Aircooled VW South Africa

My my..

After years of being an ACVW member I finally now actually own a VW again. This is a beautiful collection of T3s by the way and I love all the info you keep supplying on your posts.

I am now the proud new owner of a T25(?) 1800cc panel an from 1996. It's pretty unmolested and only got 160k km on the clock and I'm the second owner!

I'm absolutely in love with it and pretty impressed considering it's my first VW bus. Always been a Ford bus man myself (I know, I know) but, this little 1800 has some awesome charm!

Does anyone have any more info on these 1800 packages? What all was changed other than the obvious intake and sump? I'm doing some preventative maintenance and changing cambelts and all that, can I just use the specs from the 1800 short block golf motor?

Sorry for hijacking your post, but it's one of the few places I have actually seen some good info!

Tony

tony777 wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:17 pm My my..

After years of being an ACVW member I finally now actually own a VW again. This is a beautiful collection of T3s by the way and I love all the info you keep supplying on your posts.

I am now the proud new owner of a T25(?) 1800cc panel an from 1996. It's pretty unmolested and only got 160k km on the clock and I'm the second owner!

I'm absolutely in love with it and pretty impressed considering it's my first VW bus. Always been a Ford bus man myself (I know, I know) but, this little 1800 has some awesome charm!

Does anyone have any more info on these 1800 packages? What all was changed other than the obvious intake and sump? I'm doing some preventative maintenance and changing cambelts and all that, can I just use the specs from the 1800 short block golf motor?

Sorry for hijacking your post, but it's one of the few places I have actually seen some good info!

Tony

Hi Tony.

Please do share some pics of your van.

Your bus will be a Uitenhage manufactured variety. The 1800 petrol golf engine installed into a bus only exists in South Africa and in base model busses. Panel vans and volksie bus. From 1989 they started using them in panel vans. Volksiebus started later but was replaced by 5 cylinder 2.3i after short period of time, but panel vans stayed on with 1.8. It wasn’t an entirely successful motor, but they made it work. Vibrations are high and intake noise quite substantial.

Bellhousing, clutch, stater motor, intake and exhaust manifold, sump, oil pump, engine mounts and more are unique to the canted over motor. The setup originally comes from a diesel T3. They did not exist in SA. VWSA took the installation setup and fitted to 1.8 petrol motor.

The block itself is no different to any other vw 1.8
Golf / Jetta. A cambelt swap is a good idea. Broken belt = broken valves.

Hey Sean

Sure! Will post up a Pic or two

Random question - What equivalent Tyre size would one run on a bus like this now? These are the original Michelins still and are looking rather scary..

The early T3’s with steel rims utilised the 185R14 commercial tyre.

Yours is the later SA variety. I stand under correction, but I think they had later gone to the 195R14 commercial tyre. I will be back home later this week and I can check in my busses book.

The tyres fitted on your bus at the moment won’t be the original from the factory. The tyres will have a date stamped in the side wall. You can check there to determine the age.

Hey Sean

Ahh okay, checked the tyres and they are dated as 2001.. So probably not originals

Is it a good idea to drop down to a 185 to give the 1800 a little more torque?

I found a set of Dunlop 195s I quite like

Here is another edition to my T3 collection. Its a 1986 2.1i Auto Microbus. Its all original and only has 128 000km on the clock. I must say I really like the autobox on this bus. It pulls exceptionally well and super smooth and quiet.

I also acquired this lovely 1990 Syncro recently. It also has very low mileage of 130 000km. Its still original paint and running its numbers matching original 2.1i motor. It has a few extra's I want to remove such as the spot lights and hideous CD player. My timing with this bus was perfect as the seller was in the process of exporting it to a oversea's buyer, luckily he was quite happy to accept my offer and the bus can continue to live in sunny South Africa.

Unbelievable.
Congrats and well done

Awesome collection Sean! I saw one of your numberplates is for Somerset West... Are you based there? I'm from Swest and would love to pop in and see your collection! I've got 3 busses now.. A LHD original westfalia Bluestar Hannover edition, a Syncro and a LHD green bus with a lock diff that I built for a Cape to Cairo trip.. They are spread out all over SA though.. Westfalia in CPT, Syncro in JHB and Green bus in PE... In December im going on a big journey to bring the Syncro and Green bus to Swest.. Would love to swing past when Im back. Heres my number (whatsapp) +49 163 252 7534

DylanMatthews wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 2:46 am Awesome collection Sean! I saw one of your numberplates is for Somerset West... Are you based there? I'm from Swest and would love to pop in and see your collection! I've got 3 busses now.. A LHD original westfalia Bluestar Hannover edition, a Syncro and a LHD green bus with a lock diff that I built for a Cape to Cairo trip.. They are spread out all over SA though.. Westfalia in CPT, Syncro in JHB and Green bus in PE... In December im going on a big journey to bring the Syncro and Green bus to Swest.. Would love to swing past when Im back. Heres my number (whatsapp) +49 163 252 7534

Hi Dylan

I do live in Somerset West. I will send you a WhatsApp message.

Seems you got a great Bluestar Westfalia. You beat me to it, I was also interested in it. It is however a pity about the hack job with diesel engine fitted.

Regards
Sean