You can, but half the time they're not as reliable as their reviews coax em up the being, and 3x the cost of what the original part would be. It's also easier trying to find a mechanic that can rig together the original motor then a frank'n'stein. I've had a lot of mechanics baffled by my motor, to the point where they give up and denounce their ability to work on it. As for VW's, their a special kind of car... you're gonna need one hell of a welding engineer to rig non-VW parts to a VW motor. Their built around a very strict guideline so that they dont overheat and warp the metal work. Air-cooled motors are a feat of motor works, almost a science. I bought into one part once.. that new electrical point system for the distributor. Supposed to save you from timing the motor small advances/retards(mountain climbing), and from having to clean the points. Only to find that after 10000 miles that I still needed to clean the points, and when it got too hot, it'd skip a cylinder when I'd have to do interstate to city limit cruising. That little wire dohicky was left on the side of a warehouse where I raided an abandoned VW for it's clicker. A good car is the one where duct-tape, wire coat hangers, and gorilla-glue are all sitting on top of the tool box.
well, to start, the majority of the people here hate anyone who isnt exactly like them or have the exact same beliefs as they do. most people here have total disregard for the environment, love war, discriminate against people who arent like them, and act like they are better than everyone else. plus there is NOTHING to do here. we have "the market place" which has a movie theater and a fountain. and other than that, there are cows and oil refineries. everything here is 20 minutes away from everything else no matter where you are or where your going so its impossible to walk anywhere without it taking all day. dont even get me started on the weather. i could go on forever. i guess its a great place for people who just want to sit in their perfect little suburban house all day and do nothing [like my mom]. im just really unhappy here. :/
hahahah wow. well if i ever stumble across a whole bunch of money then i want to get a VW and fix it up so it wont break down. some car dealership should start reproducing the old VW'S but so that they have newer parts to them so they are cheaper to maintain, but they still look like the old 60's and 70's buses. that would be awesome.
i'm going to risk raining on your hippy vehicle parade by mentioning that if you paint up your van with psychedelic peace signs and flowers you WILL get attention ... from the cops. sometimes it's better to keep a low profile, especially if you're 17 and you don't have your mom's permission to be running around the country. also keep in mind that there may be times when you'll need to park somewhere for the night where it isn't exactly legal to do so. if your van is screaming "HIPPIES SLEEPING WITHIN" expect a rude awakening. there are few things more unpleasant than being startled awake in the middle of the night by authoritive poundings on the side of your van and a flashlight in your eyes. experience speaking here. it's not my intent to quell your enthusiasm and creativity. i'd just like for you and your friends to have a fun cop-free adventure. at least maybe wait till after you and your traveling companions are 18 to hippy paint your van?
hahahaha!! "HIPPIES SLEEPING WITHIN" that made me laugh. hahhahaha ahhh wow. but yea thats true. also kinda a bummer. especially since i have a major problem with authority and i would probably end up saying something that i probably shouldnt to them and get in even more trouble... that tends to happen to me... but once my friend and i turn 18 [the end of this year] our van is getting painted. haha
A VW that wouldn't break down.. ha... that's kinda an oxymoron. They all break down, luckily, they made them easy to repair. Back in the days when they we're popular that is... now finding parts are rare.. but easy once the parts are obtained. Only reason they were cheap and reliable back in the 60's and 70's was due to the mass production of them, as the "People's Car"(What Volkswagen means in German), you could break down, walk 10 miles, and raid another broken down VW for the parts you need, or find a shoppe with a dozen of them sitting in the back. Mexico produced the VW bugs until, I believe 2006, when they shut down the factory. You could buy new VW beetles, almost the exact of what they we're modeled after(74' super bug), for around 4000$. The only upgrade to them was the 1600cc motor has fuel injectors. My brother sits on a 2003 mexi beetle.. somewhere in the mass of Volkswagens. Brazil still makes the old style Minibus. Now with factory A/C and the works.. only downside, seems Amerika doesn't want to deal with importing them for some reason. I have yet to find a Brazil bus at any vdub shows, though you can by accessory pieces from them, like the new air-vent grills. And parts for VW's aren't going to get cheaper seeing how the only way to make things cheaper is through mass production. Take a Bus body and knock a chevy 350 in it.. it'll look like a hack job in the back, but it'll be about the cheapest bus to maintain once it's done. Oh, and yes, I totally agree with the man commenting about a painted hippie bus and attention factor. My attention factor is a 9 outta of 10... all I need now is jangle lights lining the windshield and I'm set. It's my only downside, though you do learn to joke with cops, and find out a lot of their local laws, which are always a good thing if you intend of trying to pick up a few dollars in that town busking or sign flying. Thankfully I still sit on 0 tickets of eight years, many very close calls and enough warnings to make a flag with though. I find it easy to sleep, only get woken up by cops 'bout two times a month.. I get more attention from wingnuts and people yelling "I love you" at me in the morning to be more of a problem, or someone gets too close and my dog flips her shit. It does get a lot of gawkers and people wanting to bid on you though.. which tends to be profitable when they want pictures in front of it. At the same time, it has provided me with some amazing "adoptions" for the day, night, few days with some amazing services and houses.. and some totally righteous people. Word of advice with painted hippie bus, stay the hell outta Texhass... I'm already 86'd from there due to a painted hippie bus screams that I'm smuggling weapons and I refuse searches of my RV Vdubmicile. They gave me the full escort... Man, I just don't know how to write a simple reply...
We used to call these Probable Cause Mobiles. My dad had a '66 Chevy Van. The cool thing about Chevy's and GMC's up to a certain vintage is they have interchangable parts. My dad has a pickup that almost looks like it came off an Indian Reservation. It's about 5 different colors but all of the parts are either Chevy or GMC from about 1976 to about 1980. Alot of it is replacement parts and or rebuilt parts. My dad has used it to pull down trees. We also had alot of family vacations that looked like "Little Miss Sunshine." There was no clutch we had to get out and push when we stopped for gas etc.... But if you take my advice about Chevys and GMC's it's easy to find parts. Peace Out, Rev J
hahahah nice! i would love to see a picture of your bus if you have one? and i already plan on never ever ever ever going to texas. its just not a place that i would be very fond of... this might be weird but i really didnt even consider the attention aspect of a hippie-painted van/bus. i mean i thought about the cops giving it attention but it sounds like an awesome way to meet awesome people too. ps. about you not being able to write a simple reply, thats a GOOD thing. hahaha i appreciate your replies.
Got a few old ones in my profile, though, it's had a lot of tags and more paint since then. Lack of cameras
Collaboration.. interior and part of the exterior was by me, with contributions from many of the folks that I picked up along my ways as well any family I ran into on the streets that wanted to tag it. It's an open canvas..
that is amazing. i really cant wait till im able to get a van and paint it. although i doubt mine will ever look as awesome as yours. i love the patch-looking design thing.
