Faults:

Everything was replaced at one point or another.

General Comments:

I owned a 1978, 1979, 1980, 1972, 1970 Volkswagen camper of each over several years. The 1969 design was the best for Volkswagen's camper busses. It was light enough to support the smaller 1.6 liter engine. It was practical in all ways, and ideal for road trips. The most ideal of all the busses. The air-cooled busses are ONLY good and dependable on long road trips, and will surely fail if you drive it around town. Most common thing? Valve adjustment. Most annoying thing? Generator brush replacements in the Yukon. Best thing? Insta-metal-tent wherever you are.

Faults:

I replaced the clutch & throw-out bearing.

Repaired the leaking exhaust.

Did some impromptu body work.

Replaced head gaskets, Injector O-rings, clutch cable, fuel pump & solenoid.

Is a Canadian bus, so had to deal with rust...

Interior is uncomfortable, I plan on re-padding seats or finding donor later model seats.

Has mystery leaks, floor collects water.

Had to replace Constant Velocity Joint when a torn boot let it run dry.

General Comments:

Fun to work on, quite simple when you get right down to it.

Becomes more than a hobby, constantly on the lookout for donor busses.

Drives like a bus.

Remarkably easy to park.

Uncomfortable seats. Drafty...

Good pickup compared to other carbureted vans I've driven.

Loads of fun.

Faults:

Electric fuel pump went out. Somewhat expensive, but very easy to replace. "S" shaped intake tube that connects to air flow computer/meter cracked leaving the vehicle inoperable. Was not a big deal once I figured out what the problem was. If you have a fuel injected, air cooled bus and it mysteriously quits running right check this hose. Any air leaks cause major problems with this early fuel injection system.

Replaced shocks and rear brakes.

Replaced battery. Don't go cheap on the battery for these. Get the right one. Should be about 765cca's minimum.

General Comments:

Not a vehicle for everyone, but I loved it. Only paid $400 for it. Best money I had spent in a long time. I put at least 20000 miles on it and loved most of em.

The biggest complaint I had was the fact that it had absolutely no heat whatsoever. I knew this going into it. If you have to have a good heater, then an air cooled engine isn't for you!

It handled better than I expected for a VW bus. But be warned! They don't like wind at all. A stiff breeze can put you in another lane easily if you aren't on top of it. I was very impressed with the engine. I could cruise down the highway at 90 with no problems whatsoever.

Faults:

Well for starters, the battery kept going dead and every time you pulled the headlight switch, the car would shut off! Not a reliable car, it died in first, second, third and and hardly got onto the road. Even though engine was rebuilt a year ago.

Very hard to access anything on the engine, because it's flat. Gear box went, brakes went and now the rust!

General Comments:

It has good sound out of the exhaust pipe, but I drained two batteries trying to start the car when it's hot. When the engine is cold it starts on the first crank, but when the engine is hot it starts on the 15th crank!

Also, after listening to the radio for 8 minutes, it drained the battery, I think Volkswagens should be equipped with 1000 cranking amp batteries, I had a 465 cranking amp battery and it still was not enough.

Faults:

Bought engine-less. Built one from scratch and watched it rot in a few months. Not so easy. Well, now her motor is dismantled for the Beetle.

Rust.

General Comments:

Patience a requisite.

A Type 4 Upright would be nice.

Faults:

Nothing major - normal wear and tear and age items. 2nd owner, 175K miles.

General Comments:

Give it regular and correct maintenance and it will last.