Greetings,
I am the new owner of a fully equipped 81 Westphalia Vanagon which I received in trade for an 85 Toy-Yoda truck.  The previous owner owned this vehicle for 12 years and put a ton of work into it (rebuilt engine, auto trans, brakes, gas tank etc. etc.) but the van was "suffering" from a slipping transmission and then wouldn't start (the PO wasn't a mechanic type).  I replaced the fuel pump and it fired right up, and after adding tranny oil the transmission worked ok, and it drove to my storage space nicely.  I appears to have an oil leak at the torque converter input seal which I will have to replace, it shifts nice and firmly but it does have a wirring sound in 1st and second gears (even with oil topped off to correct level), and it seems to lug the engine a bit but the only other VW that I've driven is my 77 T2 2.0L Bus, which is a powerhouse compared to the automatic Vanagon.   The Vanagon has the usual rusty areas but the floor and interior of the wheel wells are clean, if I get onto it now I should have a good daily driver vehicle...

Regards,

Drew
Victoria, Canada
77 T2 Hi-Top "Busosaurus"
81 Westy Vanagon "Nellie" (needs auto tranny work)
66 Bowers Fly Baby 1A "Kerfuffle"