Hi, used to own a '78 seven seater, came with 2.0 litre fuel injected motor 
and would very easily push up to almost 80 mph before it 'wound up'. Top 
speed and cruising speed for '71 single carb 1600 was listed as 68 mph, for 
'72 2 carb 1700 @ 78mph, after that the owners manual stopped giving a 
figure, 65mph? NO WAY. The tranny shouldn't have reduction boxes! They also 
weren't on my '71 Westy, oldest VW bus I've owned. The vehicle sounds like 
it had a checkered past, dubious maintenance, neglect and some strange 
mechanical transplants. carbs??, tranny??
        Push rod tubes leaks are minor to fix in that year, if it's the real 
engine. 
         Rust OVER (???) the 3 fenders means it's coming out from the 
inside, where the wheel arches are joined to the outer body skin. If that's 
the case then you've got more cancer than is worth buying into, as this is 
one of the last places to go. I first look for rust at the rear of the front 
wheel wells, down low. A quick check is to put the jack in the jack tube and 
raise the vehicle. If the vehicle has an axle/scissor jack, or the 'owner' 
gets fidgety then there's probably cancer there. With the vehicle on the 
jack, open the door, get in heavily, and try to close the door gently. If it 
hangs up or hits hard (out of alignment) then the beast is getting soft, 
encroaching rot! Check how smoothly the sliding door moves, rot in the 
passenger side front wells lets dirt into the lower door track, spreading 
the rust on. Look at the top of the front bumper mounting/reinforcing beam, 
between bumper and body. There is a visible full width seam there, if it's 
rippled then rust has invaded there (this applies to Vanagons too) Even if 
it's painted, no body shop can get out those ripples. I'd really look hard 
at this bus, even well under $1000, if you have to sink another $1000 I 
wouldn't do it. I had my heads re-valved, did wonders for performance but I 
started to get a deep knock from one of the main bearings as it softened up 
under the increased compression loads.
       Sorry to be so negative, I miss my '78, it was as good a performer 
(yes!) as my current '85, just a bit noisier, narrower, colder..... but a 
damn sight cheaper to fix. A good '78 is worth having, a credit to VW etc. 
but a junker is a junker! I vote NO.     IMHO!!!! other opinions may vary.   
 bye, tim s.

P.S. my '78 cost me $CDN 2250 in 1984, with 105K kilometres, bought as is 
from a VW dealer, needed only a muffler. BTW he ripped me off, I found out 
the previous owner was given $1600 trade-in on a new Jetta! S.O.B.'s