Bay window VS. Vanagon

[aircooledguy]

[wanderglobe]

[kevinbassplayer]

[wanderglobe]

[Lunabus]

There are many great things to discover here in L.A., the air quality is not one of them unfortunately...

If you end up down by Venice beach and you are hungry....

Best pizza in town, (i think) - Abbott Kinney Pizza on Abbott Kinney Street.

Best happy hour Tacos and Margaritas (4pm - 7pm) - Border Grill on 4th street in Santa Monica...

L.A. is very diverse, you just need to know where to find it all, otherwise it just seems like an oddly layed out city.

Put your feet in the water at Venice Beach, then walk the boardwalk and have your definition of strange expanded...

Have a great and safe adventure...

[nemobuscaptain]

Forgot about this vanagon advantage, you can paint it like this: http://magnum-mania.com/images/magnum_vanagon_model_full.jpg Nothing cooler than Thomas Magnum and CT.

Re: crash safety. Take a look at a few wrecked busses. You'll find that they survive crashes quite well also. Despite the mindless rambling of morons like Click and Clack, loaf busses and later are quite crashworthy (assuming you don't hit an unmoveable wall or vehicle with an extremely high front bumper). VW busses, vanagon, and Toyota vanwagons were actually some of the most crashworthy vans on the market. They were meeting passenger vehicle crashtesting (in order to avoid the chicken tax on "trucks") a few decades before Uhmerican minivans, vans, and SUV's.
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Ohio Valley Tribe, Full Moon Bus Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/294422277314227/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FullMoonBusClub

RIP Bob Hoover https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=427791
Hoover Sermons: https://www.vwsage.com/images/vwsage/Bob%20Hoovers%20Sermons.pdf

[nemobuscaptain]

[Ahlbergtim]

i choose the baywindow just because it has kinda the "split-window style"
it got the same charm as the splitwindow!
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Kleinbus -75

[dr. no]

You should only listen to people who have one of each (hint: look below).
Each one is loveable, has style, has more cargo room than you would ever think (the Vanagon does have more), will get noticed and waved at by the right people, and each one is a Bus.* Neither one will ever have a day when nothing needs fixing. They each have their own personality. Nothing beats a Vanagon Westy for long-distance driving. Nothing. They are ponderous for in-town driving, at least the ones without power steering. Bays have a sportier feel, at least when lightly loaded, but are not as stable on the highway.
The WBX engines are not what you'd call modern, unless you compare them to an aircooled VW engine. Most do not have the "Vanagon syndrome", and for those who do we at least have a cure now. The issues with heads are also hit and miss; the PusBus is on its second engine (the first had a bearing issue at 190K (!), the second is only at 70K, I don't plan to worry about it for a while or at least till it starts to drip oil. To be fair, I have had catastrophic hose failures, you know the kind that involve hose clamps, a screwdriver and fifteen minutes under the bus. I've had more problems with the typical VW stuff: bad grounds, bad starters and so forth.
I like the Mango too, but there have been enough bay supporters on this thread so far.
Overall, if you plan to use it for a itinerant office and living space I would go with a Vanagon Westy. Look around, they are out there for well under $10,000 (often $3-6000), unless you then decide you must have a Syncro. Either way, good luck and happy roads!


*A vehicle with the driver sitting on or in front of the front wheels, with a steering wheel that big is either a bus or a truck. Get a single- or double-cab and we'll let you call it a truck; otherwise it's a bus.
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Scott
http://lungehphoto.com

'83.5 Westy s/p 1.6td JX and 4sp DK transplant--wonderful!
'86 MB 300GD
'06 MB Sprinter
'17 BMW X1
'89 Isuzu Trooper


PAST VWs:
'82 NA diesel Vanagon
'86 7-passenger Vanagon
'77 Bay
'71 Bay
'74 Things (2)
'69 Karmann Ghia (the only one I miss--in nice weather, anyway...)
'91 Fox

[nemobuscaptain]

Yeah, never listen to someone who used a vanagon as a daily driver for years. Guys who had a vanagon, but don't have one now know nothing about vanagons. Check here: http://www.vanagon.com/problems/ Then browse samba or vanagon.com for the other stuff. Vanagon syndrome gave me about 1000 hits. "Vanagon bucking" kept timing out.
_________________
Ohio Valley Tribe, Full Moon Bus Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/294422277314227/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FullMoonBusClub

RIP Bob Hoover https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=427791
Hoover Sermons: https://www.vwsage.com/images/vwsage/Bob%20Hoovers%20Sermons.pdf

[nemobuscaptain]

Oh yeah, and here are the $350-550 (with shipping) hose kits that replace virtually all the hoses, except the NLA ones. For those, you just use garden hose I guess. Actually my experience involved about two weeks of searching through ever parts dealer--autozone, advance, napa-- and the big box hardware stores trying to come up with alternatives. Some of the hoses are different sizes on each end and required hacking two hoses and using a hardware reducer. The waterboxer is straight out of some high school shop project.

http://www.busdepot.com/view.jsp?model=58&category=11&group=120&prodgroup=-1
http://www.busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=HOSEKIT7

I will say that vanagons are very affordable. There is a very, very clean on on craigslist tucson for around $1000. It comes with the blown head gasket (and 9 times out of 10 severely corroded head) option, but they sooner or later. I was considering it and eyeballing a couple of subarus in town so I could swap a waterboxer in it that was designed by sober engineers.
_________________
Ohio Valley Tribe, Full Moon Bus Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/294422277314227/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FullMoonBusClub

RIP Bob Hoover https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=427791
Hoover Sermons: https://www.vwsage.com/images/vwsage/Bob%20Hoovers%20Sermons.pdf

[nemobuscaptain]

[dr. no]

I'm so glad you know everything, especially about my buses. Can you tell me why my horn doesn't work so I won't have to go look? (I don't even need to tell you which vehicle it is, you already know.)
I'm sorry you kept a vehicle you hate as a daily driver for years, I can see what it did to your personality Not everyone has the same problems with the same vehicle, or we'd only need one post for each topic.
Most Vanagon have not had these issues, or none would be left...
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Scott
http://lungehphoto.com

'83.5 Westy s/p 1.6td JX and 4sp DK transplant--wonderful!
'86 MB 300GD
'06 MB Sprinter
'17 BMW X1
'89 Isuzu Trooper


PAST VWs:
'82 NA diesel Vanagon
'86 7-passenger Vanagon
'77 Bay
'71 Bay
'74 Things (2)
'69 Karmann Ghia (the only one I miss--in nice weather, anyway...)
'91 Fox

[nemobuscaptain]

I thought you were the one who said not to listen to the guys that don't own both. Sorry if it was I being rude. Sometimes the voices in my head tell me to pick fights with vanagon owners. The dude asked for opinions and I gave him my experiences and opinions. And backed it with links. ::shrug::
_________________
Ohio Valley Tribe, Full Moon Bus Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/294422277314227/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FullMoonBusClub

RIP Bob Hoover https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=427791
Hoover Sermons: https://www.vwsage.com/images/vwsage/Bob%20Hoovers%20Sermons.pdf

[gknight]

I am fairly new to the bus seen. There was no doubt about it I had to have a Bay. I live at the beach and am building one for my son(1970). I like to keep things stock, but with a little custom stuff as well. The one thing nobody has seemed to mention is how much they cost to restore. I have a little over 13,500 into mine and I still haven't painted it yet. Sure I could have bought a new car for the price after all is said and done, but it's a bus, it's cool and has all the character of the 70's. Good luck with your choice, but choose wisely.


Bus on!!!

[pyrOman]

[59walkthru]

[perrib]

I seen waterboxers with bad heads at 50k or our local taxi company Hamm's put 275k on his 84 boxer before the heads leaked. He took my advice and changed the coolant once a year with 2 gallons of G-11 and distilled water. His next used 90 boxer is getting close to that with the same set of heads and gaskets. But maintaince is high it has $1800.00 worth of cooling system parts. I think the ultimate bay would be a 1971 (disc brakes but still 5 lug.) I would use a 1980-1982 Vanogon air cooled engine with both O-2 sensor and electronic ignition. it is very hard to get it hot. We built one with a 914 Porchse engine and dual 40 mm Dellortos.

[ruckman101]

Well, I have a '70 bay with a '71 upright dp engine. I've never driven a splitty. I bought the bay because it was my sister's and she let me pay $1,500 for it over the course of a decade. Poverty sucks.

My Mother bought an '82 vanagon, aircooled oh, five years ago now, and has downsized to a three banger ricer econo thing. I'm currently trying to sell it for her and have been using it for the daily work commute. It had issues, but a cotton swab and some brake cleaner on the AFM contacts cleared it up.

Yes, bigger than the bay, drives nicer than the bay, probably gets better mileage. But I like the bay better. The vanagon drives like any ol' car. It reminds me of my '80 jetta, in fact the interior/dash window cranks etc. ARE the same. And that fuel injection is a different acceleration curve for sure. But less romance, and I know the 1600 dp, the fuel injection and type IV engines are still strangers in comparison, so yes, the vanagon is for sale, and the bay camper is not.



neal
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Where are we going, and why am I in this hand-basket?

[Redd73]

each model is going to have its pros and cons, its lovers and haters, and extremists who say any other model just ISNT a volkswagen or some similar crap.

i looked at vanagons first because i wanted more power and air conditioning and more room. i noticed a lot of them seemed to be over priced though and the ones that werent were usually too far away and at the time i couldnt afford the van and a plane ticket to go out and get it and the possibility of having it towed home if it couldnt make the trip. i LOVE splittys but at this point (and when i was looking before) i couldnt really afford one that was ready to hit the road. i will probbably eventually buy one as a project to fix up but i wanted a westy, riviera, or other camper conversion for road trips this summer.

i was mostly going back and forth between the vanagons (early air cooled) and the bays until i found my bay with the 2.0 engine and air conditioning. it wasnt EXACTLY what i wanted since its a 73 and i would prefer a 74 or later with the double bed up top BUT other than that it was perfect and i could afford it and it was within a couple hundred or so miles of my house so it was easy to get someone to drive me up and follow me home. at some point next year i will probbably trade it for a later bay and would even consider a vanagon. to me personally they are ALL volkswagens and i dig em all. any model of squareback, any model of bus/van, any model of beetle or bug and even bajas and kooky kit cars and whatnot. the BEST part though of ANY model is how easy it seems to find replacement and/or NOS parts to repair/restore as necessary.

really you just gotta weigh your personal pros and cons and search until you find the one that is right for you. and then you will want more and more and more and more and more and more..........
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"...theres nowhere to go but everywhere." - Kerouac

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73 Westy 2000cc w/dual solex (engine code GE) + aftermarket AC