My 1966 Split Window Bus

Hey Gang. I have been looking for a Split on and off for about 5 years. By off I mean I would get sidetracked and look for some type of Porsche project instead.

So this morning we started out at 4am to go get a 66 bus that I had only seen one picture of and did not have any clue what type of shape it was really in. The owner just said that it had a nose repair, cut rear wheel wells, and a little bit of rust
A good Friend of mine and my 16 year old son started out for the roundtrip run. We had a really good time and the entire time we were thinking we are going to get there and it is going to be rusted into the ground. Also for the price I kept thinking I will believe I am buying it when we get it on the trailer.
The story on the Bus is pretty Cool. The owner bought it from the original owner in 1988 and drove it up until 2007. He put it down and started saving parts to restore it. I could tell by his tone that he really loved the bus and he kept asking me to send pics when I fix it and get it on the road. He said he paid $50.00 for it. He had a ton of new parts and a Bentley manual he gave to me as well. No rear bumper and he kept apologizing for not having it.
I think the Jerry Garcia sticker is cool on the coil and there was a very old Grateful Dead Sticker in the rear window.
My plan is to get it running and driving and working on the rusty parts as we go. We just got home, so I did not tear into at all tonight. Kinda beat from the 12hr ride.
Has 6 pop out windows on the side.
Heres some pics, what do you think?
Here is the M CODE PLATE I have an old book that decodes some of it, is there a updated list? I could not find what 002 was.
07 3
425 002 081 114 130
UP(may have wrote this wrong) 2512 121 872 611 5484


Phillip

Couple more pics.

Lucky

Nice Split!!!

Holy Cow. This is in amazing shape. Nice find!!

Congrats. Looks like a pretty nice bus. You got the "once in a life time" deal.

Model Type 2 (T1) mod. 251 :
- Microbus Deluxe
- 7 seater
- Cargo doors right
- Short middle seat
- LHD
Chassis number 256115484
Serial number 115 484
Modelyear 1966
Planned production date March 07 ,1966
Paint color
Color upper part : L680 - Cumulus White
Color lower part : L360 - Sea Blue
Interior color (doorpanels and seats) 72 - Aero Papyrus
Destination USA, Portland

002 With US specific USA: Sealed beam headlights and pre-heat flap delete (?) -
081 Split front seats (walk-through) Microbus and Deluxe

114 6 popout side windows -
130 Microbus Deluxe without sunroof and roof windows Deluxe

425 North American export package including :
- Twin reverse lights
- Compteur en Miles
- Sealed beam headlights
- Hazard warning lights
- Mounting for safety belts in driver's and passenger's compartment
- Laminated windscreen
- Ram protection (bumper with guards)
- Dual-circuit brake system

Go to vw-mplate.com and put your numbers in. It'll give you the above info in a nicer format.

Looks like an awesome bus!!!

Keep in mind for 425, that number was used for multiple years, so yours will likely not have all those items.

Sweet Thanks guys. I feel very lucky and blessed to have a supportive and engaged family. I was getting some ribbing on the interior but I kept telling the family, most interior parts were probably thrown away, I can't wait to start getting it cleaned up. Will rebuild the brakes and see if we can get it to run. Will drive it for it like it is while I hunt for parts. I want to repair the wheel wells, rocker and the nose at some point. After that it will be in the daily driver rotation.
Thanks
Phillip

really nice find! congrats

For what you got this bus for that is one killer deal and great find!!!! Congrats!!!!

The sad thing is, the owner had several VW motors that he had in a shed by his house (2270 etc)that he had built for some bug projects he had and one night someone came and stole 4 motors and all his sheetmetal in there to sell for scrap. He was so irritated by that he felt selling it to someone who would do something with it was a better fate then having it stolen or cut up for scraps. He really was a cool guy, really not many like him around. We did not take a winch and it took four (him included) of us to get it on the trailer and he helped push the entire time.

I am big on documenting builds and history and I said hey man can I take a picture of you by the bus and he said Nah I would rather you just leave with it and send me pics of you driving it.

Phillip

Great project!!

Looks like a great start!!

Don't throw out any of those interior pieces, Aero/Papyrus is getting hard to come by and nobody is re-poping it yet.

Very nice! Judging from the Porsche's, That will be one slick bus.

SCORE!!!

NICE Start....

Got to spend a couple hours cleaning it out and getting an inventory of the parts that were in it.
I want to rebuild the brakes this weekend. Do you guys have a parts place suggestion? I swung by Advanced Imports and talked to Bobby but he did not have any brake lines for a 66 bus.
Pulled the wheels out and swept it out. The cargo floors look pretty good. It is shot at the rocker but he had the replacement metal for it.The seat is some sort of fold down seat that folds down into a bed??

No Holes at all on the drivers side.

I think I will be able to salvage the headliner. The clean spot is me just spending 5 minutes with some simple green.

More pics.

Here are the parts that were in the tub. Is the Cloth bag part of the tool kit? It had the two jacks and the black bag with the 3 sockets in it. All the window rubber is there, also the blue insert for the trim is there as well.





Door panel before and after, A little simple green, I will take some time with a steamer and some clamps to help clean and straighten them out.

Awesome find! great Start....

Wow...I'm still stunned at this find for the price!!!

Got to spend a few hours on it tonight.
Swung by MYCO today. Picked up everything I need to rebuild the brakes minus drums. Hoping I can get them turned and reuse them.
Got a new ignition switch(Owner could not find the key) so I figured I would see what would happen when I tried to crank it.

I turned it by hand and it turned over really nice and the oil actually looked ok.The previous owner had ran it up until about 6 months ago. I turned it over with no plugs attached to see what I was up against. As you can see in the photo the fuel lines were shot. I drained the tank and installed new lines.
I was able to get it to run. The engine actually kicked off pretty quick. There are no knocks and the valves were pretty quiet.
There is an ignition issue I think though. I replaced the plugs, but have not replaced anything eles. I can get it to run at the carb if the throttle is wide open but even then it seems like it is barely above idle, maybe 800RPM.It seems like it is dumping plenty of gas,while it is running it is certainly rich. While playing with it, when I come off the throttle just a little it actually seems like it goes up in RPM's. Any quick checks?

I revived a 912 motor that was not running for 11 years, but that was mostly due to carbs being shot.Hoping I can get this one road ready soon. It seemed pretty healthy while running, just need some acceleration.
New Ignition going in.

Old lines were leaking badly.

New lines not leaking.

Awesome man! I got my box of all new brake parts in the mail Monday, so I'll be spending this Friday putting the front end back together and getting it back down on the ground. Never been to Myco, sounds like they have a good selection if you found everything you needed.

I got up early this morning before work to see if I could check on what was holding it back from running right. I spent some time and was looking through a mirror into the carb and noticed the butterfly was pretty nasty. I sprayed some carb cleaner and flipped it open and closed a few times. Went up front and hit the key and it fired right up. I was playing with the throttle up front and let of and it held it's own idle just fine. I let it run for a while and went to work.
When I got home this afternoon I wanted to see if I could get it to move. I am rebuilding the brakes this weekend but was able to get a pedal by just adding brake fluid. Now it is some of the nastiest brake fluid you have ever seen but it held enough to see if I could get it out of the driveway.I washed it off real quick so I could see out the windows.
Drove it through the neighborhood about 5 times. Shifted fine (better than my 914 currently) with no real noises that stood out. Brakes did work but only with some pedal pumping. I went ahead and took a shot in the cul-de-sac to prove to a few friends I got it running.
Also took a pic of the Grateful dead sticker on the rear window.

awesome!