Itinerant Air-Cooled

tommu wrote:I’m very serious about buying a 1976 Westy. It’s in Minnesota but it was originally from California. It appears to have a fully intact and stock ljet system as well as a brand new exhaust system.

From my research I need to apply register within 20 days of purchase in CA. As part of the process I need a SMOG certificate.

In order to get SMOG certificate I would need:

1. SMOG sticker indicating how to test? This may not be present so I’d need to visit the ARB REF for one
2. CARB II CAT
3. A Bus that’s running efficiently!

This raises a couple of questions for me:

a) Am I crazy to do this!
b) What do I do without a drop in CAT. I know SGKent is doing great things with Magnaflow, but their drop in CAT is seemingly not yet available. Does anyone have any experience of those weld in universal CATs?
C)What would happen if I paid my fees but didn’t present SMOG cert for some months? Are there severe consequences? I can’t seem to find out online.

Yes, if the BAR sticker is not present, or if it is present but is illegible, you will need to take it to a smog referee, who will inspect and test the vehicle before issuing a new one. It's very useful to bring whatever supporting documentation you have to show exactly what smog equipment was on the car originally. The resources that the smog referee has for determining such (primarily the Mitchell manual), are very likely to be in error. For example, I was able to use my owner's manual to prove to the referee that my Federal-spec van didn't come with an oxygen sensor originally. Without that proof, they would have relied on the Mitchell manual, which apparently doesn't know about the differences between Cali-spec and Federal-spec Vanagons.

I also have been waiting to hear from SGKent on the Magnaflow part number for the drop-in cat. My present system has a Magnaflow 339916 cat which they once claimed was a "Direct-Fit" for the Vanagon, but which required a fair bit of cutting and welding to eventually fit. If I were you, I would wait for the correctly-fitting cat to be available, even if it pushes you outside the desired time window. It is so much nicer having the factory-correct exhaust system instead of some fugly bodged-together mess of pipes.

Bleyseng does bring up a good point about the new exhaust system, though. If it is an aftermarket "header" system, then the new cat from Magnaflow isn't going to help, and you'll have to get a cat and muffler welded in somehow, It's actually pretty hard to find a muffler that is short enough to fit back there in-line with the cat. Aircooledchris has a couple of pictures of his setup with a header.

Based on my experience, you need to have the smog certificate in hand before the DMV will even take your money to register it. If you don't get the smog certificate within the 20 day window, it's no big deal: you just end up paying a penalty (consider it a tardy tax) for past due registration fees. In my case the penalty added up to about $400, but that's mostly because I was about 4 years tardy. I wouldn't think that the hit would be anywhere near as bad for you.

SlowLane wrote: I also have been waiting to hear from SGKent on the Magnaflow part number for the drop-in cat. My present system has a Magnaflow 339916 cat which they once claimed was a "Direct-Fit" for the Vanagon, but which required a fair bit of cutting and welding to eventually fit. If I were you, I would wait for the correctly-fitting cat to be available, even if it pushes you outside the desired time window. It is so much nicer having the factory-correct exhaust system instead of some fugly bodged-together mess of pipes.

That's absolutely what I'd like to do. Pressure to get this registered may mean that I need to find a work around.

SlowLane wrote: Bleyseng does bring up a good point about the new exhaust system, though. If it is an aftermarket "header" system, then the new cat from Magnaflow isn't going to help, and you'll have to get a cat and muffler welded in somehow, It's actually pretty hard to find a muffler that is short enough to fit back there in-line with the cat. Aircooledchris has a couple of pictures of his setup with a header..

It's ceramic coated stock - not aftermarket trash. So I really don't want to damage any of that.

SlowLane wrote: Based on my experience, you need to have the smog certificate in hand before the DMV will even take your money to register it. If you don't get the smog certificate within the 20 day window, it's no big deal: you just end up paying a penalty (consider it a tardy tax) for past due registration fees. In my case the penalty added up to about $400, but that's mostly because I was about 4 years tardy. I wouldn't think that the hit would be anywhere near as bad for you.

That's actually much better than I guessed. I had visions of the 'man' crushing my new Gross Polluter,

Herman is now up for sale.

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/c ... 03272.html

tommu wrote:

SlowLane wrote:If I were you, I would wait for the correctly-fitting cat to be available,

That's absolutely what I'd like to do. Pressure to get this registered may mean that I need to find a work around.
It's ceramic coated stock - not aftermarket trash. So I really don't want to damage any of that.

When I decided to put a stock system back on my van, I took the crossover pipe directly from the store to a ceramic-coating shop to have it coated. Thought I would never have to worry about rust on the crossover. Well, either I chose a crappy coating shop, or the pipe I bought was really cheap metal, or ceramic coating isn't the panacea that it's touted to be, because my crossover pipe started rusting within a few months. It now looks no better than one which hadn't been coated. Hope you have a better experience.

tommu wrote: Herman is now up for sale.

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/c ... 03272.html

Sweet looking Ghia. It's really going to hurt watching that one drive away. Hope the new owner enjoys it for what it is.

There is a sizable contingent of Minnesotans here in the IAC forums. Perhaps you could cajole one into inspecting your prospective purchase for you.

It's a wrench. I'd planned to keep it and buy a bus - but a cold look at finances changed my mind.

It would be fantastic if anyone is close to Bloomington MN and has the time to take a look. I would of course cover any fuel, meal, beer etc expenses. I know I should really fly out to take a look myself but with work and childcare duties that's really not possible right now.

Colin is selling his Westy? Say it aint so! I haven't followed the threads on here too much, but also hadn't heard that. Is it gone yet?

tommu wrote:I’m very serious about buying a 1976 Westy. It’s in Minnesota but it was originally from California. It appears to have a fully intact and stock ljet system as well as a brand new exhaust system.

From my research I need to apply register within 20 days of purchase in CA. As part of the process I need a SMOG certificate.

In order to get SMOG certificate I would need:

1. SMOG sticker indicating how to test? This may not be present so I’d need to visit the ARB REF for one
2. CARB II CAT
3. A Bus that’s running efficiently!

This raises a couple of questions for me:

a) Am I crazy to do this!
b) What do I do without a drop in CAT. I know SGKent is doing great things with Magnaflow, but their drop in CAT is seemingly not yet available. Does anyone have any experience of those weld in universal CATs?
C)What would happen if I paid my fees but didn’t present SMOG cert for some months? Are there severe consequences? I can’t seem to find out online.

Update??
Colin

Still in progress. With luck I'll have a bus in January.
Question - how much harder is it to drop a T4 engine than a T1?

4 bolts at tranny, disconnect the fuel lines/heat cables, accelerator cable, 4 bolts on the rear bar, upper two tranny mount bolts to lower the engine, rear tins, battery cables, air filter box, alternator wires

tommu wrote:Still in progress. With luck I'll have a bus in January.
Question - how much harder is it to drop a T4 engine than a T1?

Irrelevant.
If you have a Type 4 engine that needs to come out, you will take it out.

Let me know if you have simple purchase questions. I have obtained a couple of thousand dollars more for sellers, and I have saved a couple of thousand dollars for buyers . . .

Amskeptic wrote:

tommu wrote:Still in progress. With luck I'll have a bus in January.
Question - how much harder is it to drop a T4 engine than a T1?

Irrelevant.
If you have a Type 4 engine that needs to come out, you will take it out.

I find them very similar in work/effort, but different in nuts and bolts. If anything, the Type 4 engines offer more options for in-situ repairs and "creative" access. Things like pushrod tube re-sealing, head torquing, and oil cooler work can all be done with the engine in. Now, those kinds of tasks don't come up often, so maybe they are moot points, but I also enjoy the T4 exhaust systems that offer more options for removal and repair when I back into tree stumps.

Robbie

Biggest difference in pulling a T4 vs a T1 (have pulled both) is having to jack up the T4 and pulling the engine out from underneath the bumper, vs leaving the bus on level ground, removing the mustache bar and rolling it backwards with a T1. Really not much of a consideration - as others have posted, there is more you can do with the engine installed on a T4 vs a T1. I personally wanted a T4, as I wanted a bus that could do a comfortable 65-70 on the highway when I needed it to....sometimes you can't avoid super-slabbing it and are crunched for time.

Ironically, I bought my '76 T4 out of St. Paul MN and had had the same history....spent most of its life in Cali so was pretty much rust free. Bought it nearly 12 years ago for $3k and drove it home to metro Detroit....needless to say the market has changed since then.

We are letting ours go, we just haven't used it like should be used lately . It has always been garaged since I have owned it (2005), there is a bit of rust through in the front passenger foot well (certainly not Flinstone rust through). I have always taken good care of it, changing the oil, washing waxing, etc.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... id=1914136

pj wrote:We are letting ours go, we just haven't used it like should be used lately . It has always been garaged since I have owned it (2005), there is a bit of rust through in the front passenger foot well (certainly not Flinstone rust through). I have always taken good care of it, changing the oil, washing waxing, etc.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... id=1914136

The ad says you already sold it , pj. Did you get your asking price?

Nope, still sitting in the garage. I need to go out and update the ad, I guess.

Thanks,

Philip

Oh that is a beautiful bus! Tom, I think your familiarity with the Type 1 engine from your Ghia would give you a decent advantage in this case.

Also, we can start a club! "Sparkle Metallic Paint Bus Club of Southern California." Or, the SMPBCOSC for short. That just rolls off the tongue, like much of the German I learned last week.

Robbie