San Francisco Bay Area Vanagon / Bus Maintenance Classes

[Jeremey]

Do you want to better understand how your Bus or Van works? Do you want to feel more confident when trying to diagnose a problem? Do you want to understand what your Bentley is telling you and why?

In conjunction with International Auto Service in Livermore, weekend training seminars are being created for new and veteran Vanagon and Bus Owners alike. The goal is to address the common and not so common maintenance and systems issues that come with owning a 30+ year old vehicle; so you can be more confident when working on your van at home or on the side of the road.

In order to cater the content of the trainings to the things you want to know, we would like to get your feedback; a short survey can be found below asking about the issues you face with your Van or Bus.

Maintenance Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VVYFPBJ

If you have questions about this training opportunity please email: [email protected]

[Syncronoid]

This would be awesome! I would totally go.
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'90 Syncro Westy w/GW2.5L

[oceanair]

Perhaps record it and put it online. If it's really good, I'd pay for the course!
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84 Vanagon Pop Top Conversion from Tin Top, 1970 Ghia - all sweet rides! Love em!
Previous: Green 72 Tin Top, White 72 Westy, Blue 64 Beetle, Yellow 71 Squareback, 2014 Jetta TDI Wagon - wish I could have them all back!

[KristianS]

I'm in East Bay and would totally go. YES!

[syncrodoka]

[slo356]

This is GREAT! Take the survey and show interest for this important opportunity. ''''

Note to organizer: How about a locating the class more in the central part of the state so that both northern and southern parts of California can more easily attend? Not a deal breaker, just askin'.
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'65 T1 Sedan
'87 T3 Syncro

[mavam]

Phenomenal, Jeremey! I would sign up immediately if you offer a workshop with the listed topics.

[Californio]

Like

[DwarfVader]

Stuck far too far away in Montana...
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- oderint dum metuant -

I'll find my van someday, or it will find me.

[2dogs1van]

i wish someone would offer this class in Seattle too. Lots of vanagon owners up here in the PNW!

[chris_d]

very cool. if there's space to uh.. pop the top and camp out for the weekend too this would be awesome

[Fuzzyip]

Interested in this, but would want to know what the instructors credentials are, and the breadth of expertise in the subject

[Jeremey]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for your interest and for your feedback. I will try to address as many comments as I can remember in this post.

First, if this idea is intriguing to you and you're interested please take the survey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VVYFPBJ this will help me understand the interest level as well as shape the topics covered in the first training.

Understandably there have been questions about the qualifications of the mechanic who will be hosting. I'm working with the owner of International Auto Services in Livermore, California--Detlev. IMHO he is a solid guy who has been active in this community for a long time and has an interest in helping us become more proficient at caring for our vehicles. As this project progresses, more info will be made known, but there is a yelp page for his services and full disclosure, my Van is in his shop right now. I'm a believer.

At this stage in the game we're trying to understand the areas of greatest need/interest. Once we get enough responses we'll pull together what the training will look like / entail. At that point additional posts will be made with details on the topics covered, expectations, lodging, et al. But for now we're in data collection mode to understand what topics are of greatest interest to those with an interest in this type of thing.

I will continue to monitor this post and possibly repost in a week-ish...so if you have additional questions you can post here or email me at: [email protected].

Thank you again for your interest...I'm excited about this idea and I'm happy many of you are as well.

-Jeremey

[mrcool]

Did the survey, I'm interested as long as the topics are more in depth than what I can get with a quick search on the Samba.

TheSamba frequently provides answers but no reason behind them.

edit:
Also a basic general inspection course would be really good. For instance, if I managed to get my van up on a lift what are the wear and tear items I need to inspect for safety. How to tell if bushings are bad ect.

[regis101]

Wenn die Wurste sind heib und das Bier ist kalt, ich bin in
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Peace, Regis

[santiago87]

I'd be interested. I filled out the survey, hope you get some good feedback.

I'm curious, did you approach the Buslab in Berkeley at all? I figure they might be interested in this. Just a thought.
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1987 2WD Vanagon Full Camper Automatic

[Syncronoid]

OK, what's become of this? Still very interested.
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'90 Syncro Westy w/GW2.5L

[cmayna]

Somehow I missed this thread back in June. Might also be interested.
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'90 Westy / automatic.
If I'm not working on the camper or my '50 Chebbie truck, I'm either fishing with the wife or smoking Salmon.


Craig

[Jpowless]

I'm in Roseville. I'm in!
80' Riviera aircooled 2.0

[Jeremey]

Original Post Update.

This idea hasn't died but finding the right subject matter experts who could commit is more difficult than I originally thought...that, and my family grew, and we moved to the Sacramento area, so this idea got put on hold.

The responses I received were overwhelmingly positive, with a lot of good ideas and/or considerations to take into account when planning out what the "classes" would entail, and I appreciate everyone's input.

I have not given up on this but my move to a new area has setback progress a bit. If there's anyone in the Sacramento area that would like to help move this forward, I'd love to hear from you.