My champagne getaway

[rusty busty]

Model Type 2 (T2) mod. 221( :
- Microbus
- 7 seater (arrangement 2-2-3)
- Sliding door right
- LHD
Chassis number 2282084753
Serial number 084 753
Modelyear 1978
Planned production date
Friday, 27 January 1978
Number for production planning
(temporary serial number) 7287
Type of engine Type 4 (GE) - 1970cc, 51 kW (70 bhp DIN)
Type of transmission Manual 4-speed gearbox
Paint color
Color upper part : LH3A - Fox Red
Color lower part : LH8A - Date Brown
Interior color (doorpanels and seats) V1 - Sienna (red brown)
Destination Canada, St Johns NB



M-CODES
M-CODE Description Concerned models From chassis number To chassis number
062 Sunvisor, right without mirror 221-225, Sweden
241, Sweden
2x1 2 000 001
062 Compliance with Sweden exhaust emission standards (LHD) 211-268, Sweden
2x4 2 000 001
062 Rear view mirror outer, right, convex, (LHD) (rear view mirror, inner with shorter arm) 211-271, Sweden
2x9 300 000




Decoded the m plate. Not sure what the Sweeden stuff is about. Maybe I got a number wrong or an m plate decoder glitch or maybe just one lifes mysteries.
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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[rusty busty]

I'm still in touch with the previous owner. It was supposed to be a father son project for him and his kid, but the kid didn't have any interest. The PO wants me to send him pics and updates so he can show his kid what could've been.
Today I got a few things from him that he found around his house.

1 more hubcap! That makes 3
Original owners manual
A cip catalog from 15 years ago
2 clymers shop manuals one of them only goes to '76, but the other goes until '79 so I'm covered

Looks like the original rotor

Fuel tank area is clean. The only rust that was in there was removed with the tank

Stupid question but there's a button beside my parking brake. I checked my newly acquired owner manual but couldn't find what it's for. It's champagne edition poo brown so I even checked the ratwell site for CE only parts but it doesn't seem to be on the list. What's it for
It's not on my '73

Is it for the ejector seat?

*Edit: found the answer. Not that interesting actually.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=295335&highlight=parking+brake+button
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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[secretsubmariner]

OH BOY

The window on that high top is getting me all excited. Great score.

If you're on facebook, feel free to join the Champagne Bus page, 'VW Bus Champagne Edition' is the name of the page. They'd love to see this sweet whip.
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-Tony
ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ
1978 Champagne Edition Bus FI
1970 Auto Fastback FI

[rusty busty]

[rusty busty]

So every inch of brake line and fuel line on this bus is original from the factory. The metal lines seem to be in ok shape. As long as I can clean the gunk out of the fuel lines I'll reuse them. I'm not sure I can clean the smaller diameter metal line going to the ba6 though. It's the lowest part of the fuel system and is filled with a black tar like substance that used to be gasoline.

I'm also having some difficulties removing one of the brake drums. I'll try a bigger hammer tomorrow

Soon my attention will turn to the engine. I'm not quite sure how I'll proceed. It turns by hand so it's not seized. There were a couple of ominous signs though; the no.2 wire was disconnected from the plug, and the air cleaner was open. This leads me to thinking that it was parked because it stopped running, probably around '93.
From what I can see I don't see any evidence of rodents living under the tin, but I'll remove the tin, clean everything up, and maybe paint the tin.
I was thinking of hooking up a battery to the starter and doing a compression check with it out of the van to see what I'm working with. First I was going to do an oil change and then put something (mmo? seafoam? ATF?) Down the cylinders and turn it through a few revolutions by hand to get everything lubed up. Sound reasonable? Any advise is appreciated.

Looks like the tin has never even been removed. All the fasteners are in place and uniform. All the grommets and rubber bits are in place and look unmolested. This may be the first time the engine has been out of the bus.

Hoping it doesn't need a complete rebuild but it may just because of how long it's sat.

These brake hoses are older than the bus

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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[rusty busty]

Look what I fond under the valve cover.

Possibly why it was parked?

Would have been a bit loud, and not much power on 3 cylinders me thinks.
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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[rusty busty]

Does anyone have some ideas about how this interior is supposed to work???

Here it is in the table down position. Missing the middle cushion I guess?

Table up:

OK I like the table and seating area but somethings missing from the back I assume?

Then this weird piece goes flat to make the most uncomfortable bed imaginable

It's obviously missing some pieces. There's 2 extra hinges that were screwed onto the weird folding thing at one time

You can see in this pic where the hinges went. The screw holes along the top match the hinges

More pics of the foldy thing. Any ideas?

Spent an hour trying to figure it out. I may just put in a spare westy bed that I have

I also found something cool. Check it out. I thought that when they did the camper conversion they reupholstered the vw seats to match the camper interior. I was kind of disappointed that they did that to the champagne edition seats.

Yesterday I noticed that they just put covers on them. These seats haven't seen the light of day since 1978! Sofa king cool

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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[rusty busty]

Polishing a turd-coloured-bus

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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[Spike0180]

That turd polished up nice!
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Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[zabo]

that looks like part of an adventurewagen style fold out bed.
you can see how it works in this video at abt the 4:45 mark.

Link

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1960 6 volt sedan- 1978 adventurewagen
–wanted bill spreen atlanta dealer tag frame

[rusty busty]

Thanks for the video zabo. My buddy was over a little while ago and he said it seemed similar to his old adventurewagon. I've been looking up pics but it's good to see a video of how the bed works. I'm pretty sure I can figure out what missing and make some sort of bed. For this summer i think I'll just make a bed in the penthouse and use the extra storage space. I like the table setup. It's pretty unique.

I may not have mentioned this, and it might be a bit ambitious, but my plan is to take this bus on a road trip from Vancouver to Toronto and back. About 10,000 km round trip. This will be happening in August
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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[zabo]

Let me know if you need more detailed pics
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1960 6 volt sedan- 1978 adventurewagen
–wanted bill spreen atlanta dealer tag frame

[rusty busty]

Making some progress.

The brakes are done, using all new German parts. Including new master cylinder and booster.

I ended up buying an engine with rebuilt heads. It was sitting inside this dude's 1980 vanagon project for a year. He couldn't make the oval exhaust ports work with the vanagon exhaust. The price was right and it came with all the engine tin and FI stuff too.
BTW There are advantages to renting a workshop on a blueberry farm

I'll be running a 72-74 style exhaust. New dansk heater boxes and a low miles OEM muffler. It's for a 411/412 but I'm assuming it'll work for a bus.

I hope to have it running in the next week.

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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[captincanuck]

[rusty busty]

Thanks. I'd love to check out some vw events in Ontario but my cousin's wedding is on Aug 12th so I'm a bit busy that weekend, unless I can get her to change the location.. She does like buses. And corn.

[Abscate]

[GfunkBus76]

Awesome bus!

Looking way better now after you've put some time into it. I hope you can get that interior back to OG... looks like a super unique camper set.

Really cool you're in BC too! Nice find! I randomly check CL... but no money and no need for a second project bus lol...

Good luck on your future roadtrip! I'm worried enough about trying to take my bus to Kelowna and back this August...
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Gavin
1976 Westy - Customzation in slow-progress.
-8V TD swap
It Runs! -- http://youtu.be/kT5hOtwiOgk
And drives! - https://youtu.be/rVkoAgeOop0

[rusty busty]

[rusty busty]

The interior is coming along. Got some curtains up.

As well as a bed platform up top.

And got a cabinet made up for the stove and for my 12 volt cooler. I may add a drawer or a spice rack to it. Still deciding.

And got the starter and alternator back from the rebuilder.

The engine is almost ready to go in. Should be Monday or Tuesday
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1978 CEII Get-away hightop

[rusty busty]

It's alive!

Engine went in yesterday. Took it for a test drive. Man is it smooth. Still have a few issues to work out but i feel much better now that it's a runner.
I only drove it 5 km but apparently that's just long enough to burn off all of the high temp paint that's on the exhaust

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1978 CEII Get-away hightop