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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:34 pm Post subject: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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I just picked up a vanagon 9 seater, and have been cleaning it up a bit. Thought i'd share some pics & progress here as it's a pretty cool model. I like that it has rubber floor mats. I used to have a 9-seater bay window & the bulkhead was nice to keep my dog in back while driving. The M-plate looks closer to the ones from a bay window, and i couldn't figure out how to "decode" it. The previous owner said it was a good runner & just had a valve job before they parked it out in the field to rot. Here's some pics.
this is where it sat for 20 years
got it home & my dog gave it good look over
engine had some rat crap & cob webs
3 full rows of seats
dealer plate
cleaning up
stuck a new grill on front
flipper seat & bulkhead shot
M-plate
paint code sticker
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novws Samba Member
Joined: October 28, 2016 Posts: 26 Location: Williamsburg, VA
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:59 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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Cool early Vanagon. I'm enjoying your clean up progress and hope this becomes a project thread. |
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borninabus Samba R&D Dept.
Joined: May 18, 2006 Posts: 4532 Location: Arizona Highways
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 9:35 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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hey, there's an air cooled van worth driving
nice score!
i want a thorough report from the nine-person cruise _________________ 71 Ghia A/S - 88 Van A/T - 13 JSW TDI 6M/T |
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M_atthewanderson Samba Member
Joined: January 25, 2005 Posts: 288 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 12:22 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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Very cool, great find, I'd be really interested in seeing the front seats. _________________ 1980 2.0 Sunroof Vanagon |
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:32 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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mattography wrote: |
Very cool, great find, I'd be really interested in seeing the front seats. |
I'll get some more pics up asap. I just got the van running yesterday & the engine sounded great! I made a crappy video of it running in the dark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MSrZ4v1EaI
The fuel pump was whining because the filter started to clog up though. I'm going to put a good used gas tank in, do some brake work, and wheels & tires as soon as i can afford it. |
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:35 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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borninabus wrote: |
hey, there's an air cooled van worth driving
nice score!
i want a thorough report from the nine-person cruise |
Will Do! I've crammed alot of people in a vw bus, but never had a seat for every ass until now |
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 5:20 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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Spent the week helping fix a rotten deck on the back of my friends house. Now maybe i can get back at this van!
I am cleaning this tank out cause my other one i had looked pretty crusty inside. I want to get this baby back on the road asap.
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AZ Landshaper Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2009 Posts: 1698 Location: The Old Pueblo
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Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:13 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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Just maybe put some blocks under those tires. Id hate to read that one of those stands went out and your now looking for a wheel chair or worse. Just looking out.
Im interested to know if you can climb a hill w 9 peeps in there and that aircooler powering u along. Slow and low that is the tempo. _________________ Support Small Business.
-------------------------------------------------------
85 Weekender w/ EJ22
Previously
64, 71, 72, 73, 76, 81, 84, 85 & 87 Campmobiles and Westfalias
and a 67 bug. |
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 9:41 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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AZ Landshaper wrote: |
Just maybe put some blocks under those tires. Id hate to read that one of those stands went out and your now looking for a wheel chair or worse. Just looking out.
Im interested to know if you can climb a hill w 9 peeps in there and that aircooler powering u along. Slow and low that is the tempo. |
Yeah the picture makes it look a bit sketchy, i had to borrow the floor jack for a second to work on a 73 beetle i just picked up.
I'm going to use this as a people hauler for sure, and my dad is going to make a nice full length roof rack for it too. We'll see how it does, hills might require 8 people outside pushing, |
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:52 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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mattography wrote: |
Very cool, great find, I'd be really interested in seeing the front seats. |
Here is a few pics of the front seating.
I found a hole in the gas tank. Someone had drove in an extra long bolt & punctured the tank!
The old tank was no show winner anyway, had quite a bit of rust inside
cleaned up the mounting rails
I had another tank from an 1981 van i parted out a while back laying around, so i cleaned it up & installed it along with a new filter.
Also replaced this piece of rubber that someone had covered in silicone crap.
good used one i had laying around
The van is running good & fuel pump is not making a howling noise at all. I need to do some bleeding on the brakes & get this van tagged up so i can go drive it now. |
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ssk Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2009 Posts: 146 Location: UK-berlin-bucharest,germany-romania-London
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 6:35 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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consvws wrote: |
The M-plate looks closer to the ones from a bay window, and i couldn't figure out how to "decode" it.
this is where it sat for 20 years
got it home & my dog gave it good look over
engine had some rat crap & cob webs
3 full rows of seats
dealer plate
cleaning up
stuck a new grill on front
flipper seat & bulkhead shot
M-plate
paint code sticker
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hi there,try to use the mplte decoder from the baywindow ...my '80 vanagon have the same mplate and it worked using the baywindow decoder cheers
S _________________ rust is not a crime
'69 daily driver-gone
'77 daily driver-gone
'80 Reimo daily driver |
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 9:07 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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ssk wrote: |
hi there,try to use the mplte decoder from the baywindow ...my '80 vanagon have the same mplate and it worked using the baywindow decoder cheers
S |
I tried that & all it said was that it was delivered to Portland, OR & everything else said "cannot be identified" |
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:07 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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gave her an oil change, some new fuel lines, and bled the brakes. Fixed the tail lights too.
Link
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 4:58 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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popped the old crusty tires off the four (10/79) date matched rims. & gave them a good scrub down.
I might paint them, but kinda think they look fine as is. Definitely need to get some new tires for the van. The donor wheels i have on it now are pretty rough.
I did tag & register the van yesterday & have been driving around in it lately.
Next i'll try & polish the paint up a little & get the rear bumper back on with a nice tow hitch.
I was able to put my finger right through the crusty old muffler in spots, so i still need one of them too... |
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borninabus Samba R&D Dept.
Joined: May 18, 2006 Posts: 4532 Location: Arizona Highways
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Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 5:39 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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still waiting for the 9 passenger drive report.
although, those balloons look like they wouldn't care much for it.
nice work!
keep-on-keepin-on _________________ 71 Ghia A/S - 88 Van A/T - 13 JSW TDI 6M/T |
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rmcd Samba Member
Joined: October 29, 2010 Posts: 1348 Location: PNW - its a dry rain.
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Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 6:07 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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My gut is that is a rare beast but I ain't no expert. Someone know?
Single cab steel wall, dual front seat, and steel front seat pedestal. Then cubby glove box and rear seat options? 1979?
Can't be too many of those options around? _________________ VW LT40 build. Like a Vanagon but 30% larger in every direction and 40% slower even in metric.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749359&highlight= |
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nemobuscaptain Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2002 Posts: 3874
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2017 10:42 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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borninabus wrote: |
still waiting for the 9 passenger drive report.
although, those balloons look like they wouldn't care much for it.
nice work!
keep-on-keepin-on |
I'll get right on that. Don't want to push it too much with the rotten tires though
rmcd wrote: |
My gut is that is a rare beast but I ain't no expert. Someone know?
Single cab steel wall, dual front seat, and steel front seat pedestal. Then cubby glove box and rear seat options? 1979?
Can't be too many of those options around? |
It is a very cool & unusual model. I don't see them like this very often, but i'm not sure if it qualifies as being rare. I would like to see some others, if anyone else has a 9 seater to share please do!
nemobuscaptain wrote: |
My first beach trip was in an aircooled vanagon almost like that. I head no idea it was rare. |
nice, like i said before. I'm not going to call it rare at the moment, maybe there are lots of them in hiding somewhere
anyway, here are some pics of the van with my other '79 which happens to be sporting a aircooled 2.0 out of a '81 vanagon
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:19 am Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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rusty muffler off
found a better rear bumper with rubber impact strip
New muffler should be here today, so i hope to have it back together here shortly. |
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consvws Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2009 Posts: 949 Location: Roseburg, OR
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Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 5:44 pm Post subject: Re: Air-cooled Oct. '79 9-seater Vanagon |
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ok new muffler is on, but i need a support strap for it because mine rusted away
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