Hybridizing / mpg VW bus

Aug 25, 2009 3 Replies
N

Hello all - I am about to buy a VW bus to live and travel in and was curious about mileage.



I've heard that the buses can get high 20's in the mpg department, but as someone who hasn't owned a car for several years now, I guess you could say I'm a little anti-gas consumption.



So I'm willing to put some cash into getting that mpg number as high as possible, if it's feasible.



I was wondering if anyone knew anything about "hybridizing" a VW bus, or any other tips (aside from hypermiling, etc. which I'm pretty aware of).



I want to use the vehicle for occasional roadtrips, 1 to 4 weeks in length, maybe 5 or 6 times a year. 200 miles / day or so and I'm ever so happy to keep it around 45 - 55 miles / hour. I won't be using it as a daily commuter or anything like that.



Any ideas are very much appreciated!


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B

Nathan: I'm not sure about hybridizing your motor, but consider a later bus (1972-on) with factory fuel injection on the type IV motor. If you want to stay to a Bay Window bus, you could also consider a motor swap for a Subaru (one of the smaller ones,) but I think that a nicely- tuned FI VW motor would be a good solution. I had a 71 Westy (Type I motor) and it could barely handle freeways with all of those extra pounds that the campers carry around. Bill.

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S

^^^ WHS

Gonna live it in it, probably be some weight.

The FI engines began in '75 as a 1.8L and was upgraded in '76 to 2.0L. I wouldn't even consider fitting a later FI engine to an earlier year; buy the complete Bus with it.

In the end, fuel costs for your mini-trips may be eclipsed by the repair costs on a 30 yr old Van.

Speedy Jim

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