Need an Awesome Mechanic- Not a poser or a crook

[JulesWestie]

Looking for someone to help get a 76 Westy I am buying to get her up an running, safely and CA compliant. Have a 2.0 FI motor & transmission. Needs gas tank. Need to see what the brake system, wiring, steering, etc. condition. Bus has not bee driven in 10 years. Strong body with little rust. Will be doing body work and interior slowly. I'm in LA but willing to go to Vegas, Arizona or most anywhere in California. I'm an enthusiast, but not a mechanic. I've seen such a huge spectrum on prices and options. Looking to build a solid authentic relationship with a mechanic of integrity. Anyone know someone, or is this you?

[SGKent]

Gary in San Diego can help you with some of it but he doesn't build motors or do body work. I do not know of anyone on the west coast who does body work, but if you plan on having someone do it for you, you better have damn deep pockets. Gary can help you with a restoration. I do think there is one place in Arizona that used to do restorations if you are filthy rich, and another in Colorado. Same thing - better be filthy rich. Otherwise make a list of what you want and talk with Gary. (Aeromech). He is not a shop, just a guy who helps people occasionally with pieces of their project. I might add - I did my restoration back in 2009 - 2010. I budgeted $12K. It cost $30K. And I did all but the body work. The worst part is that no one I trust does engine rebuilds. No matter who it is, it always turns out a crap shoot because of the quality of parts today.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[dodger tom]

Jonathan at Broad Street Auto/VPA/Westy Werks in San Luis Obispo.

Great excuse to spend some time up here.
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1978 Champaign Edition 2 Westfalia
Would never find the time to keep up another classic air-cooled.

[aeromech]

That’s nice of you to say Steve. If the OP wants to contact me via a PM, we can discuss his bus and decide which is the best way forward.
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Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[skills@eurocarsplus]

my 0.02...

it's all or nothing. playing 'come on baby just the tip for just a minute' ends badly.

either get it running and use it of ship it out for a restoration. either way you're going to pay thru the ass and there is sooooo much overlapping labor you're going to pay 3x as much doing the job piece by piece

for example.... if you are going to paint the thing the time to do it is while the engine is out. if you don't do that, then you get to pay for another engine pull.

you get the idea...
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[twocent]

Nyscoe Motors in Santa Ana is worth looking into.

I went in there needing help with my frontend and a few random little other things I wanted done. There were plenty of other things wrong with my bus he could've tried to upsell on me but didn't.

Honest guy, great work. Glad I found him.

[1303GT]

[alman72]

some of what you are going to think of as crook prices, are actually going rates.

[SGKent]

[Wasted youth]

So far, I have only donated about 18-20 hours of my life on repainting one of my buses. I’m not even close to primer yet. Notice how only a few of the windows aren’t out yet? What will I find under the cracked rubber? At least $400 in replacement rubber and weatherstripping alone - labor excluded.

I’m Joe Six-Pack. I don’t have a booth, but at least I’ll be using color-matched single stage urethane paint.

Going rates for a decent paint job will be really expensive. The labor just keeps going… I keep going around with the Sharpie finding more labor.

Now the windows are out, but not all. I’m too much of a douchebag to do the front doors. And…. I’m seriously lucky to have a bus that isn’t riddled with Upper Peninsula Cancer. So these window frames look so great! Hardly any work to be done on them.

Just be ready for sticker shock when you get a paint quote.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[nemobuscaptain]

Im not really sure why people think they need to find a VW bodyshop. Body work is body work, other than perhaps knowing where to find VW body parts which arent in the normal body shop chain of supply no doubt.
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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

[SGKent]

[andrewtf]

[Lemustache]

[orwell84]

[bsairhead]

Your opening makes you sound like a douche bag. Figure out how to work on your on stuff. You are your best mechanic. You will spend more time on your own stuff because you don't have to justify your time.

[Wasted youth]

[SGKent]

10 shops here in Sacramento all said no. One shop quoted $25K for paint and minor body work if I stripped everything out of the bus. The reason was they had dealt with buses before and knew the time it was going to take to make it right. Body shops today want to only do modern insurance claims. They don't want to call all over the country looking for parts. Each day your car sits in their shop they can't work on another car in that spot. So you have to pay for the work, their time to find things, and the income they lose on other jobs. And, they don't want whiners, which most bus owners are, who will tell you they could have modified a Volvo part for a couple bucks. Ever wonder why there are so many "I found this bus in a field, or a garage" threads. That is where the last guy gave up when he found out what it was going to cost to have the work done, or he figured out what it was going to cost in time. Women love to take a family ride in an already restored bus. They do not love it when their boyfriends or husbands are married to a VW bus.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Abscate]

25k for labor materials for major Jody work doesn’t seem out of line at all. 100 hours goes quickly watching paint dry. You can save some money if you don’t pull the windows , though

Put a battery door in while you are in there

Try the veal
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.ssS!