Finally in a VW! 1971 VW Bus Riviera

[Alan Brase]

Seems like the easiest thing would be to just find a better fuse box. They seldom fail and I imagine a good used one would not cost much.
On a separate note:
How did the small diesel heater work for space heating a garage? I'm facing similar problems in a 24x32 garage in Iowa. I think I'll end up using LP in 100lb cylinders.
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Al Brase
Projects: 67 sunroof bug, 67 Porsche 912 Targa, 70 Westy
Dec 1955 Single Cab pickup WANT 15" BUS RIMS dated 8/55, thru 12/55
To New owners: 1969 doublecab, 1971 Dormobile
Vanagons:
80 P27 Westy JUL 1979, 3rd oldest known US
83 1.6TD Vanagon, 87 Wolfie Westy daily driver, swap meet home

[KentABQ]

Looking good, Pete.
Welcome to the world of Rivieras and endless repairs!
When I first got mine, I'd also be up at 6am to work on it before work. Good times!

Oh... and I apologize for the Missoula n salt remark.
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-Kent-
1976 Riviera, 1.8l FI chrome yellow VAN - "Chloe"

"I must say, how can you be in a bad mood driving this vehicle full of vibrant color.
Cars of today are so bland in comparison. It's like driving a celebration!" ---WildIdea

Bus ownership via emoticons:
---williamM

[TypePete]

Alan,

A new fuse panel is something I considered I cleaned it up with vinegar and carved away some of the melted plastic. I think it should be fine and function as it should. It must have been cause by a botched after market radio install or something, who knows. There was a bunch of trailer hook up wiring I removed so maybe something with that.

I haven’t had a chance to blast the garage with the heater yet since I need to get a good system set up to pipe in the heat or vent the exhaust. Not a hard task but difficult with a 3 year old and 4 month old to find the time to do it

I’ll report back, but full disclosure my garage is not insulated so my results may be skewed. But running it outside to burn offf manufacturing oils I was surprised by the heat output. I’ve seen some folks buy a school bus diesel, 16kw, on eBay for $300 and have good results. I wasn’t ready to commit to that yet, but saw the smaller 5-8kw option as a good test run. I figured I could always install it in the bus for colder camping/outing days with the family.
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[TypePete]

Hahaha! Kent, No apologizes needed, always stoked to see mentions of the Zoo
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[TypePete]

The rust spots near the window seal kept staring at me so I figured I should take care of this so my hard work with the electrical doesn’t get ruined. Did a solo windshield removal and successfully kept it in one piece.

Metal doesn’t seem too bad, still need to wire wheel it. My biggest concern is the passenger side lower corner.

Almost of the seam is crumbling there, but I guess we’ll see what grinding and cleaning reveals!
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[TypePete]

The pinch welds seem pretty rotted out on inner windshield frame so I’m thinking I may have to pick up these

https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/us/211805135a-...Je5oqAnPqG

Has anyone seen any write ups on someone replacing them?

Second question do the dashboard mounting brackets just tap out with a hammer, I didn’t notice any welds.

Thabks
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[scrivyscriv]

If you rewire anything, I recommend looking for GXL wire.. there are a lot of ebay sellers with GXL in the correct color/stripe and wire gauge. It is standard in modern vehicles, and significantly better or safer than cheap PVC insulated wire.

jeremyrockjock sells a replacement e-brake pin, if you're talking about the pivot pin under the floor. Those rust pretty bad. Jeremy machines them with a grease fitting.. very nice functional upgrade.
Don't get too deep into the repairs! See if you can get it running and driving and then iron out all the details. Sometimes the psychological motivation is more important than having everything "just so."
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Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[TypePete]

Thanks scrivyscriv for the lead on the wire. I don’t have much to replace just two melted wires and a few repairs in the engine bay. No plans on a full resto, goal is to be running in the summer. I mainly want to take care of the windshield rot because it was letting water pool on the floor boards which rotted those out and the relays were all rusty. So it seemed like a smart repair to do properly while the dash was out. After that and cleaning up the wiring it’s all goin back in, then going through the brakes, then engine install. Fingers crossed but I feel like it’s a manageable goal to get it running and keep the motivation going.

Goals are to tackle some repair on the body over the years while keeping it drivable. Luckily it’s fairly dry in Montana so it keeps the rust at bay.
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[TypePete]

Hey, wondering if anyone has experience removing the brackets that hold up the dashboard.

I am cleaning up the rust and making a plan to repair the lip around the panel

I’m trying to figure out if it slides in to some slots and if I’m able to hammer from the bottom and pop it out or if it’s welded in. Don’t want to gorilla it and mess it up. Thanks
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[67rustavenger]

No experience with that support bracket.
I'd bet it's spot welded to the front of the lower windshield opening.
If you can reach under the support, can you sand the paint away and look for spot welds?

If so, if it were me, I'd drill the spot welds and remove the support as cleanly as possible.
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!
2003 Astrovan? GFYS again, Xevin!

[TypePete]

Thanks just came back to report that I found the spot welds, they were hiding.

Windshield wiper assembly removed. Going to start taking some measurements for the support brackets so I can weld them back in place after repairing the inner windshield support. The corners of the windshield will be replaced with some panels I found at heritage,the rest of it will be interesting. Luckily the dash support brackets follow the contour of the panel so I’ll be able to use those to help me make some repair sections
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[TypePete]

Got side tracked while removing spot welds. My welding situation wasn’t great and figured if I was going to be fabbing up some parts needed a real welding table, so built this. It’s tacked up and I have a 1/2” plate that’s about 3/4 the width and will be putting my vice on the remaining space. Pretty happy with it while drinking a few beers making sure no sparks set anything on fire

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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[scarabee]

Nice table! I'm following with interest as I need to do the same repairs on my 1973 Single Cab.

[Everpress]

I'm not one to give much advice.... I have too much to learn and too much "I should know better", but I had to cut so much rust off my bus. To get aftermarket panels to fit without weird shapes, I ended up cutting an inch here or there of "good metal".

I used that metal to fabricate patches to weld in the smaller rusted out parts under my windshield and window sills. It saved me some cash on GOOD aftermarket panels/pieces and I know (if no one else does) that it is original metal.

I had to replace the lower part of the nose all the way across as well as the doglegs so there was plenty of "good metal" to be had for other small patches.

I'll probably get toasted for admitting that, but my goal has never been restoration... I just want to drive the thing. Without getting wet in the rain.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1969 Bay Camper
1904 DP
EMPI 34 PICT 3
2000 MAGNASPARK II Ignition/Distributor

Refurb, not resto (I’m not made of restoration money!)

It's not a perfect loaf, but it's my loaf.

[TypePete]

Alright all, got the dash brackets off. For others that may do this there were 10 spot welds on each dashboard support bracket. I drilled out the welds with drill bits as I found the spot weld cutter kept breaking and the bits were faster. I used a paint scraper and hammer to cut through any remaining weld left over.

The blue painters tap is my proposed cut, my thought is cutting out this larger section will help with aligning it all later. It will also give me access to check the metal in that area and treat it appropriately and remove the built up rust between the seams.

Let me know what you think, “Pete that dumb too much work!” Or “Hell yeah that’s the proper way!”.

Figured this is a worthy repair since a lot of the interior damage, ie floor pans and electrical were due to water damage
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[TypePete]

Small update, commit to it and made my cut today.

Happy I went this route, found some surface rust which will be nice to treat and have the piece of mind that I’m taking care of any rust behind the nose panel.

Measured the sheet metal and it’s right around 20 gauge, so going to pick some up this week to start the corners of the windshield lip. Hoping to be able to fabricate the pieces I need instead of buying.
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[TypePete]

Still here! Between kids, the summer and a dying welder I’ve been making progress. Fixed my sliding door! No longer have to pry it away from the bus and slam it to close it. The bottom bearing was just riding on the inner and outer races.

I opted to fabricate my own patch panels since those little kits are pricey and it seems like they require a good amount of work to make them fit. Patched a few spots and built up a few areas that still had good metal.

This corner piece should be the most complex piece.

Unfortunately my 30+ year old Century 130 seems to be dying. Erratic arc and the heat setting seems to wander. So got a new welder arriving Monday, stoked for that.
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1971 VW Bus Riviera

[calvinater]

What welder did you go for?
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"Albatross"!

[TypePete]

An Eastwood MiG 180, it was on sale and I liked that it is dual voltage.
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1971 VW Bus Riviera