!

Sounds like you are going to have some great adventures with your bus :0)

You probably already know this if you have been lurking on thesamba… but if you haven’t, then check out Richard Atwels Web sight, especially FAQ and Essential upgrades…

www.ratwell.com if you read and understand all of his sight, you can immediately jump to the 90% tile of knowledgeable VW Bus owners compared to the average bus owner (not average samba Bus owning member ;0)

Owning a VW Bus is an adventure in it self; and one of the most important things is; do no harm, in that light the fire extinguisher in your bus is a great thing! However its positioning is not. Same goes for the wicker tray etc… in case of a front ender you probably do not want any additional sharp/hard object near your legs/body. If possible see what VW did in terms of accessories/upgrades to get an idea of what is a good/safe way to do modifications/upgrades…

Best of luck to you, on all the adventures to come!

Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:47 pm

Nice lookin bus dude. If ya ever break down in Death Valley... give me a holla, aint that far! :wink:

Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:49 am

That is a great looking bus. Hope you enjoy your journey.

Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:24 pm

AWW MAN!! I'm soo freakin jealous! your bus looks so good!
I wish you and your gem many adventures and few break downs. :D

Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:45 pm

How about "Sweet Pea" or "whirled peas" or "greenie" or "grass" or "gone green" or "alga" or "Jolly Giant"

Your bus should have a name...........

Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:04 pm

Ha!

or Ivy or Clover or booger....

Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:17 pm

Funny - I have a bright green baja I call booger :lol:

Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:32 pm

I vote for "booger." :twisted:

Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:33 pm

It's starting to grow on me. \:D/

Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:12 pm

:bug_green: :bus_green: Boogers Unite!!!

Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:59 pm

sweet ride...jealous! my bus doesnt even run :cry:

Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:52 am

Nice bus man! I'm up in central VT. You dont see too many westys up this way........

dave

Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:14 am

That's why I snatched it. It turned up only about an hour from where I live. I was faced with multiple trips out west or having someone look it over for me. I'd rather see it and drive it myself. I could have gone the resto route, but this worked out economically about the same. I am not that mechanically inclined, yet, so I would have had to pay someone to do a lot of the work. Which is another issue as I don't think we have the same sheer numbers of pro VW experts in rural Vermont building heads, fixing FI, etc, etc. as they do on the west coast or even in the urban areas of the East.

So even though I haven't had a chance to learn from it yet, I'm sure it is going to show me a thing or two. :roll: