The 1968 Riviera project from EeVeeWee

[EeVeeWee]

This is a report of the changes from our T2a earlybay camper that my girlfriend Anita and I bought this year (2014). The bus was built in December 1968, so is model 1969. The conversion is not as spectacular as many other projects here, but I like it to share this. It appears to be a healthy bus at this moment, so fortunately no welding is necessary any more but mainly we're changing it in our taste.
I appoligize if my English is sometimes a bit strange for you, i'll do my best to let you undersdtand what I mean.
Let me start with pictures of the previous owner.
The bus was imported from California and only underneath the windshield some welding was necessary. And of course also the color had to be replaced as soon as possible!

Then the engine is overhauled and the pop-up roof remade with new fabric.

The colors of the car were changed into the colors Green Velvet L512 and L87 Pearl White.

The interior has been refurbished and pillows upholstered with Westfalia fabric.

It's just a simple interior, with several closets and storage space, but with a (passive) cooler and without 12V / 230V sockets.

The bus has decent paint, I only renewed some rubber seals.

On these pictures it shows how the bus is in good condition on the well known weak spots:

The gearbox was howling a lot, so I will let it rebuild. Here I took it out.

It was pretty dirty!

The CV joints need to be renewed:

I've renewed the bearings and sealings of the gear rods:

But after that some bad news, the inside of the gearbox looks like a battle field. Some teeth of the pinion gear have been broken off and went between other gears and bearings. Also some bearing supports are worn.
I'm working on a solution for it at this moment...

 

[68_early_bay]

Nice thread start nice bus 8) that engine dyno looks cool :mrgreen:


Definately a bit of wear on the cvs and box :?

 

[dazza1975]

Looks like a nice bus!! Hope you get the gear box sorted

 

[EeVeeWee]

My gearbox looks increasingly healthy by a donor gearbox

 

[gninnam]

Nice colour combo 8)

Will be keeping an eye on your transformation.

 

[CHILDSEY]

Nice bus

 

[SiDev]

Very nice, green buses rock!

 

[EeVeeWee]

I got my gearbox complete again!
But before I refit it, I will first make use of the free space without a motor to mount the new batteries and installation of electric components for 12 V and 220 V in the bus.

 

[EeVeeWee]

The engine and gearbox are reunited: D

Furthermore, the start and household batteries coupled with a 100 A fuse and Cyrix ct battery separator in between.
The 12 Volt and 220 Volt connection built to the interior with automatic circuit breaker and RCD in the 220 V cable and a fuse holder in the 12 V cable.
The batteries are now fixed and the connector for the CTEK battery charger is already attached to the battery terminals of the household battery (off screen).

A difference with how it was: mrgreen:

 

[marcher]

Oh I do like a small poptop Riviera.

Great looking van m8

 

[EeVeeWee]

Here is the CTEK charger installed with additional sockets for any other equipment to charge.

Yesterday I mounted the engine and gearbox while the rest of the family was busy with surprises.
Because I was alone, I have a increased the jack bit by bit and put layers of wood underneath the gearbox.
When it was at the right height, I could push the bus above it from out of the pit and mount the four bolts.

 

[EeVeeWee]

Today I made a good progress;
- CV Joints filled with grease
- Mounted both drive shafts and fitted the screws with torque and secured them
- Linking shift rod fixed and secured
- Gearbox filled with oil
- Clutch cable connected
- Gear lever adjusted and fixed
- Overhauled SOLEX 34 PICT-3 carburetor mounted
- All electricity connected to the engine, fuel line fitted and throttle cable connected
- Started the engine and drove a little bit forwards and backwards for the first time in two months: mrgreen:

 

[Fortunate Son]

Hi, really nice van and great work, I especially like the special engineering details like the wired safety "anti-undos" on the CV bolts.

Just a quick question - when you replaced the outer rubber "scraper" on the cab door window, how did you re-do the rivets and what kind of rivets did you use please? This is a job I have planned.

Cheers

Andy

 

[EeVeeWee]

Hi Andy,

I found these rivets in a local clothes repair shop. I couldn't find them on-line or in DIY stores, so I tried a shop with leather repairs.
Also good to know: I used a bolt head for underneath the edge for flattening the rivets

 

[Alex VW Heritage]

Great project, I love all the safety wire, I may have to copy that idea for the cv joint bolts as I have had issues there in the past.

 

[EeVeeWee]

Great project, I love all the safety wire, I may have to copy that idea for the cv joint bolts as I have had issues there in the past.

As I noticed you were not the only one!

 

[EeVeeWee]

Today I completed the 230 Volt circuit. Now I can use sockets inside of the bus instead of supply from outside :mrgreen:

At the outside:

Here is the 230 V supply:

Through the RCD and circuit breaker inside:

To a central point underneath the couch:

To a battery charger in the spare tire compartment:

And two sockets underneath the couch:

Two in the cabinet where the fridge comes in:

And an outlet in the cabinet for the fridge:

 

[Alex VW Heritage]

Did you see the Blog post on our website?

https://www.vwheritage.com/blog/2015/01/22/catching-vw-bug/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:mrgreen:

 

[gninnam]

Nice work on the electrics :mrgreen: Very professional!

 

[EeVeeWee]

Did you see the Blog post on our website?

https://www.vwheritage.com/blog/2015/01/22/catching-vw-bug/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:mrgreen:

No I didn't, thank you!