How much will it cost to buy an old VW Bus and Convert to Hybrid and update body and all working parts?

Figure you buy an old '73 VW Bus that obviously needs lots of care an attention. So, You Convert the Bus to Hybrid, Update all rust %26amp; non working parts, maybe a new paint job. How much are you looking to be spending on a job like that? Also...can you find people to actually do all that for you? The bus Im looking at is About $1000. Everything is intact, but it doesnt really run. Need new paint and interior.


Thanks|||For all the things you want to do to it, you will probably end up spending well over $25,000, if you aren't doing all the work yourself. A paint job and restoring the body panels that are rusted will cost over 6,000 depending on the amount of body work to be done. Mechanical replacements could be a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, again, depending on the amount that has to be repaired or replaced. And to convert the engine to a hybrid type power plant, I would guess upwards of 15-20 thousand, given all the modifications, either a new or used hybrid engine and modifying the body and chassis to mount it. It's a real novel idea to update an old classic like the VW Bus to hybrid technology. But when you consider that your $1,000 van will end up costing you 25-30,000 dollars to restore and transform into a hybrid powered vehicle, it makes more sense just to rebuild the existing VW engine, and take care of the cosmetics. If I remember right, the VW buses got great gas mileage just the way they were|||Anything can be done with enough money, but to convert ANY engine to hybrid, will cost HUGE amount of money. Why do you think hybrids cost more than regular cars? And they are made at the factory.


You are looking at about $5,000 to do everything to that van WITHOUT hybrid conversion.|||Since the engine mounts to the bellhousing you would probably have to find a new transmission to accommodate whatever engine you choose. I can guarantee you that if you fix the original engine and transmission you will save more money in the long run.





If you were to buy a VW beetle with the 1600 engine in it you would probably get about 30 - 40 MPG, but I'm not sure if that would satisfy your requirements since you would still be contributing to global warming. You could put a 1600 Bug engine in that bus or replace the 1.7-1.8 liter pancake engine, but a Bus is fairly large compared to a Bug and so you aren't going to get as good gas mileage as a bug, roughly 20.





If you are really set on hybrids go on http://www.thesamba.com, there is a forum with thousands of aircooled VW people.