New Bus Rebuild - ' Bento' a '78 Westy

[andrewtf]

I posted a couple months ago about getting my hands on a third bus, and put up a couple poor photos.
It is already named Bento - as it was used as a promotional sign in front of a Food Hall.
We will probably keep that name. It sort of seems to fit the bus.

Life cascaded over our family for a while so I could not pay any attention to this new member.
But....I went over to look at my new vehicle with Emma yesterday - for another five minutes - and of course forgot to take the keys.
I'll get back over soon. Photos will appear after my next visit.

First - I need to address some missing important bits. (and get this to my house)

This is a '78 Westy
Automatic
Air conditioning.

I could open the engine hatch and have another look.
I knew it had the F.I. removed and a single carb installed.
That is going away and F.I. going back on. Thankfully I already did that once before with Murphy, so I have a little handle on the process.

There is no ECU present so I need to source one.
Is there a specific ECU that I need to obtain for an automatic? Six pin? seven pin? I'll take all the advice I can get.

Photos will be here soon and I'm sure that will prompt some other comments.

Thanks
andreWTF
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'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' - Travel Beast
'77 Riviera - 'Murphy' - Daily driver in nice weather
'78 Westy - New to the family
'63 Austin Healey - sitting alone in a museum

[jmstu76]

I can't answer if a an auto ECU and manual ECU are compatable or whether a manual ECU will work well with your auto but I do beleive you are looking for a 7 PIN box. I believe the 6 pin boxes were for FI Beetles.
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James

'76 Deluxe Sage Green Westy
2258 cc GD case 78mm CW crank, 2.0 H-beam rods 5,325” 22mm pin, JE forged pistons with 15cc dish, JE rings, type 11 clearanced oil pump, CB Eagle 2205 Type-2 “Torque Special” hydraulic cam with matched lifters fed by CB Dual Weber 40 IDF MX with 6” foam air filters, currently 55 idle, 130 main, 200 air correction, 32 mm venturis. 27in General Grabber AT2 All Terrains, Berg Shifter, stock '76 exhaust HPC Ceramic Coated. 11/18/2020

[germansupplyscott]

The ECU for your automatic is different from the '78 manual transmission unit. The AFM is the same AT and MT.
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SL

[Shonandb]

[andrewtf]

Got it home last Thursday.
Did some investigation to see what I'm up against.
An Automatic with Air Conditioning......

a few other photos in the gallery if anyone cares.
The previous Owner was planning to use the bus for 'vending' at events - but never quite got there.

On Saturday, my sister was visiting so I put her to work and we got this accomplished. I pulled out a mile of speaker wire, and the 120v outlets in the back were all installed in metal conduit. The white stuff is actually Corian and the large sheet weighs about 80 lbs.

Admittedly, I haven't yet figured how to remove the under dash Air conditioning yet - but I'll get there.

We have ideas for the rejuvenation and I'll share as we go along.

This bus sat outside at the local Food Hall - as a piece of 'Bling' for more than five years..... never moving. On Wednesday AirSchooled arrived to help me make sense of this new family member. Yesterday he got it roaring (whimpering) to life after a couple hours....... and moving under its own power a few minutes after. When I figure out how to link a video, I'll share.

Then before dinner - we removed the engine, separated it from the transmission, and got it on my stand in the garage. (I highly recommend a chain hoist for this operation). I'll do the big cleaning over the next few weeks and do the work necessary to get Bento to the body shop for a new look (but the flames definitely stay). The engine had been converted to a single carb and I am going to re-install the F.I.

I'll update as I'm able.... in a less rambling manner.
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'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' - Travel Beast
'77 Riviera - 'Murphy' - Daily driver in nice weather
'78 Westy - New to the family
'63 Austin Healey - sitting alone in a museum

[Shonandb]

Nice! The floors look good, just surface rust by the looks of it.
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76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
Click to view image