"Runs Great!"

[DjEep]

Went to go check out a bus on Sat. I was looking for an cheap, unpretty yet roadworthy bus to play with. It was about 2-3 hours from my house, so I wanted to know if it was worth the trip. I asked the guy for some details and if it should be able to make it back to SF no problem. He says it "Runs great!," has new brakes, he just put a bunch of $ into it, yadayada and that it would have no problem getting back.

So off I go, along with a friend so I could drive it back if worthy.

4-5 hours later (courtesy of caltrans thinking that it is a good idea to close the SF Bay Bridge for Labor Day Weekend) I get to the bus.

It is a 71 westy, badly spraypainted black over some rad orange '80s stripes. The PopTop is in the front yard, the bus is currently a "sunroof" which turns out to be a good thing, I'll explain later.

He gives me the key and says to start it up.

"But don't give it any gas when you start it."
::putt-putt----pt-uttt-pt-utt----ptut-puuttt::
"Give it some gas! Keep it going"

So it is "running" and off I go...Wait, where's first gear?

There it is... I think.... Why isn't the clutch engaging? Oh, there it goes engaging right where it should be hitting the freeplay. Wait, where is the freeplay?

::BANG BANG, putt, pttutt, BANG::
::Brake::
::grinding and pulling to right::

Nice new brakes... Lets go back to the house...
after about 1 mile of driving, lost in Yuba City in a rolling deathtrap, I get her back to the house and go around back to the engine. I am immediatly roasting in the coolong air. After 1 mile of 1st-2nd gear driving the poor thing is putting out way more heat than the 1776 in Geri after a 2 hour freeway run. I tell him it's running hot. He askes how i can tell. I toss him the dipstick and watch him juggle it. Then I notice that the nice loud exaust leak is puffing straight into a heater box where the tubing had come loose.

"I smelled gas, I thought it was just running rich or something."

Then I notice the solid-rubber, unbraided fuel lines are cracking like lips on the ski slopes. Right over the ignition components.

And this guy has been driving his two young daughters around in this thing... Luck that "sunroof" was there for ventilation...

Meanwhile there is a nasty rattle coming from the #2 cylinder. I cut it off and tell the guy NOT to let anyone drive it until he fixes the fuel lines. I crawl underneath to adjust the clutch, so the next poor sap to drive it can at least have a clutch. The cable, nut and arm where one rust chunk.

Then I ask when he last changed the oil, since it was black and the consistency of Odwalla Superfood.

"I was scared to do it, I thought the old oil was keeping it from leaking..."

Ooookaaaaay...... "My engine may be seized, but it sure don't leave no drips on the driveway...."

This guy wants $1400 for this calamity, but has a gorgeous, totally solid, shiny seafoam green and white '62 panel with kombi style windows cut out, sitting dissassembled in his driveway and he wants only $400 for that.

I wanted to save that splitty from the horrors that befell the 71, but alas I don't have a flatbed....

[DurocShark]

That stuff cracks me up.

And that's the same guy who would offer you $200 for a perfect bus, most likely.

[DjEep]

Supposedly he has had a few VW's in his day He had no idea how to adjust the clutch, how or even when to change the oil, what timing was, what an exhaust leak was, what a valve adjustment was, etc... All his VW's where worked on by his "friend", who "knows VW's," I hope his "friend" is the one driving it when it explodes....

[jberger]

400 for a split? Where is it and do you have pics?

[spiffy]

Good night!! That poor bus...damn good thing you helped him out.
I am glad that my first bus came with a huge helping of suspicion that made me look into things before throwing the fam in the car for a camping trip.

[DjEep]

His ad is back up on sac cL:

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/car/206758164.html

You should ask about the splitty. He doesn't know how to use a digital camera or something so he won't send any pics (at least that's what he told me). It needed way more work than I can handle or have room for but it was mainly just assembly and finishing as the doors and bumpers were in a pile behind it and the shortblock was in the cargo area. Trans looked good. No glass. Seen shells like that on TS for way more.