What do you think of this '80 westy?

[rustfree1967bug]

I have the opportunity to buy this 1980 westy for a very decent price. Says the engine was all rebuilt and has new dual empi carbs on it. Supposedly has no rusty and the tires look very good and the interior actually looks very decent. It does not currently run as he had some fuel lines off to replace and never got around to fixing it. In your guy's opinions what is a going price for a vanagon like this?

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'70 ghia
'69 ghia
'65 singlecab
'66 sunroof beetle
'74 bus
'67 so-42


IDA's...well... they talk dirty -MURZI

[reluctantartist]

That better be a great price. I see you are familiar with air-cooleds. These came with L-jet originally so the fuel system has been tampered with and I can see you have missing cooling tin so I would question the health of the engine. There is a lot of rust occurring on the van on the window sills which makes a deal breaker to me unless you are going for a parts vehicle. You will have to seriously look at the engine's health as well (at least do a compression test); that engine will not last long with the current setup. Also the sliding door handle looks like it is about to break.
Still if the price is really good go for it. You will need to spend some cash to get that dependable for long trips.
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1982 Westy, 1974 412 Variant... Yes, Aircooled's are great! Oh and I do have modern computer controlled vehicles too, but I just don't care about them.

[rustfree1967bug]

Well he is asking 1k firm. And he told me the engine only has 1,000 miles since the rebuild. If i get it i might drive it for a few months in the spring, maybe camp a few times then re-sell it. Also the rust around the windows doesn't look all that bad to me.
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'70 ghia
'69 ghia
'65 singlecab
'66 sunroof beetle
'74 bus
'67 so-42


IDA's...well... they talk dirty -MURZI

[paddyh]

500 bucks...it's damn rusty for a "no rust" van...the engine doesn't run/dual carbs?!?--who "rebuilt" it and why is there tin missing? looks like a parts van to me...or a gong show of a money pit, imo.
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81 A/C Westy
02 Impreza Wgn

[funagon]

It better be cheap.

This van never came with carbs. So that's a franken-engine. I wonder what else is wrong with it?

That's the first year of the vanagon production. They got better as the years went on.

That odd paint job makes me think it had rust throughout the bottom half of the van, and so was only repainted on the bottom half. Oh! I see you just re-posted about rust around the windows being "not bad!" Now I'm sure the rust is going to re-appear everywhere from under that crappy colored paint on the lower half of the van.

I wouldn't buy it. Vanagons aren't rare. And despite the protestations of some lovers of the air-cooled vans on this forum, the air cooled vanagon is the least desirable of all vanagons. Not just my opinion, but a statement of fact reflected in their resale value. You can shop around or wait for a much cheaper rusty 1980 vanagon with a hacked engine. And you might find one that's nicer than the one you're looking at.
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1990 GL 7-passenger
2.2 liter WBX

[r39o]

For $1000 how can you go too wrong? Then again if the engine is truly rebuild, why so cheap? What is wrong with it, besides the butt ugly paint?
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"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[rustfree1967bug]

Where is all this rust you are talking about? I don't know where your located but for us in MN this is as close to rust free as we can find. And i'm not sure what else is wrong with it other than he said it hasnt been driven for 2 years and needs some tuning to get it running right
_________________
'70 ghia
'69 ghia
'65 singlecab
'66 sunroof beetle
'74 bus
'67 so-42


IDA's...well... they talk dirty -MURZI

[IdahoDoug]

For 1000 bucks I can see it being worth it. Clearly you're not expecting much, clearly you're capable of working on it (nice list of VWs you already have) and clearly it's not going to need to be your dependable driver (ditto). However, I grew up in the rust belt and whenever I see a vehicle where the owner recently painted only the bottom half of their car I think "Wow - bet that's a serious rust bucket and the guy could barely afford to paint half the car after he pumped 3 gallons of Bondo into it." From the looks of the window sills, the big blister behind the RR wheelwell (under the fresh paint) and the rust drip under the slider door handle I think this thing's a rusty rig. Not that that would make it no deal. As for camping, I think you should ready yourself for what you'll find when you open the pop top.

But again - you know what you're about. Having said that, this vehicle screams "I was SO close to getting it looking good and running but now I'm out of money - make me an offer....."

DougM
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[BitterBeerFace]

Is that around Kato? I'd be glad to give a 2nd opinion.

I know nothing of the carb conversions, but yeah, you'll need at least a little of the engine tins.

Make sure to raise the top and examine the tent and check out the camping parts... And be aware of the rust behind the kitchen... looks to be peeking through to me. If the motor's good and there's nothing big missing, I don't think 1K is out of line.

[rustfree1967bug]

Hey, yeah it's a few miles outside of town here. I would atleast like to go take a look at it but i'm not getting my hopes up. My biggest concern is the engine. I'm thinking maybe he's using the fuel line issue as an excuse but who knows? Heres a pic of the pop top canvas

_________________
'70 ghia
'69 ghia
'65 singlecab
'66 sunroof beetle
'74 bus
'67 so-42


IDA's...well... they talk dirty -MURZI

[IdahoDoug]

Yeah, I was also thinking of the fuel lines as an excuse. If it's just a matter of hooking up the fuel lines and you're going to put the car up for sale - wouldn't you, uh....hook up the fuel liness? A non running car is worth only a fraction of its value running and I've never met anybody who did not know that.

DougM
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[rustfree1967bug]

Yeah so i hate to take a risk on the engine being junk if i did buy it. And it's a little too cold here right now to mess around with trying to get it to run before i bought it.
_________________
'70 ghia
'69 ghia
'65 singlecab
'66 sunroof beetle
'74 bus
'67 so-42


IDA's...well... they talk dirty -MURZI

[VisPacem]

[Wildthings]

If the engine has been driven without its full complement of cooling tins, you might as well assume its been badly overheated and may be junk even if it does only have 1000 miles since a rebuild. Doesn't look to me like its been driven much at all since the carb conversion got done, or that breather setup would have covered the top of the engine with oil.

[Vango Conversions]

Sounds fishy with it not running. If i was trying to sell a car and the only thing it needed was fuel lines, I'd spend the hour to replace them and get it running. I'd also check to see if the high pressure fuel pump has been replaced with a low pressure one for the carbs, otherwise you could damage them.

The air cooled motors run hot so you must use all the tins and they must be sealed up perfectly for it to run correctly. I actually like the idea of carb'd air cooled motors as you can set them up to run a little richer than FI and they will then run cooler but this setup is a little tall! good luck using the bed, and you'll need to modify the engine hatch quite a bit.

If you see it run $1000 doesn't seem bad, the interior looks nice and I kind of like the paint but you'd need to see how much rust there is in person to be sure. Even without it running, if you could get it for a little less than $1000 it may be worth that in parts if you want a project to swap all the stuff over to a running van.

[?Waldo?]