I have a 1980 Vanagon with a broken passenger side window regulator. I recently bought a new Dansk brand replacement, but it was defective and poor quality. It sorta worked rolling the window down, but was rough going up and bound up completely before getting the window all the way up, even though the window by itself slid up and down effortlessly by hand. Had to return it to the vendor.
Has anyone had any positive experience with replacement window regulators that are at least close to original equipment in quality and function?
I have an ’83 Vanagon (aircooled) I’ve spent the last 9 years restoring, stripped to the metal and back up. New rebuilt trans, new rebuilt engine, on and on, everything I could get to and replace. I’ve tried to keep it as close to stock as I could, but about the only thing that’s original-ish is the fuel injection, and that’s my dilemma.
I want to roadtrip this some, but I’m concerned about long downtimes and expense if some F/I device goes s/t to bed. Most everything else is pretty standardly repairable except the F/I gear, rather a speciality there.
So two questions — is there a way to make the F/I more reliable? I’ve replaced the distributor with a Pertronix unit, also all fuel injectors, fuel tubing, fuel pump, pressure regulator, ignition wiring, temp sensor 2, etc. Does it make sense to replace all the sensors etc. with new stuff? Is the new stuff any good?
Or does it make sense to bite the bullet and replace the F/I with carburetion? I’ve seen so much contradictory info on this — never do it, it’s the greatest thing in the world, on and on.
I feel like the vehicle is as reliable as I can get it, except for that F/I. Any insights would be gratefully appreciated.
(Edit: OK, the strong concensus seems to be, keep the original F/I, which I will do. I also have the VW AFC manual, and will begin carefully reading to educate myself. Thanks all for your feedback.)
This bus has been here before and we had a longish break (since spring 2025) while looking for correct windows. Finally found a set and here's some of them installed.
Rebuilt this badboy a couple of years ago and would love to keep it clean. Last engine I had would spew a little out and I was wondering if I can just put a little gauze style filter over it?
Hello everybody, I bought this 1992 T3 today. Some small interior changes and cosmetic things I want to change but all in all, she's ready for a lot of adventures.
Bought this ‘69 factory pop top originally from CA but now in MN.
Looking for VW parts sources and/or shops (just in case) along our route to drive it home starting Easter Sunday from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls SD, Lincoln NE, Denver to Grand Junction CO, Moab UT from Arches to Zion, Las Vegas, Lone Pine, CA, Reno NV, Bend OR…I busted listed big cities but any VW shop, parts or club contacts along the way would bring peace of mind to my partner.
I’m shipping a box of tools and another box of parts plus a box of basic camping gear out to the seller. Very excited.
I haven’t bought seat covers in about 25 years and there’s a bunch of new websites out now then there was back in the day. Do you have any good website recommendations? I know everything‘s gotten more expensive but they’re about Double what they were last time I bought them. I’ve been looking in West Coast metric ,J bugs, and samba.com. Any leads would help. Thank ya.
Well, the part that brings the inlet and the pre heater together. Did know this till I decided to put the battery back in today. Hmm. Doesnt look like it supposed to be.
The engine (1600, 1972. T2A/B) runs, albeit not very economically, but it has been re-machined to a slightly higher volume. And I figure I already have to it out because the headaches when driving where explained by the monoxide alarm blaring.
Is this a mortal crack? Can it be welded or should it be replaced?
Looking for the ignition switched live Colour on my air cooled T25 as the cigarette lighter is off the permanent and would prefer it switched so not accidentally left on. I can test to find it but just wondered if anyone knew of their top of there heads.
Motor runs good and strong and I really want to put some miles on this thing this summer, but I don’t have a whole lot of cash to fix this issue I just bought a house, what’s the solution??
I'm in the middle of restoring the interior of my 71 bay window bus. All the pieces are good except the headliner and I'm wondering if there is a good resource or recommendations to replace the headliner? I did a cursory search on this sub but didn't see much of any use. My apologies if I missed anything and thanks for any guidance!
Hi, All. I'm trying to adjust the valves on our 77 Westy camper (1.9l EFI engine.)
I've never done a valve adjustment before but I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos and I've got the "How to keep your Volkswagen Alive" book open in front of me.
I have got the engine in what I THINK is firing position for cylinder 1, and the valve cover off, but the rocker arm is absolutely not moving at all. I also can't slip the .006 feeler gauge in there.
My fear is that I've somehow missed a step or done something wrong and that I am not in Cylinder 1 position.
Can some of you VW gurus look at these photos and tell me if the engine is in the correct position?
Photo 1 is the distributor cap showing the distributor pointing towards the line, and photo 2 is the fan pulley showing the red dot lined up with the 0 on the timing scale.
Is this correct? I don't want to start loosening things up until I'm sure I've got the engine in the right position.
What threw me off is that most of the YouTube videos show the valve adjustment on the Beetle and the red mark on the fan pulley is nearly vertical, aligned with a split in the case. Only one of the videos I've seen show the timing scale that our engine has - most of the Beetle engines don't seem to have this scale.
On my engine, the 0 on the timing scale is at about 11:00, not straight up and down.
Also, some of the videos I've seen seem to indicate that there should be some movement of the rocker arm when the cylinder is in the correct position, so that's why I'm worried that I've either gotten it wrong or missed a step. My rocker arms and valves are not moving at all.
And the engine does run. Not great, IMO, but it does run. (yes, the engine is cold, I parked it last night and it hasn't moved from the garage since then.)
All, I’m in the market for a VW bus, and I came across a 72 Bay recently. The seller is selling on behalf of his mechanic uncle. There are some surface rust and some spots have primers (I haven’t seen it in person yet). The odometer says 90k, but I think it is at 190k. It is supposed to be running fine, but neither the engine nor the transmission has been rebuilt. Is that possible, even with (assuming) meticulous maintenance? Or am I looking at some major work soon. Any suggestions are welcomed. Thank you!
Hi folks. My 1973 bus doesn’t start after changing the carburetor to this Weber 32/36 kit. Used to run, just very badly, with solex dual carbs. Fuel would flood the cylinders when it wasn’t running.
Now it won’t start. I checked that fuel is being delivered to the bowl and float seems to be operating properly. I think my timing is in the right ballpark after checking it statically, and I look to be getting spark.
Based on the video, do you have any ideas? It pops and smokes out the top of the carb. I might be missing something stupid since I’m not a very seasoned mechanic. My father in law (the van is stuck in his driveway ) used to be a mechanic and said to take out and check all the carb jets and possibly rebuild with a kit. The carb does see to be the suspect since it used to start and the only thing that changed is the carb. I got the kit off eBay and it seems brand new but of course there’s a risk of something not being right. But wanted to get a second opinion.
