Shoptalkforums.com

Hey guys and gals,
I'm very happy to announce that I probably will acquire a '74 Bus before this Friday! And the best part...it's free! That's right I said FREE...a guy in town is moving and doesn't have the time to mess with it. I also think that his wife is getting on his case about it, because he said he's had it for about 2 years...drove it about twice...and hasn't started it in about a year. Now my question to all you bus guru's out there is...besides the obvious things I can do to it to get it running again (ie tune-up) What else should I do? And does anyone know what size engine this bus should have? I've seen pictures of it and I know it's a pancake but I don't know what the displacement is. Any help to a soon to be newbie bus owner would be greatly appreciated. You can see pictures of it at http://blkbox.com/~brivera/bus/
Later.

I have a '73, and when I got it it had been parked for over a year, paid $100 for it and towed it home. We changed the oil, cleaned the spark plugs, and adjusted the points and it started up, it ran like crap but after a proper tune-up it ran pretty good untill it blew all the oil out of a freeze plug in the oil passages, it now has a 2.0 in it.
Does it have the original carbs on it? Before mine was parked the lady that owned it had a set of Dell'ortos put on it.
According to my bently manual the '74 has a 1795cc engine if it's the original.
Good luck it looks like it's in pretty good shape.

Hiya BF,

Thumpy has some good tips on what to do based on his experience.

But I'd suggest the first thing to do (assuming you have battery and starter working) is to get compression readings on all four cylinders and then go from there. If they are all reading over 100 psi, you should be able to get the beast running and tuned. If any cylinder is more than 20% "outtawhack" compared to the others, then you MIGHT want to take care of that first. Certainly, it's something you'll have to deal with in the near future. See Muir's book for dealing with compression check results

And on the subject of manuals, be sure to get a copy of Bentley's Official VW Service Guide for your model. Ask questions here. And there are two ther sites I'd recommend. The Type 2.com website (and its List) is top-notch. Without a doubt, the best VW site (of any kind) around. Also visit VW Planet.com another site which features busses.