Does anyone know about T25s!

Yes I know this is a 'Late Bay' forum but I've checked out the T25 forum and it's well... dull! I feel much happier here! and although my search has taken a twist I wondered if you might all be able to help?

It's been a hard decision to 'bin' the idea of a bay as it's a real head and heart one but ultimately I want something I can jump into and go - T4/5/Brazilians are just too expensive so T25 it has to be.

I don't understand with the T25s the development of them i.e. all of the later ones - '85 on seem to be hard top BUT the missus really likes the Westy pop top AND the idea of water cooled - but did they actually do this combo or are all water cooled hard tops?

Starting to do my head in! Any knowledge/help would be appreciated.

 

Welcome fellow Type 2(T3)er(T25 is a fire truck only). Anyway enough semantics. Buy one. I have a Westy California water cooled H reg poptop and i love it. I swapped the 1.6td engine for a 1.9 Golf one and easily get 35mpg and effortless 70mph. Not only that, but it has the most space for sleeping and leisure inside than any other van.
They were mainly built bewteen 1980- 1990 with water cooled engines mainly appearing from 1985 onwards(for me, the best years). Diesel engines better then petrol. Hard tops and pop tops were both built from 1980+ from any converter in both air and water cooled variants. All in all, £9000 extremely well spent.

 

In fact check out these sites:

http://vwt25camper.info/

http://www.club80-90.co.uk/

 

Don't get a non turbo diesel they are soon slow
The 2.1 injected petrol is fun
And best of all the 2.1 synco

 

A t4 will be cheaper than a decent T25, be careful for rot, the get just as rusty as bays and not all panels are available, a good late westfalia with a 1900td or Tdi upgrade is preferable, though 1600td can be tweaked for more power and still be very reliable, you can get tin tops or pop tops even high tops on any age van, but I would go for as a late as possible 5 speed, the petrol are reliable and powerful with the 2.1 fuel injection being the more powerful though bigger engines were available.

 

I thought they only did a couple of years air cooled and mine is a later 1.9 dg engine on a 84...

I will drive my t25 but I will not ever be tempted to go t4 t5 route, because they are still carpet vans ...

farcebook has 8,000 members of the T25 club...

where as the latebay has 553 on farcebook..



Get a t25 ,it will put you in good stead to buying a bay eventually ,kinda paddling first rather than swimming for your life...

btw my T25 has 0.05 rust...

 

Air cooled from 79 to 83,1.6 ct engine is a dog of a yoke.the 2lt cu engine is grand but need plenty of looking after and like fuel.get a turbo diesel and check all the seams are present and not filled over.they are great buses

 

As usual the late bay crew come up trumps

Thanks everyone so all I need to do now is keep my eyes open for a TD, Westy pop top that's not too rusty - anyone selling

 

Have a look on ebay.de and mobile.de both German sites but there was loads of TD westys last time i looked. Quite a lot of westys with hightops too.

 

We'll be selling our T25 later in the year when the Bay project is finished, but it's a Westy high top and a 1.6 turbo diesel not aircooled so probably not what you're looking for.
We found there was a lot of useful info on the Club 80-90 forum and Wiki when we bought her. She's been great, we're probably nuts changing her for a Bay as she has a lot more storage space (the cupboard in the high top is massive) - but the Bay has been a dream of ours for a long, long time!

 

post a link and we will tell you what we think..

 

I can't wait - though I've noticed T25 (T3) owners don't like to post pictures of their undersides!

 

Breaking news! There is some wiggle room on the roof although she hates vikings! Shame really as they would probably be our best bet! Luckily I'm not one of the kids who needs to squeeze into the roof!

Standby for pics to slaughter @lost-en-france !

 

I kinda never asked for mrs lefs opinion on any of my buses ,I recon if I did we still would'nt have one...

The undersides are quite different to type 2 with no rusty axles etc ,the petrol tank on the top is a bad water trap so do be prepared to change that..The thing that is quite common are rust seams on the panels ,the basic chassis should be solid..

I also changed my water pipes for stainless steel ...

 

One thing I know about them is they're substantially bulkier than a T2.

 

They handle a lot better than a bay if they've got decent tyres.

 

Here's mine. '85 water cooled 1.9. You should trying living in Aus where they only ever had 4 1/2 thousand of them, total. Info is hard to find and I'm buying a lot of parts from overseas, but I could pretty much give an entertaining lecture on t3's after all my research Any info links welcome, happy shopping, happier camping

 

Huh that's funny. My name is Zebedee too (I spell it different tho)