Team-BHP - 1978 Westfalia Camper

Congratulations on your Westfalia! I am truly amazed by these microbuses, and the camping lifestyle they represent. I wonder if anyone does that anymore; driving down to a scenic place and camping overnight and singing around a camp fire. People only want to look out of a hotel window or an air conditioned tourist bus these days.

And I love the way you have worked the camera, capturing the changing landscape from Goa to Mumbai. Love the shots looking out of the camper window, and the one looking into the rear view mirror. You have film making talent my friend. And excellent editing too. Your trip reminded me of the movie 'Little Miss Sunshine'. What is the music that plays in the background?

I would love to see more pictures of the interior details. Keep us posted and enjoy your camper!

We drove the Bus to Mahableshwar last month on the 31th, we used to do Mumbai - Mahableshwar trips 2 - 3 times every year in our previous Bus (the blue '74 1600cc Kombi) and this was the first time in the Westfalia.
This bus has either a 1.8 or 2.0L "type 4" engine (we're not sure exactly as the papers say 1800cc but the engine number and letter code is for a 1978 2000cc with hydraulic lifters) and it's a huge improvement over the 1600cc type 1/2 engine found in most non-USA buses (all the American models came with the Type 4 engines standard since 1973). We were able to keep a constant speed even going uphill were the blue Bus would have to slow down and shift into a lower gear.
The Westfalia came with a tent/awning that attaches to the sliding door, we tried setting this up for the first time, some bits of the frame were missing but we got it set up OK. Me and my brother and two of our friends tried camping out in the Bus for a night :D

Some updates on the Westfalia:
We haven't really driven the van much since we got back from Mahableshwar, just some small drives on the weekend, and a team-bhp classic car meet last month.
Some used parts we had ordered online (from bustedbus.com) arrived about a week ago:

A orignal Westfalia interior light which was missing. The piece of tin that surrounds the alternator (this is supposed to be a part of the original engine tin but was missing). And the cooling flaps which are supposed to be inside the engine tin.

We installed the light yesterday, here's the before and after pics:

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The cooling flaps on a VW Type-4 engine are located in the engine-tin/fan shroud, originally they are connected to a thermostat which is supposed to be at the bottom right of the engine. When the thermostat is cold, the flaps are closed and restrict airflow over the cylinder heads to allow the engine to warm up properly. Most aircooled VW's in India have had this system removed as people think it's not needed for our warm climate(which is not entirely true but not such a big deal on a Type-1/2 'upright' engine), but on a Type-4 engine like this the left side flap is also designed to direct air to the oil cooler when open, therefore when the flap is missing, the oil cooler does not get sufficient air flow.

More info on this here: Thermostats Explained

One more link:
The Air-Cooled Thermostat Explained

We plan to either just put the flaps on in the open position, OR may be try to find a thermostat, get the bracket, cable etc and reinstall the full system.
After doing a bit of research online i found that while the engine will run all right even without the thermostat if the flaps are in place in the open position. It would still be better to have the thermostat reinstalled as it would result in slightly less engine wear.

Another update on the Bus!
The deflector plates, cooling flaps, and thermostat have been fitted. We also got new clutch and pressure plates installed, new tie-rods and ball-joints, and a new brake booster.

We also imported all the parts needed for the original Bosch L-Jetronic fuel-injection system, which was what this Bus originally came with, from the US. So we will be trying to get that working soon!