An M-reg should have had discs up front which were fitted from 73 on. There's no power steering on any of them, and not much need as there's very little weight on the front wheels and a huge steering wheel. The later ones didn't have reductor gears on the rear axles and were more efficient - there's a reason I bought a P-reg, the later the better IMO, they did improve over the years.
I used mine in the Alps. It ran a bit rich on the high passes but that was no doubt a good thing as petrol is the main coolant for the valves and seats. It clatterd its way up and then went down almost as slowly using engine braking. With a set of snow chains traction was very good.
@littlerob - I'm guessing the van you rented was a 1.6.
My 76 Devon is 2.0l and has plenty of power for hills. It's not particularly fast but it keeps going. I have driven it over the Picos De Europa mountains in Northern Spain without any problems.
One thing you have to be careful about with air-cooled busses is long downhills. Because the engine is air cooled and relies to a high degreee on the engine revs to turn the cooling fan low rev driving down hills for a long time can lead to overheating.
@dove1 yes it was a 1.6 It cruised along motorways at 55-60 relatively easily, but even the slightest hill caused it to lose speed. I can't imagine what the last few miles into a ski-resort would be like, or do they just soldier on?
I can't believe that the brakes were disks on the front as they were shockingly poor. Again, the idea of a twisty descent seems unimaginable. That said, I gather that servo-assisted front discs is a standard upgrade, so that would be a possibility.
No such thing as a T25. 😑
I had an '80 air-cooled 2.0 and was sure they were T25s? Learn something every day.
Mine left Wolfsburg as a panel van and was home-converted into a pop-top camper long before I bought it. So when I moved to Spain I couldn't import it without getting an engineer to homlogate the conversion (€€€) as the official papers said 3-window van. Left it parked up in an industrial estate while I figured out what to do with it and at some point it was towed to the pound and by the time I realised, it'd been crushed along with all my tools and a fair bit of camping gear!
At the time I was almost relieved, but whenever I need a 1/2" socket set or Fluke or torque wrench, whatever, I always think "ooh I've got one somewhere" before remembering what happened to it!
I'd have it back, great fun. Biggest problem was top speed of about 85kmh fully laden (really, not mph), crucially 5kmh slower than a French lorry - as they can't usually overtake on 2 lane motorways they sit right on your bumper and bully you into leaving and rejoining at the next exit - repeat ad nauseum on the A63 south from Bordeaux...
55mph is about it on the flat, and you will have HGVs up your backside on the motorway
Edit, just seen this above!
There are power steering conversions for T2 but I don't feel you really need it (in comparison to a 1939 Citroen I owned). My 1974 has front discs - no problems on the braking front. Also have a CSP or Berg gear-shifter makes the frequent-stirring of the gear stick a bit easier - wear of the gear selector linkage can also make gear shifts tricky but can be sorted.
I can’t believe that the brakes were disks on the front as they were shockingly poor.
Brakes shouldn't be that bad* - maybe a previous hirer had cooked them?
A '73 should have had discs, but may be non-servo (I think servos came in 72-73 sometime - our '71 had discs from new (non-servo)).
Likewise, can't understand why you'd want power steering? Unless you were trying to grind the wheels around on the spot, rather than rolling a little as you steer?
They will get up any alpine pass you care to point them at, just very, very slowly and noisily! 🙂
(They're actually quite good in snow with decent tyres, too.)
*With the exception of the handbrake - they're really crap. You need good arm muscles for a steep hill start.
Speed wise, there’s a lot you can do to a standard VW engine to get extra power, from big bore barrels and pistons, twin carbs and all manner of tuning stuff. If buying a T2 worth getting the engine and gearbox checked out and if necessary rebuilt and tuned. If the engine has been run with low oil it’s easy to cook.
To be fair like land rovers you have to really want one.
I drove a Cali import T2 microbus and it put them off me for life
Nervous handling at middling speed , crap brakes , lacking power for modern roads (this was 2008ish) lack of connection feeling between the steering wheel and road wheels. And even as a Cali import the owner was still chasing rust.
Can't imagine they got any better in 12 years
