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Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:11 am

I have a '78 Westy and I'm considering putting a TDI motor that is sitting at my house in it. I am a little hesitant to disable the bus right at the start of camping season though...

So what I was thinking is if I could find a bus that isn't running for cheap, I could use it as the prototype vehicle and then once it is running under TDI power and the bugs are worked out of the system, I can swap everything over to my '78 Westy and sell or whatever the prototype bus.

The current Westy has high sentimental value, so I want to keep it around for a long time, selling it for all this isn't an option.

My question is this:
What year range is going to have the same engine mounting setup? I am guessing '74-79 but wanted to verify before I start looking for a candidate.

Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:25 am

72-79

Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:50 am

wouldn't it be more fun to experiment with one of these? That would give you some real power and reliability. Why go for just a TDI?

or one of these

Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:05 pm

Ha ha, that is amazing! Except I think the bus would permanently be doing a wheelie!

I must be confused on the years, though. I thought that '72 was the last year of the T1 engine, '73 had the T4, and '74 was the first year of the hatch up above. Is this wrong?

I do want a hatch if I do the "Prototype" thing, which is why I said '74. I was just a bit worried that that early the mounts might have been different/in a different place or something.

Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:17 pm

'71 was the last year for T1 engine, '72 had the old style nose with big brake lights and old style bumpers and the first T4, '73 they put in the engine hatch.

Sun Feb 28, 2010 6:53 pm

maximan1 wrote: '71 was the last year for T1 engine, '72 had the old style nose with big brake lights and old style bumpers and the first T4, '73 they put in the engine hatch.

Sweet, so I just had all my years off by one.

Now I just need to find a '73 or up that needs an engine!