Different size from my reading earlier. And people trying to marry them appear to smash them regularly, it seems they're a bit weedy.
That's why you buy the whole vehicle, you get everything and you get to see how it goes together including the shifter, kick down whatnot, cable/rod adjustment, tinware, exhaust, the lot. Some of it might be knackered but a whole one is the way to go - just ask @JamesLey who bought a splitty in pieces. I hope he got all the catches and stuff, they add up to silly money. Basically that's how I did my type-4 engine from scratch so cheaply - I bought a whole one.
If you are serious about making the bus more user friendly for you long term, have you looked at alternative engines? Fellows appear to be offering a Subaru engine with Subaru auto box conversion, which would open up the possibility of cruise control and hand controls? Not cheap though (ignoring the ripping the heart out of it etc) The auto beetle is a red herring - I drove one briefly and its a dire drive in the beetle, let alone in a van. Your 0-30mph time would be measured using calendars.
Lol, see my last post on the build thread. Took me a few months to track down a RHD clutch pedal! I did manage to find a RHD pedal pan too at Slough Swapmeet, right next to our very own Davidoft's stall.
Being a long time forum user I've seen a fair few times where people have restored a shell without thinking ahead, then bought a complete van to cannibalise for parts. The "joke" being the shell of the van they got for parts being 10x as good as the shell they got to restore. Doh! Buying a whole one has always been part of my mantra, along with avoiding dodgy gutters.
I have considered a scooby engine in the past But because I wanted to use the bus off road the underslung radiator would be too vulnerable. It may be an option for the future to be able to keep the van and I’d just have to not use it off road. I think the best bet is probably finish mine and use it whilst I can and if/when the time comes it’s too much of a struggle Sell it and move onto something more modern.
I’m actually tempted by the one you linked to on eBay. You’d have thought I’d learned something by now, but there you go once a fool always a fool!
I would stick with finishing off the 1776 and get out there ASAP. The clutch pedal on my bus is less aggro on my ankle than the Peugeot 307SW diesel- one factor is that it hinges the same way as your ankle, unlike a car clutch .. so I can stamp down on it with a bit of ankle flex in heavy boots rather than having to flex my ankle fighting the boots and the clutch on the Peugeot. (my ankle still remembers intercepting a fast football pass which sprained it when I was 10..)
I’ve bought worse It’s possibly a rolling resto after a bit of work to start off with from the look of the pictures, but we both know they’re never the full story. However I do like the way he’s underselling it
