Bus is now done. I helped him with the headliner and I have to say it came out Perfect. He was quoted $3K just to install it. Cooling system has been revamped and now has one radiator under the belly. He did the bodywork but a good friend that restores $120K GT350 Mustangs shot the paint in trade for welding (rust repair).
He has been offered $75K for the bus a couple times, and he still owns it. Won’t sell it as there are too many Favors of friends invested. Since the completion and dialing in the Swap parts and fabrication of it all. He has had several buses shipped to him for the same Subaru style swap at $10-20K each depending on the level of build desired. Engine bay painted, Trans and even full brake upgrade.
We had a ’78 Kombi Westphalia for about 6 years in the 80’s. That was a cool camper. Green; we called it Kermit. The SW US summer heat drove us to sell it. :cry:
starcrazed I saw you like E36 325i . I told my favourite but don’t told the cars I currently own. I have two e36 325i. One daily driver 1991 no vanos and another 1995 vanos as a donor car. And I got an 1994 2.9 V6 Ford scorpio estate. I like them all And all drives at the correct axle.
vwpieces… nice A1 Jetta. I’ve gone thru many A2 GTIs and GLIs, mostly 2.0 16v. Autox and tracked them, until
I spun a bearing. Also had a clean 92 GTI 2.0 16v w/ around 70K miles on the clock at the time. Sold it to
get the track car going again, posted it on local craigslist, a dubber from the east coast flew in and drove it home.
Thanks!
The 2dr was on the road in 2 months. One month building the 2.0L engine and one month on the car and everything else. I did all the head work myself, match port and polish, guides and cut the seats for the under-cut valves, sport cams, WOT fuel enrichment tuned on the DPR for 12.5:1 AFR and still using the Scirocco CIS-E system. Pretty much stock bottom end with some lightening of internal parts and pulleys and flywheel. Trans in the 16V close ratio with 0.80 5th and Peloquin LSD again built myself. Has the 10.1 brakes and rear disc too, 16V scirocco rear beam and pedal assy with master and booster. Wheels are the 15 inch Forged Castellets and not offered in USA, came off a Canadian Passat Syncro and fully polished. It hauls A and stops.
Collected some rare accessories for it and European parts. Intake is the 50mm euro sciricco, Happich pop-out rear quarter windows, European spec Jetta bumper F&R, Headlight section is all Euro spec and the rare Hella grill with driving lights. Oh yeah, FOHA rear spoiler and wheels described above.
It really is a Rare car in the 2dr, let alone the color (Cosmos Silver) and interior which is the Black and White tweed sport seats. Original non-AC and sunroof. It is a Wolfsburg Edition (un Badged) and there is no documentation of the color used on that car or year from VW. A few others are known to exist and none had the paint code stickers in the trunk area. The WE in 83 were the predecessors to the first GLI of 84. WE had the gauge package, sport seats, Leather shift boot and leather steering wheel.
I took it Auto-X once shortly after installing the Peloquin LSD. Placed 50% of the field but with another driver it could have done much better. As a Novice I was allowed to take another person as a guide and there were guys calling shotgun trying to get in it with me. Fun day. But certainly need a baffled oil pan before I do that again. Top end got noisy and had to hold it above 4K RPM to get the lifters to pump back up.
don’t even talk to me about the oil pan baffle… I had spent many pretty dimes w/ one of the foremost VW expert in the country,
a regular contributor in the dub mags, and my long list of parts and upgrades to the car included an oil pan baffle.
Everything was done but one item. Yup, you guessed it. On a super long sweeper, it starved and I’d done blown her up.
Not having learned my lesson, had him rebuild the whole shebang yet again, on my dime. But it was fun dicing
with a GLI…
Impressive build on your car, nicely done. And those buses!!!
Yeah that track had a high speed sweeper too that screwed tighter at the end, deceptive to say the least as you were holding it hard only to need to slow more and turn in harder. I was fortunate to only bubble up the lifters.
I already run the factory pan gasket with the crank scraper. I own an old school Drake baffled pan but couldn’t get myself to use it during build. 2 years later was the LSD install and that was why I wanted to get it out on the track. That track day was a late night decision the night before with a buddy. Zero prep, not even tire pressure or oil top off. One “passenger” was really trying to Help on the track… Go easy on the gas… I laughed and told him I was just there to have FUN and beat on the car. Tires spinning out of turns etc. Spun it out once. Had another guy harping me about the class I was in. I just said don’t worry about it, I won’t be back again. I was placed in that class. No idea any more what it was. It was fun, but not something I will spend $50 for every weekend just to participate. It really is a daily driver once the snow melts and the Salt washes away. Been driving it for about 6 years now, bout 10K/yr. At the same time the 68 bus get another 5K/yr and it’s used mostly for the trips to shows from PA, NJ to CT.
Some great cars here! Nothing wrong with a little off topic discussion.
I’m more of a truck guy myself. Here’s a previous project. Got this Ranger in really rough shape from my brother (who did the abuse) for free. It got nearly all new sheet metal, paint, an engine teardown, wheels, proper lowering (beams), some other mechanical work. Nothing crazy, but was a fun ride.
And here’s my current project (and favorite). 1949 Ford F-1, flathead V8, and nearly all original. It runs and drives, but runs and drives like a 68 year old vehicle. I’m slowly going through and upgrading brakes, steering, etc before moving onto the fun stuff.
My dad, an old car guy, helped me along with the Ranger (and other vehicles). Laid paint & hand buffed it together, taught me all kinds of stuff. Unfortunately he passed shortly after I bought the ’49. He helped me weld in new floor pans, replace some body mounts, and clean up the brake system. Since he’s been gone, it’s a bit hard to get up the motivation to work on it. That and I really miss his knowledge & experience. RIP Dad.
Oh well, like some folks mentioned it already, I’d love to get a Mazda MX-5 again, maybe I can when the kids are bigger and we can afford to have 2 cars.
If I’d ever get lucky to pick the right numbers then I’d get this version though, the Mitsuoka Himiko.
My first car, when I was 18 (30 years ago….), was a ’74 Dspecial, I kept it for 15 years, at the same time I also had a ’70 DS20 and a ’75 Dsuper. Great cars, mine were daily drivers, so when I could no longer easily get parts for them I moved on to the CX. Nowadays a C4 GP (and a Land Rover…)
Was fortunate to enjoy a few Miuras during the 40th anniversary rally to Monte Carlo.
This was in Chamonix, there were 8 or 9 other Miuras and some other rare Lamborghinis.
What a glorious sound they made !
. I told my favourite but don’t told the cars I currently own. I have two e36 325i. One daily driver 1991 no vanos and another 1995 vanos as a donor car. And I got an 1994 2.9 V6 Ford scorpio estate. I like them all 
And all drives at the correct axle.
