New to Vandwelling, Considering VW Vanagon

[Patrick46]

Bug Vans are kinda like the Harley's of the van world.

The 'cool' factor is definately there, but they're crude, semi reliable, and WAY overpriced!

(maybe that's why I ride one.)

 

[David]

There is a lot of wrong and misleading info.. Yes the vans can be troublesome but they are 25 to 30 years old. How many old ford vans or old Chevy vans do you see that don't also need work? Yes they have their quirks but once get the hand of how it works, it's very easy to work on.

I have two Vanagons. One is a 4wd Syncro that needs a lot of work, the other is a Westy that needed a motor. I bought the Westy a lil over two weeks ago and with in a week and a half, it was running.

It's now my daily driver and while yes it still has issues, it's usually easy enough to sort them out and fix with a minimal amount of tools. The thing is, there is a pretty strong VW community that helps each other out. If you can't figure something out, you can usually get a fast answer from thesamba.com or other communities.

As for stealth camping.. There is no reason you can't stealth in a vanagon. Long as you aren't trying to pop the top and camp out on the side of the street, it's no different than any other van. You just tint or black out the rear windows just like you do with any other van and no one knows you are in there.

Are these vans for everyone? No, but I can tell you lots of people love them besides old hippies. I've meet a ton of people simply because of my vans, it's kinda funny.

 

[AltTransBikes]

Yes the vans can be troublesome but they are 25 to 30 years old. How many old ford vans or old Chevy vans do you see that don't also need work? Yes they have their quirks but once get the hand of how it works, it's very easy to work on.

~~~

Are these vans for everyone? No, but I can tell you lots of people love them........

Heh, that's the spirit. I've seen them all over the world, all through central America and the US, intrepid travelers all.

I once hooked up with a Brit as a travel bud I met on a layover while we were both waiting for a (unreserved) spot on the car ferry in La Paz to the mainland, and then convoyed down the coast to Guatemala where I was headed. He had started in NY and was headed to Peru. Later heard from him in Machu Picchu.

My very best friend in the world I've known since kindergarten bought a VW van in CA, traveled to AK then to Maine where I was at the time. One morning while he was visiting I went outside and he had the van pulled around back of the house and had the engine on the ground. I forget exactly what he was attending to but when I returned at noon he had it back up and done. He wasn't really a mechanic but one of those intrepid DIY types with a toolbag full of the specific tools, a few essential spare parts and the Muir guide to keeping your VW alive, lol. Later he headed out to FL where he traded the van for a boat.

As you say David not for everyone but for some individuals they engender that 'can-do' ethic.

 

[caseyc]

I'm curious. Why not the later model Eurovan?

 

[steamjam1]

Old VW vans are interesting for sure. Your going to spend a lot more time and money keeping one going then say a good 'ol Toyota mini-van from the '80s. (They have their own little cult like following, especially the 4wd's) I've also seen the old VW's with Toyota, Subaru, Chevy Iron Duke, Nissan, VW rabbit, and other engines swapped into them which usually make the vans quite reliable at the cost of upsetting the weight distribution alittle which effects its handling.

I personally wouldn't spend the money on a old VW van unless it was free. Even then I think I'd let it lay around. The parts are simply too expensive. I like the idea of being in any city anywhere in North America and being able to find a part at just about any auto parts store for really cheap.

 

[David]

Parts are really not that much more expensive for a Vanagon than for any other van. That's just pre conceived perception. You can go to Auto Zone or Advanced Auto, ect..ect and get parts.

Granted they likely won't have the parts in stock at the store in many cases, but they usually have them at the local distribution centers.. If I buy a part for my Vanagon at Advanced Auto they can almost always have it the next day or even that day if I order it in the AM.

Example of parts I've bought...

Rear hatch struts = 23.00 each
Front CV axles = $69.00 each
Rear CV axles = $79.00 each
Gasket kit for engine rebuild was $99
Tie rod ends were $14 each
Upper & lower ball joints were between $16 & $ $23
Complete tune up kit including spark plus, wires, oil filter, cap, rotor, air filter was $80
Clutch kit $170

These prices are really no worse than any other van.. Yes some things can cost money but hell every car has those things. The longest I've waited for any part at a local auto parts store was 6 days for the front cv axles.

If I order online from a VW shop it's usually 5 days on average due to the shops always being in Cali and I'm in FL.

 

[user 423]

@David: Hey, I took a peek at your blog and see you are traveling in a Westy. Nice! What kind of MPG are you getting? Reading about the Ecotec completion will be interesting.

 

[Zil]

Here is a man and a vanagon. check him out here. http://www.tosimplify.net/

 

[David]

my biggest problem with the VWs isnt the engines (4 bolts to remove the entire thing) or the mantinance which is a big issue... it's the "DIRTY HIPPIES ARE LIVING IN HERE!" message they scream, its all but impossible to steath in them, and the preconcieved notions about the VW minibuses are like cop magnets. I love the concept but unless you plan to do paid campgrounds or walmarts only (and if you are going that route wouldent you want the added space of an RV like a winnie?) I think vandwelling in a VW or eurovan is more trouble than you'd expect.

This is not really true. I haven't had any issues with cops while living in or driving my Westy. Perhaps if you have hippy stickers or pot related things all over the van the cops might give you issues.

As far as stealth, it's not that hard, but you use a different type of stealth. Instead of trying to hide like you would in a cargo van, you rather take up the look of a out of towner whom is traveling.

You don't try to hide rather you sit in plain sight. You aren't gonna hide in a vanagon, so you stick it out there for people to see. You wouldn't believe how many people I've heard walking around my van checking it out and having no clue I'm inside.

This is mine..

---

@David: Hey, I took a peek at your blog and see you are traveling in a Westy. Nice! What kind of MPG are you getting? Reading about the Ecotec completion will be interesting.

The Westy isn't that great on the MPG. It has a issue with on the the fuel injection sensors so it's running a bit rich. However my speedometer broke the first day of my trip, so I honestly can't say how it's doing.

It has an automatic and westy's with autos usually get around 17 mpg. I suspect when I build the syncro with the ecotec engine I'll get closer to 22-25mpg

 

[SoulRaven]

Greetings!

VW's were a GREAT choice for van dwelling! In early 1962, I bought a brand new 1961 Westfalia, my first official home on wheels. I had over 200k trouble free miles on her when she got wiped out by a drunk driver. The mechanic told me when it was new, bring it back at 3k miles for a valve adjustment and oil change. Change your oil every 5k and your plugs & points every 20k and do NOTHING ELSE and it will run forever. He may well have been right.

In 1968, I bought my second new Westy, after my interim 1964 Corvair Camper Van got stolen. The new Westy, they told me to get the valves adjusted every 3k miles, huge mistake I would learn later. 20k miles, Kaput engine... Replaced... After 3k valve adjustment, followed original 1962 advice. At nearly 300k miles, I traded her in on a 1975 pop-top westy. Again, I reverted back to 1962 advice. 200k trouble free miles. Next 1981 Vanagon, still air cooled, older interior layout. 175k later, again trouble free, bought a new 1985 with newer interior layout. Big mistake, water cooled meant huge problems. Talked to original 1962 mechanic, who laughed and told me they went water cooled because the air cooled ones were too reliable and never needed maintenance. That was my last VW...

The moral of this story is that if you want a reliable trouble free VW van, make sure that it is air cooled, with stock exhaust, and follow those 1962 directions. I loved all of mine except the last water cooled one.

As far as stealth goes, I totally agree with you, and maybe that is why I don't even try to hide, everybody knew my westy's were camper vans, and everybody knows my current van is a camper van, so what's the point. I'm not ashamed to live in my camper van, and I'm not ashamed to tell people I live in my camper van. Most people think it's pretty cool. I've had a LOT less trouble with cops by not trying to be stealth, I typically wave at them when they drive by. I'm not a criminal, so why should I have to act like one and hide. I like the neighbors I meet while parking in residential areas, many of them have become life long friends.

Living our version of "The American Dream" does not make us homeless, or deadbeats, or filthy hippies, it makes us part of the fortunate few who are able to follow and fulfill our dreams. Everybody should be so lucky. Most people don't even know what they're missing.

Life is short, tommorrow is the first day of the rest of your life... REPENT... Be proud of who you are and your chosen lifestyle. You'll never regret it.

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[westriver]

I have owner twenty one air cooler VWs from the time I was thirteen, until my mid-20s. After that, there was a two decade break in the action, until I bought a 2003 Passat for my college age son. WOW, what a mistake. I do a lot of my own repairs, and IMHO, VW has become a company that makes extraordinarily, needlessly, over-engineered and over complicated products that are delicate, unreliable, and underbuilt.

I learned that I will never again own a vehicle with:
#1 Four tiny little ball joints on the front, in place of two large robust ones.
#2 a need to have the entire front end removed to install a new timing belt.
#3 An oil fill/ dipstick tube made of a plastic that crumbles like potato chips when you touch it.
#4 Individual ignition coil packs, on each plug, that fail on a regular basis.
#5 Window regulators that fail on a regular basis
#6 A "dual-Mass" flywheel that cost $800, and self destructs, leaving the vehicle with a $3000 repair, and making it sound like a diesel dump truck when idling.
#7 Three separate vacuum systems in then engine bay, with dozens of proprietary vacuum dashpots and valves, all of which are dealer only items that take several days to get, and cost 10X what they are worth.
#8 A vehicle that will empty your wallet, or turn you into a pretty good German mechanic, with a nice pile of specialty tools and the hardware and software to figure out what broke this week, while the POS is hooked up to your laptop.

I learned the hard way that VW is a very different company than they once were. IF I received a post 1975 VW as a gift, I would take it around the block to make sure it's safe and serviceable, and have it posted on Craigslist within the hour. They are simply not worth the stress of getting involved with, and it doesn't matter if it's a van or a Golf, sadly, they are all best avoided.

 

[user 423]

My dad drove Buicks all his life until he retired and bought a new '70 BMW 1600 (back when BMW's were affordable). He drove that for 6 years and then traded for a '76 Rabbit that was a POS. He then drove a '78 for a while and it was just OK. He considered buying a Toyota but since they started building the Rabbits in the U.S. he wanted to 'buy American', LOL. So he bought an '83 Rabbit and it had problems also. None of these VWs had high mileage at all and still were sub-par but he did like them anyway. I was an air-cooled VW fan back then with a '63 bug and a '70 bus but switched to an '84 Accord (A/C and decent heat,yeah!). My dad was impressed with my Honda and switched to first an '86 Civic then an '87 Accord. For both of us it was a night and day difference.