TheSamba.com :: View topic - My 1975 Microbus 8 seater 2l engine (RHD Aussie)

Sat Apr 11, 2015 4:43 pm

To celebrate my 100th post here on Thesamba I'm happy to say I've just purchased my first Kombi, my 4th air cooled VW.
It's a 1975 Microbus 8 seater with a 2l engine.
I'm the Fourth owner. The first owner had it up to 2011, I have all the paperwork and receipts of his ownership.
The second owner a young bloke blew up the original 1800 engine and put the 2l in it. The third owner had it the last 2 years with plans of a resto but with all his other car projects couldn't see it happening for a long while and needed funds for them that's how it came into my ownership.
Plans are:
Fix rust
Engine is strong but going to get it pulled and rebuilt to make sure
Recover seats and replace door cards.
Then Drive it for a few years before a full resto.
Anyway here are the pics.

Things I'll be getting fixed first

Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:10 pm

Now I know why they put the shift pattern on the ashtray.
I would need it to remind myself of where to find reverse!
Congratulations on the micro-I assume her name is Dora the Explorer?

Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:19 pm

Congrats on the nice bus! Same colour as mine,will you be keeping it this colour?

Looking forward to pics of the work being done too.
Keep us posted.

Sun Apr 12, 2015 12:53 am

Fix, or at least STOP, the rust first. Engine rebuild is cheap by comparison to body and rust repairs. Nice find.

Sun Apr 12, 2015 2:14 am

Nice looking bus- X2 on the rust issues. That motor has no engine seals , and is missing tin work- so you need th address that before over heat issues show up.

Also move that fire extinguisher to the front as that whole back area will become unapproachable in the even of an engine fire. And you'll need at least 2 of those.

Carbs are probably from the original (smaller) motor and would need some jet work to be happy on the 2.0

Had to smile at the shift pattern comment- my first Aussi driving lesson was round the block in a 60 kombi test drive off a used car lot in Canberra.

Round the block is about 5 miles in Canberra. Only got honked at about a dozen times . :roll:

Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:04 pm

Thanks everyone.
Yes will be getting rust cut out and look to stop any other areas at risk is first on my list.
Not sure if I'll try and give it a go or I should say my dad as he is the metal guy or getting a professional.
The body will eventually be getting a professional restoration - that's the plan at this stage. Not until my twins finish high school in 2 years.
The colour is not its original, it's orange. As it doesn't have matching engine won't be to worried about changing the colour to another VW colour from another year. I'm a big fan of Chianti Red in a two tone.
The missing tinware from the engine is with the kombi it's just not installed, will be going in when I get the work done on the engine.
Have started a list of the things I'll be getting and doing and will keep posting here along the way.

Tue Apr 14, 2015 7:08 am

Kick Kombi wrote: It's a 1975 Microbus 8 seater with a 2l engine.

Note the Australia-ONLY, right-hand drive configuration, front windscreen wipers! :D

To the best of my knowledge, all other countries (including Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa and the rest of the British Commonwealth, apart from Canada) who drive on the left, had left-hand drive configuration front windscreen wipers.

Tue Apr 14, 2015 10:34 am

Congrats on the bus. The rust is not that bad compare to what I dealt before. Your big problem is the steering wheel. They put it on the wrong side :wink: . Have fan on the build.

Wed Apr 15, 2015 8:16 am

blackivory69 wrote: Congrats on the bus. The rust is not that bad compare to what I dealt before. Your big problem is the steering wheel. They put it on the wrong side :wink: . Have fan on the build.

Oh no the didn't! :wink: 8)

A VERY large proportion of the World, has vehicles with the steering wheel on the right-hand side, including Japan, India (1·2 billion population and rising), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and much of Africa.

It's the rest of the World who have it on the wrong side. Why manufacturers in North America (two former British colonies) chose to do this, is anybody's guess!?!

Fri Apr 17, 2015 10:13 pm

NASkeet wrote:
Note the Australia-ONLY, right-hand drive configuration, front windscreen wipers! :D

To the best of my knowledge, all other countries (including Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa and the rest of the British Commonwealth, apart from Canada) who drive on the left, had left-hand drive configuration front windscreen wipers.

Cool info, was not aware of that.

Fri Apr 17, 2015 10:17 pm

blackivory69 wrote: Congrats on the bus. The rust is not that bad compare to what I dealt before. Your big problem is the steering wheel. They put it on the wrong side :wink: . Have fan on the build.

Thanks mate, big part of the reason on getting this bus was the lack of rust for the price. Wasn't to worried about mechanics compared to rust. Bloody steering wheel on wrong side and using metric :wink:

Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:34 am

I notice that you have the ordinary pleated-paper air filter type filter housing, rather than the special Australian & South African specification air-filter housing and air-filter element, intended for 1972~75 VW 17/1800 Type 2s & 1976~79 VW 2000 Type 2s used in territories with dusty conditions!

Several years ago, I posed some questions on the Australian Kombi Club and South African Air-Cooled Volkswagen Club forums, about air filters for “dusty environments” as follows:

Technical » Advice » Engine air filters, for very-dusty conditions?

http://www.aircooledvwsa.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=4&a...0750ab3d40

Bay Tech Clinic > Engine & Transmission > Engine air filters, for very-dusty conditions?

http://forums.kombiclub.com/showthread.php?t=20162

Bay Tech Clinic > Engine & Transmission > Stock air cleaner

http://forums.kombiclub.com/showthread.php?t=23366

Bay Tech Clinic > Engine & Transmission > air cleaner identification

http://forums.kombiclub.com/threads/air-cleaner-identification.28937/

Some of this information was later incorporated into the following magazine article:

Nigel A. Skeet, “Replacement Parts & Touring Spares, for Volkswagen Transporters, Imported Second-Hand, from Overseas – Part 1”, Transporter Talk, Issue 111, February 2011, Pages 16~21.

Nigel A. Skeet, “Replacement Parts & Touring Spares, for Volkswagen Transporters, Imported Second-Hand, from Overseas – Part 2”, Transporter Talk, Issue 112, April 2011, Pages 22~28.

Sat Apr 18, 2015 9:08 am

NASkeet wrote: blackivory69 wrote: Congrats on the bus. The rust is not that bad compare to what I dealt before. Your big problem is the steering wheel. They put it on the wrong side :wink: . Have fan on the build.

Oh no the didn't! :wink: 8)

A VERY large proportion of the World, has vehicles with the steering wheel on the right-hand side, including Japan, India (1·2 billion population and rising), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and much of Africa.

It's the rest of the World who have it on the wrong side. Why manufacturers in North America (two former British colonies) chose to do this, is anybody's guess!?!

We all mount our horses on the left side. We all mount our Harleys on the left side. The UK long ago moved all motorcycle shift levers to the left. The airplane pilot sits in the left seat. USA politics have moved to the left :oops: . Left is where it's at. :P

Sun Apr 19, 2015 4:40 pm

NASkeet wrote: I notice that you have the ordinary pleated-paper air filter type filter housing, rather than the special Australian & South African specification air-filter housing and air-filter element, intended for 1972~75 VW 17/1800 Type 2s & 1976~79 VW 2000 Type 2s used in territories with dusty conditions!
Thank you NASkeet for that fantastic info I will give the links a read. I do live next to the beach so not dusty conditions but still want to set my Kombi up for Australian conditions for when I go on longer trips.

400mtrs from my front door and my Squareback :)

Sun Apr 19, 2015 4:44 pm

Tuna Tim wrote:
We all mount our horses on the left side. We all mount our Harleys on the left side. The UK long ago moved all motorcycle shift levers to the left. The airplane pilot sits in the left seat. USA politics have moved to the left :oops: . Left is where it's at. :P

I drive trains and in Australia they are LHD so maybe you are on to something :P

Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:32 am

Tuna Tim wrote: We all mount our horses on the left side. We all mount our Harleys on the left side. The UK long ago moved all motorcycle shift levers to the left. The airplane pilot sits in the left seat. USA politics have moved to the left :oops: . Left is where it's at. :P

I too mount a horse and a bicycle on the left side, but using my right-hand for the gear-selector lever and hand-brake lever on a left-hand drive vehicle has always felt strange. Besides that I have always used a cricket bat, rounders bat (known to some people as a baseball bat) and golf club left-handed, sew and play darts right or left handed, and play tennis, table-tennis and badmington predominantly right-handed.

I have never ridden a motorcycle of any description, so I don't know what if any levers some of them might have! I thought they had twist grips on the handle-bars for most things other than brakes!?! British motorcycles with a sidecar, would have to be mounted from the right-hand side.

Aircraft such as interceptors, with tandem seats don't have right-hand and left-hand seats!

Kick Kombi wrote: I drive trains and in Australia they are LHD so maybe you are on to something :P

Now there's an interesting windscreen-pillar gauge pod! If only one could find something similar for the right-hand driver's windscreen pillar, on a 1968~79 VW Type 2. :wink: 8)

I'm not so sure about the television screen though!

Mon May 11, 2015 8:42 am

NASkeet wrote: Note the Australia-ONLY, right-hand drive configuration, front windscreen wipers! :D

To the best of my knowledge, all other countries (including Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa and the rest of the British Commonwealth, apart from Canada) who drive on the left, had left-hand drive configuration front windscreen wipers.

You might be interested to learn that those unique Australian specification VW Type 2, RHD-configuration windscreen wiper arm, which have been NLA for many years are now available from both British and Australian branches of Just Kampers.

http://www.justkampers.com/vw-t2-bay-window-parts/...-only.html

http://www.justkampers.com.au/vw-t2-bay-window-par...-1979.html

They appear to be listed at £29·95 each in Great Britain and Aus$19·40 per pair in Australia, so they're as much as 4½ times more expensive to buy in Great Britain!