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russellbowen Samba Member
Joined: October 09, 2010 Posts: 1
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 10:59 am Post subject: Automatic hesitation? |
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Hi experts,
I've got a restored '74 standard Bug and I'm thinking of buying a beautiful '79 Campmobile. My one big hesitation is that it has the automatic transmission. Two questions: 1) How do these drive in general, and 2) If I ever need to replace or rebuild in the future, that's doable, right? Or not/difficult?
Big VW fan here, but NOT a mechanic.
Thanks!
Russ |
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Wildthings Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005 Posts: 50255
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 11:28 am Post subject: Re: Automatic hesitation? |
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They have a good track record. If I did a lot of city driving I would want one. Parts for the 010/090 automatic section are readily available and should be for a long while as they were shared with many other VW and Audi products of the era.
Every 150-200K miles you want to have all the seals that separate to ATF from the gear oil replaced. |
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SGKent Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2007 Posts: 41031 Location: Citrus Heights CA (Near Sacramento)
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 12:23 pm Post subject: Re: Automatic hesitation? |
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VW Bus has some issues a Thing or Beetle would not. Getting rid of engine heat is one, and it shows up as more maintenance than on a lighter more aerodynamic car.
Link
_________________ “Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin |
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skills@eurocarsplus Samba Peckerhead
Joined: January 01, 2007 Posts: 16801 Location: sticksville, ct.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: Automatic hesitation? |
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Wildthings wrote: |
They have a good track record. If I did a lot of city driving I would want one. Parts for the 010/090 automatic section are readily available and should be for a long while as they were shared with many other VW and Audi products of the era.
Every 150-200K miles you want to have all the seals that separate to ATF from the gear oil replaced. |
you know, i like you mostly, but i think you need to get out more.
these automatics are GONE and are getting VERY hard to find, let alone find parts for.
i just had one built.... and Matt Steedle is having a huge issue getting parts for these and that was pre pandemic
i have been looking for a spare for over a year. they pop up, but are usually far away enough that shipping is impossible.
no, they aren't sitting in junk yards. any 80's/90s VAG product that used them have long been crushed. when is the last time you saw a 80s VAG product in a yard?
again, they are out there but i can find 200 manuals to 1 automatic.
and just forget all of the odd stuff....shifter cables, shifter mechanisms etc....they are just about impossible to find
that said, a well sorted auto is pretty nice. i'm sure its gutless in a stock bus but with a 2.5 Subaru strapped to it, it actually hauls ass (for what it is)
but bottom line...the stuff is VERY scarce.
here is a post from the T3 section:
Multi69s wrote: |
Since we are in the minority, the parts for the autos will probably disappear first. In fact, Rockauto no longer carries all of the parts that they had when I ordered these kits. |
here it is in its entirety
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066
this was in 2012 and these transmissions share a lot of the same parts.
just go into this with your eyes wide open _________________
gprudenciop wrote: |
my reason for switching to subaru is my german car was turning chinese so i said fuck it and went japanese....... |
Jake Raby wrote: |
Thanks for the correction. I used to be a nice guy, then I ruined it by exposing myself to the public. |
Brian wrote: |
Also the fact that people are agreeing with Skills, it's a turn of events for samba history |
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orwell84 Samba Member
Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 2528 Location: Plattsburgh, New York
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 4:28 pm Post subject: Re: Automatic hesitation? |
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If the bus ticks all the other boxes for you, I wouldn’t reject it because it’s an automatic. They are sturdy and last a long time. I have the earlier 003 version. A long time ago, I considered replacing it with a manual thinking performance would be better...until I actually drove a manual. It was a dog too and I realized I wasn’t really missing out. |
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SGKent Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2007 Posts: 41031 Location: Citrus Heights CA (Near Sacramento)
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 5:33 pm Post subject: Re: Automatic hesitation? |
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skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
Wildthings wrote: |
They have a good track record. If I did a lot of city driving I would want one. Parts for the 010/090 automatic section are readily available and should be for a long while as they were shared with many other VW and Audi products of the era.
Every 150-200K miles you want to have all the seals that separate to ATF from the gear oil replaced. |
you know, i like you mostly, but i think you need to get out more.
these automatics are GONE and are getting VERY hard to find, let alone find parts for.
i just had one built.... and Matt Steedle is having a huge issue getting parts for these and that was pre pandemic
i have been looking for a spare for over a year. they pop up, but are usually far away enough that shipping is impossible.
no, they aren't sitting in junk yards. any 80's/90s VAG product that used them have long been crushed. when is the last time you saw a 80s VAG product in a yard?
again, they are out there but i can find 200 manuals to 1 automatic.
and just forget all of the odd stuff....shifter cables, shifter mechanisms etc....they are just about impossible to find
that said, a well sorted auto is pretty nice. i'm sure its gutless in a stock bus but with a 2.5 Subaru strapped to it, it actually hauls ass (for what it is)
but bottom line...the stuff is VERY scarce.
here is a post from the T3 section:
Multi69s wrote: |
Since we are in the minority, the parts for the autos will probably disappear first. In fact, Rockauto no longer carries all of the parts that they had when I ordered these kits. |
here it is in its entirety
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066
this was in 2012 and these transmissions share a lot of the same parts.
just go into this with your eyes wide open |
we are getting to that point with these buses that pretty much any repair kits for transmissions etc are going to be made of Chineseium or Vietnamesium. _________________ “Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin |
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Wildthings Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005 Posts: 50255
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 7:19 pm Post subject: Re: Automatic hesitation? |
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skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
but bottom line...the stuff is VERY scarce. |
Like a big difference in the Rust Belt and elsewhere in the country were cars last far longer. |
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skills@eurocarsplus Samba Peckerhead
Joined: January 01, 2007 Posts: 16801 Location: sticksville, ct.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 7:29 pm Post subject: Re: Automatic hesitation? |
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Wildthings wrote: |
skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
but bottom line...the stuff is VERY scarce. |
Like a big difference in the Rust Belt and elsewhere in the country were cars last far longer. |
ha...knew you may go there.
go in any section...bus, vanagon etc and in the parts classifieds just type in auto/automatic/3 speed
tell me your results
and 'recycled jack' doesn't count. look at his feedback. he is a total pain in the ass to deal with
not trying to start a war...but if they are so easily sourced as you say, you'd make a mint selling them as cores because they don't exist
i'm real good friends with Matt. all these transmission guys swap parts with each other. they have no parts left to swap and are on mega hoard mode because there is none left.
that was my big hesitation getting an automatic vanagon. you can't even get a throttle cable for an automatic vanagon at the moment....they are just not out there and very specific to the AT vanagon _________________
gprudenciop wrote: |
my reason for switching to subaru is my german car was turning chinese so i said fuck it and went japanese....... |
Jake Raby wrote: |
Thanks for the correction. I used to be a nice guy, then I ruined it by exposing myself to the public. |
Brian wrote: |
Also the fact that people are agreeing with Skills, it's a turn of events for samba history |
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Shonandb Samba Member
Joined: January 12, 2019 Posts: 1129 Location: Vancouver, BC
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 10:03 pm Post subject: Re: Automatic hesitation? |
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I have a 76 Westy automatic and was concerned about the 003 transaxle that it came with as I swapped in a 2.5L Subaru but it was fine while I sourced a 010 from a Vanagon and had it rebuilt. The shop said the 010 is a better transmission and easier to still get parts for. They completely rebuilt it in less than a week so if the shop has the supply chain, they know where to get the parts. The seal between the differential and automatic transmission on my 003 finally went the day I got the 010 back so all was good. The 010 has been great and I used an external transmission cooler to hopefully keep it healthy with the extra Subi hp.
I'll wait until the Subaru auto is perfected and probably upgrade at some point but the 010 is working fine now. _________________ *******************************
76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
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