I saw the post about grease, and I figured my van probably does need some sort of lube since everything that moves is s-t-i-f-f. Question is: what kind of grease do I get? And do I use the same grease on everything? And must I purchase a grease-putter-oner or can I just glob the stuff  on with my fingers?
Hope ya'll excuse my ignorance. I'm a new, yet dedicated, VW owner and I want to do everything I can to make my van last a long time. I also want to do as much work myself as possible, so I may be frequenting this site.
Also plan to join - when I get time away from classes and kiddos to get to a meeting. The events look like much fun!

Hey There,  What year is your van?   Anything after 1967 only has 4 real grease fittings from the factory. These are on the front axle beam. Any thing else can be lubed with an squirt can of oil,like hinges, levers, linkages,cables etc etc.  If your steering is really,really hard to deal with,I would have someone check out your ball joints and your steering sector box. As far as a " grease putter oner" , you can buy a hand pumper grease gun at a auto parts or go to a Jiffy Lube etc and tell them to lube the front axle. It just depends if you want to roll around in the mud/grime to do this yourself.  If you have a older van, we need to talk some more. You really need to join up with us. We have a great time and you will not meet a nicer bunch of VW folks/nuts. There are a lot of van/campers among this crew,so help is not very far away at anytime. So, What are you waiting for ?  Young`un are welcome and are not sold into slavery unless its called for.  :lol:

Hi Candace, As for parts vendors, several are available. Locally we have Tri-State Imports in Cleveland, TN. O'Reilly's Auto Parts is carrying a wide variety of parts for Volkswagens but I think what you're looking for will have to be ordered from one of the mail order vendors.

I would start with Bug Stuff. Call Jack @ 1-800-752-2847. Next I would try West Coast Metric (they are on the web but I can't lay my hands on their catalog right now) then there is Mid America Motorworks @ 1-800-500-1500 or www.mamotorworks.com.

Pick up a copy of Hot Vws Magazine (my preferred VW magazine) and there are numerous vendors listed there. Did you notice I didn't mention the one parts vendor you listed? Read between the lines. :lol:

Membership will give you privledges at some parts vendors. Keep this in mind and check us out. :thumbs-up: You'll be glad you did!

I know I'll probably be put before a firing squad for saying this, but Whitney's isn't all bad.  They do have some good quality stuff at very competitive prices.  You just have to be real careful when you're buying from them.  Sometimes you don't know if you're getting a great price on a high quality product or paying a premium price for junk.  Most places either sell quality parts and that is reflected in their somewhat high prices, or they sell the cheapest quality parts out there at rock bottom prices.  Whitney's does both.  If you're really careful and only buy parts that state the brand name, you can from time to time get some real bargins.

It's $10/yr for an individual, and $15/yr for a family membership. Yes, you can bring cash or check with you to the meeting, or pay via PayPal here: http://www.volksfolks.org/membership.php

My bus is green. I saw one almost identical on the gallery pics of Birmingham. Except mine has a good bit more rust than that one.  :cry:
When I bought it, it had the full setup of original sink/propane/cabinet behind the drivers seat. HOWEVER, (I may catch major flack over this), I took the cabinet out. It is really heavy and I never use it. I wanted more space so I can add another seat back there, plus when I go camping, I use the campfire to cook and water jugs to wash.
I have all sorts of ideas about customizing the interior, but I don't know how feasible it is. The next steps on the inside are replacing the carpet, and plugging the hole where the sink pipe went through the floor, taking off the propane setup, putting up a new side wood panel where the cabinet was, and replacing the louver window knobs. And taking care of rust. They both broke off. The upholstery is the green/orange plaid in great condition.
I went to that site and found pretty much everything I need, so that's cool.
Obviously I'm not trying to get back to original. I figure I want it the way I want it and I don't ever plan to sell it, so why not customize?
A few ideas I'm considering:
Adding some sort of heat.   I have young, innocent children whom I'd rather not freeze to death.
Add a simple sound system. It has a cassette/radio but it only works when it's in the mood. I am conducting a major research project to figure out a pattern for its 'mood'. I have yet to discover one. I have discovered it has nothing to do with how I turn the knobs, jiggle the wiring, or even if the antenna is up. (It falls over every time I get on the freeway)
And here's a biggie: Would it be possible to change the sliding side door to the double, hinged doors? I imagine it's possible, depending on how much cash I want to spend, but I haven't really researched this idea much so I really don't know how feasible it is.
And of course, I gotta do something about the rust ASAP. I bought a 60-grit sander bit to go on my drill, and I sanded two spots - about the size of a quarter. I wanted to see for one, if it would work, and two, exactly how fast does rust happen. I found out rust happens very fast! I did that about a week ago and both spots are already rusted again. I also found out that it would take FOREVER to do the job with my drill, and who knows how many bits I'd have to buy. BUT, it may be worth it, depending on how much it would cost to take it to a shop. I'm just afraid a shop won't be thorough. I'd like to get the rust myself, seal it, pack the big spots, if need be, and then take it to a shop for a paint job.
It's going to be a major project, and frankly I don't know where to start, and what tools/materials I need to have on hand before I start. Plus, I drive this van daily. I will have to plan for alternate transportation.
Any advice on this rust subject?
Also any input about the doors?
And what are heat options?
Sorry this got so long.

I found the address for the place in England but they aren't there anymore.  The place was called Bay-Splits.  They made fiberglass conversion kits to make a Bay window bus look (somewhat) like a split window.

They were at http://www.baysplits.com but they are no longer there.

The split cargo doors are the same width (both of them together) as the sliding door on a bay BUT they are shorter.   Because of the way the sliding door track runs and the lack of metal under the doors on my split window, I can't really say if there is really a differance at the bottom, but you would have to make the tops of the doors about an inch taller to make the belt line ridge line up correctly.  Or, I guess you could add about and inch of metal below the rain gutter instead of trying to modifiy the doors.  They would still be almost and inch shorter at the bottom but that should be pretty easy to deal with.  It might be as simple as grafting in one of the rocker/floor edge sections they sell for restoring this commonly rusted out section of a splitty.  But even then, I'm not 100% sure how the profile of the split doors would line up with the bay body.

I'm sure it can be done, but it'll take a lot more creative metalwork than I initially thought.  The best way to tell what needs to be done would be take off the sliding door and hold up a set hinged doors and see what needs to be done to make them fit.