Camper Advice

[saysomestuff 0]

Hi guys,

 

I'm playing with the idea of keeping the C standard and buying a VW camper.

 

I imagine a few of you guys have a bit of experience with the older dubs, so what should I be looking for? What engines are best etc.

 

My budget won't be more than £3k so a Bay is out of the question but I think I prefer the T25 anyway.

 

Any tips/info on different models etc. appreciated.

[double-6s 0]

Hi mate.

 

I would definately go for a late air-cooled T25 - say 1980/81. 81 is the last year of the proper engines before they went nancy water cooled. The air-cooled is widely accepted to be stronger in my circles. preferably the 2 litre twin carb - a bit juicy but the smaller engines are fairly lame imo. Although the injected 2.1 water cooled is quick as.

 

Personally I like the Westfalia Joker conversion with the roof that lifts at the front - loads of room upstairs when the roof is up and a proper solid double bed that will hold 2 adults. So possible to sleep 4 adults all in. But look at a few of the onversions around and see which one you like best.

 

I'll dig some pics out as an example.

 

3k should get you a decent one mate :)

[double-6s 0]

Pics of my old one........

[DEL VR6 0]

Beetles and Karmann Ghias are my area of know-how... so i can't help you personally, but most people on here will be able to>>

 

well worth getting plenty of advice before you part with your cash...

 

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/forumdisplay.php?f=12

[saysomestuff 0]

Thanks for the replies guys, all good info. double-6s, thanks for the pics I like the idea of an upstairs bedroom :)

[billinjah 0]

ask dinkus you dont get any camper than him! seriously though are the water cooled t25's any good been thinking about one for a while or are they a dubber no-no?

[dazzyvr6 0]

quite a few vw camper drivers are dumping the vw air cooled motors for subaru engines now,at least 4 aircooled campers had blown motors at deva dubs last weekend

[double-6s 0]

quite a few vw camper drivers are dumping the vw air cooled motors for subaru engines now,at least 4 aircooled campers had blown motors at deva dubs last weekend

 

Shall we count up how many people have got feked vr engines as well? Doesn't mean they're bad engines does it.

[dinkus 10]

ask dinkus you dont get any camper than him! seriously though are the water cooled t25's any good been thinking about one for a while or are they a dubber no-no?

 

Cor I dunno - I leave you kids alone for 5 minutes... :lol:

 

Strange you should mention it, but the bloke I'm living with at the moment (in a purely platonic way ) has a wedge and is in the process of writing a buyer's guide - I'll ask him if he's got any useful tips.

 

 

Edit: And somehow I suspect that the 20+yr old VW engine will have lasted longer than a Scooby engine ever will...

[G60Jet 1]

Camper = pikey! :lol:

[coolrado 0]

you can actually convert the camper engine to overhead cam by fitting just the heads of the subaru engine, a mate of mine went to speed shop in manchester last week and bought a whole load of stuff for his 62 split screen which is going to be running a turbo'd 1776 aircooled which are actually a very reliable engine when they are looked after, the guy who runs speed shop has a bay window with the original engine tuned and turbo'd to produce 410bhp so there is not much point putting a subaru engine in it.

[dinkus 10]

My point was that you can hardly complain about crap engines in VWs when the engine's over 20yrs old and has probably been somewhat abused...

[Jim 2]

Tell you something.. i've never liked em but I must say it would be superb to have one at VW shows.. roll up in that and you have all the kitchen facilities you need and a can get a good nights sleep rather than slumming it in a tent! :)

[16vradge 0]

I've been having a look at campers recently too, prices are through the roof at the mo though so your very unlikely get a minter for 3k, especially not a bay (don't look on ebay, local ads are cheapest). T25's are rising in price as a consequence of the desirability of splits, which has had a chain reaction down the line pushing bay and T25 prices up. It'd be a good investment if you can get a tidy one, or do one up.

The last T25's came with a good spec, air con, heated seats, power steering etc but are around 6k+ now. Your best bet is to look for an ex-works panel van, clean it up and convert the interior to camping spec, that way you'll get one cheap and could make a nice profit if you ever sell it on.

[16vradge 0]

Also people don't disregard the air-cooled engines because they are schit, it's just down to cost, why spend 2k plus on a tuned aircooled motor when you can pick up a subaru motor for £500???? :scratch: :roll:

[coolrado 0]

Also people don't disregard the air-cooled engines because they are schit, it's just down to cost, why spend 2k plus on a tuned aircooled motor when you can pick up a subaru motor for £500???? :scratch: :roll:

 

because it only costs about £1200 to do a turbo conversion and re-build on the aircooled vw engine and it would probably last 4 times longer than the subaru engine.

[16vradge 0]

quite a few vw camper drivers are dumping the vw air cooled motors for subaru engines now,at least 4 aircooled campers had blown motors at deva dubs last weekend

 

Shall we count up how many people have got feked vr engines as well? Doesn't mean they're bad engines does it.

 

Where in dazzyvr6's post does it actually say aircooled engines are no good? He was just saying whats going on in the aircooled scene. My bro is restoring a '62 double-door panel at the mo, and my mate runs a 1641 aircooled bay. I'm not a fan of subura plants, prefer the OE+ street rod approach but its a fact that people go for subaru motors cos its more bang for your bucks. Plus you'll need a large bore motor before rebuilding and slapping a turbo on, so if you start off with a 1200 bus you'll need to pay out more than £1200 as you need a high capacity motor.

[coolrado 0]

he only started with the casings for the 1600 engine, he had to buy the barrels, forged pistons, high flow heads, ignition sytem, deep sump ect.......well basically everything else apart from the casings and alternator, and its not just as simple as chucking a scooby engine in either, when you factor in the costs of all the other bits that need altering and adding to go scooby it works out quite a lot cheaper to use the vw aircooled block and keeps more of the original character of the vehicle, plus people who go watercooled dont seem to be very accepted in the watercooled circles (largely consisting of scary bearded folk) :bigsmurf:

 

i should be putting some pictures of the progress he has made on his camper and the assembled engine in the next couple of weeks.

[dinkus 10]

You're all wrong - stick a Porsche Turbo engine in and pop wheelies off the lights :twisted:

[coolrado 0]

You're all wrong - stick a Porsche Turbo engine in and pop wheelies off the lights :twisted:

 

did you see that porsche powered camper on the gumball? there where two guys in a ferrari going about 100 mph and they where filming the driver of the ferrari looking out of the right hand window and the camper blasts past them at about 125mph :shock:

[corradophil 3]

Ooh yes, Porsche flat 6 is the way to go, lots of power, related to VW and they sound awsome. Never liked the sound of scooby flat 4s, to me they sound like a straight 4 running on 3 cylinders.

[16vradge 0]

its not just as simple as chucking a scooby engine in either, when you factor in the costs of all the other bits that need altering and adding to go scooby it works out quite a lot cheaper to use the vw aircooled block

 

i should be putting some pictures of the progress he has made on his camper and the assembled engine in the next couple of weeks.

 

Depends on the skill of the owner really, I find people with splits tend to either have good mechanical/fabrication skills or deep pockets! Also big capacity aircooled in a split = removal of reduction boxes so factor in a straight axle or IRS conversion to prices.

 

Look forward to the pics mate.

[coolrado 0]

well the camper cost him £2500 imported from nevada (including loads of free spiders living in the chassis rails) the engine and gearbox cost him about £100 all the extra's for the engine and turbo (using a turbo from a vauxhaul 1.7turbo diesel) have cost him less than £1500, the most expensive bit so far has been replacement panels and glass probably totalling about £2000, but he has done all of the welding, narrowing the front beam, lead filling smaller dents and panel beating, and will be painting it once he has got to that stage.

 

the best bit about it is he has full use of his works machine shop, spray booth, bead blast cabinet, and has built a turnover rig for it so it makes it so much easier for us to work on, hopefully it should be worth around £20,000 when its finnished.

[saysomestuff 0]

Your best bet is to look for an ex-works panel van, clean it up and convert the interior to camping spec, that way you'll get one cheap and could make a nice profit if you ever sell it on.

 

That's the plan, really fancy a ratty T25 on air ride. What sort of money are panels going for then?

[double-6s 0]

quite a few vw camper drivers are dumping the vw air cooled motors for subaru engines now,at least 4 aircooled campers had blown motors at deva dubs last weekend

 

Shall we count up how many people have got feked vr engines as well? Doesn't mean they're bad engines does it.

 

Where in dazzyvr6's post does it actually say aircooled engines are no good? He was just saying whats going on in the aircooled scene. My bro is restoring a '62 double-door panel at the mo, and my mate runs a 1641 aircooled bay. I'm not a fan of subura plants, prefer the OE+ street rod approach but its a fact that people go for subaru motors cos its more bang for your bucks. Plus you'll need a large bore motor before rebuilding and slapping a turbo on, so if you start off with a 1200 bus you'll need to pay out more than £1200 as you need a high capacity motor.

 

well it was certainly implied eh?