New Bus owner here

[DerrickfromNC]

Hi everyone....the wife and I just purchased a 68 bay window and hope this forum will help us make this thing a daily driver. We currently have a 67 GermanLook bug and a 57 Speedster replica....we have also owned a 70 ghia. However this is a completely different animal. The previous owner slammed this bus on the ground by installing an adjustable beam and resetting the spring plates. My 1st task is to raise it about 2".

Is there supposed to be a front sway bar on this bus?

Will a set of 15" x 5.5" Flat 4 BRM style wheels fit under this bus and what size tires?

Currently it has a stock 1600 dp engine of unknown history and it seems way under powered for this size vehicle. My wife describes it like rowing a boat going thru the gears. Pulling into traffic is risky!

I'm considering replacing the engine with a dual carb 1915cc with an engle 110 cam.

Would this help acceleration or would it be like rowing the boat faster due to the gearing in the tranny?

Will most aftermarket exhaust for a beetle clear the rear engine mount?

What's the best repair manual for a 68 bus?

Thanks for your help!
Derrick & Yvonne

[rally2000]

Hey Derrick and Yvonne,

Welcome to Bus ownership. I have a 69 Westy that I pulled off the road 2 years ago and have been in the process of restoring. To answer your questions, yes, your bus came with a swaybar on the front. Those wheels will probably fit but I don't have any first hand experience with them on a bus only on a bug. Of more concern is the tires you should use as the majority of tires available do not have the correct load rating, and can be unsafe. If you use the proper tires you will be limited to just a few sizes and they are not likely complimentary of those wheels. For more information about tires look here: http://busdepot.com/details/tires.jsp or here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=162278

By far the best manual to use for your Bus is the green Volkswagen Official Service Manual aka the Bentley manual. I have acquired copies of most of the other manuals over the years just because when you buy a car, they always give you the manual with it, and they don't even come close.

I know some of the aftermarket exhausts will work. I bought a hide-away muffler and header but cut it up to refit the muffler in a different location. It looks similar to a quiet pack exhaust but with a better muffler.

(Disclaimer: Talking about engines is often times akin to discussing politics or religion. There are many different options and even more opinions about those options. This is just my opinion, take it for what its worth.)

The engine I built was a 1776 with an Engle 100. This was the best option for me at the time and a good compromise between durability, power, and budget. I felt that 90.5mm pistons were better because less material had to be removed from the case and heads, plus there is still good fin surface area to help cool the cylinders. Since I was more interested in building low end torque, I chose the 100 over the 110. Buses are heavy and need the power down low. Other than that I used stock dual port heads and a set of 40 weber idf's. The power increase over the tired old abused stocker that came in it is substantial. I do feel a little more confident driving it in traffic and if I really abuse it, it'll keep up with everyone else. The most important thing though was the change in attitude and awareness I had to make. Its still a bus. It's big, heavy, slow, and everyone will try and pass you or pull out in front of you no matter how fast you are going. Make sure your brakes are in great shape and remember its a bus. Slow down and enjoy the ride!

[Chris V]

I found when I had a torquey 2-liter (88x82) it was usually quicker and easier to just skip over first and use second gear...I often drove it as a two-speed, with only the even numbered gears...I was seriously considering re-gearing a trans because it was just about useless. Then I put in my 'spare' 1775 w/W-120 and IDA's, and it's been in there for a year and I like it more and more With a bit more displacement I think the W-120 or similar would be a great cam, perhaps a K7 or V26 too. I'm planning on building a 92x72.5 combination.

With the stock gearing I like having a powerband that reaches into 6k effortlessly. The easiest way to describe the difference in powerband is... With the 2-liter I could pull fourth gear from about 25mph to 100mph, and with the 1775 it's third gear from ~30mph to 75mph (and it can almost do 100, I don't try too often). BTW I'm running 235/55-17's on back.

For a daily you probably still need to have heaterboxes, I run 1-1/2" units...but I feel stockers max out around 1800cc's.

[DerrickfromNC]

Thanks for the assistance......I have decided to concentrate on the suspension since this bus's handling is so sloppy as to be in my opinion dangerous. I see no point in adding hp if I'm afraid to drive it on the hwy. It bounces, sways, and floats from side to side. The current tires are 14" car tires that look under inflated even thought they are at 32psi. My plans are as follows:

Add frt and rear sway bars.....it current does not have the stock swaybar.

Add kyb shocks front and back with the stiffer gas-charged versions in the rear.

A kyb steering damper if I can find one

Adjust play out of steering box if possible.

Install 15"x 5" wheels with a higher load rated tire.

Any other suggestions???

Thanks

[busman78]

Good shocks, good tires rated at 6ply or 8ply, I run 8ply, steering damper and the front sway bar (stock is good) will help a lot.

Check the play in the center link, it is where the drag arm from the steering box attaches to the front beam and the tie rod arms attach. If it is sloppy then steering will be too. Also check tie rod ends and ball joints.

[fusername]

get new tires first, in my personal experience these make the biggest difference out of anything. I had a bus with car tires and no shocks, putting on new tires made it much mubh better, putting on Gasajusts in the rear and KYB GR-2s in the front made it a bit better. still only have a stock front sway bar, so I can't comment on that, but up to 75mph it rides great, gets a bit scary but driveable after that.

tires first, trust me!

[DerrickfromNC]

Any recommendations on 15" tires that fit the bus load ratings. A 185/? or something close?

[Chris V]

There's a years worth of reading over on TheSamba as far as available tires go...in the BayWindow 'tire sticky'.

...It's of my belief if you go with a name brand tire with a 95 metric load rating or better you'll probably be fine...

[DerrickfromNC]

Not familiar with metric load ratings. Just looked at the tire rack.com website and only see rating based on B C D and E. What is the metric load rating equivalent?

[fusername]

I think C is 100 or higher. you want 100 or higher, meaning C load rating or higher, but you can pinch the border a bit all the way down to a 95 load rating.

busdepot used to have a good selection of tires last I checked, yokohomas were real popular, in a 14 casue thos are real hard to shop for. if you have 15s your life just got tons easier. 185-215 is the safe tire range, 85 profile or so.