1973 T2b Riviera - Rolling Restoration Project

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Dear all,

here's my report about my recent rolling restoration project. A 1973 Riviera found me and decided that I would not let her go anymore - eventhough I was asked to sell it for a friend of mine to whom I sourced this bus from the US west coast not less than 7 years ago. She called me last christmas and told me that she was not able to get it restored / overhauled and that the bus sat in a barn without getting any work done.

So, last Easter I put a trailer on my car and drove up to my friend, 500 miles including a ferry trip of more than one hour. I brought a new battery and some brake cleaner to fire her up - and she did! With the second turn of the key the engine ran like a stitching machine without a single smoke cloud.

I brought her to my shop. Target was to get her to the point where she passes the technical inspection and is ready to get a license plate. With every day I worked with her I fell more in love with this bus. Totally unexpected! I thought I'm through with aircooled and never get caught by them. I have two Mustangs, a 1958 Ford Panel Truck, a 1988 Jeep Wagoneer (which was supposed to be restored next) and some Honda bikes in my Classics collection and I thought it'll stay so. Now, my whole family got the bay window bus / Riviera virus and it's the first project where each and every family member (and friends) had already a hand on and helped out with something within the past four months.

We're almost done. My first try to get the inspection failed because of a not perfectly synchronized / levelled rear brake. Since I don't have a brake test stand I didn't realized a difference of 38% from right to left in brake effect (where 25% is allowed - BTW: parking brake is almost levelled, no kinks or dents in the brake lines - I get to that later in the technical questions section - maybe somebody could help out with a hint). So, my plans to attend the "LeBug" aircooled festival weekend in Spa Francorchamps (Formula1 circuit in Belgium) with two friends (with two Bay Window busses and one beetle) had to be changed.

But that's enough text for now. Maybe you are interested in some pictures of the rolling restoration. I decided to put it in car sections instead of a historic documentation.
_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 1 - unboxing!

Previous owner put a license plate in the floor to avoid wet and dirty feet.

_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 2 - the rat issue...

Unfortunately, the farmer of the latest barn where the bus was put in "shelter", left the window open around last fall which some (or better: a lot of) rats saw as a welcomed invitation to camp in a Riviera for the winter...

Not nice, but things which have to be done, have to be done! With some safety- and hygienic-equipment I started the challenge - I can tell you! - Disgusting!:

With tons of desinfection I prepared everything I had to put a hand on - so almost everything. Which ended up in a huge mess. I spare the details... But beware of the "hanta-virus" - if you must deal with rat p.., put on gloves (and change them frequently, check for rips and tear), use a face mask, desinfect the area and - probably most important - don't breathe the dust and don't vacuum it - you probably spread the virus all over through the vacuum "exhaust"!

I also threw away the rubber under the seats and on the floor, also between the front seats - as the rear sleeping matrasse and cover (costly garbage since I had to replace it later!!).
_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[KentABQ]

Another Riviera has been brought back to life!
It's looking good. You're going to have a blast with it...once ya get past the rodent remnants.
_________________
-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

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 3 - seats:

The rats pulled each soft thing left in the seats out and built a nest in the back of the seat and underneath it. Again, some disgusting setting apart.

The previous owner obviously tried to fill in missing padding - with working gloves!

Another round of cleaning and desinfecting to get to a pretty good base driver seat frame.

As always when I face rusty, but in the core good metal, first thing is to put on a rich base of rust converter...

...and giving them a 3in1 care (rust protection and satin black color.

I bought new (original horse-hair) paddings and felt protection to give it a smooth touch and finally new WESTFALIA covers in blue-green as they were before.

This was my first saddler-job but regarding that there are plenty of different seats and covers, I'm sure I had not the perfect match, I'm pretty satisfied with the result.

And in between I had to cover the seat to enable me to get the bus around.

Same thing with the passenger seat - where I had to split the work because I was waiting for padding and covers for the open back passenger seat.

_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 4 - battery trays

Those were rotten. The RH side was actually not present any more - that's why they switched the starter battery location to the LH side...

LH side:

First look was a bit better than it finally came out...

Unfortunately, the rear light (covered later on) and the side marker were rotten.

RH side:

_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 5 - doors:

LH:

Eventhough I'm serious with originality the worn grey door cards with diy speaker holes wanted to be replaced by fresh green ones. Here's the way the doors made:

Getting out all glass and trim - be aware of the steps and get the side window back in first! I had to get everything out and back in once more in the right order because the window didn't want to be placed last.

The window frames were better than we feared. You clearly see the sharp line where the seals protected the paint from the western sun. So the core has been surprisingly good which confirmed my wish to leave the outer shell of the bus original with the patina of the years.

As all the windows on the bus and the doors got new seals (burnt from the western sun) the door got new seals glued in (after the usual treatment with rust converter and 3in1 paint (almost matching color btw).

RH:

RH door was slightly worse than the LH side. So some more rust converter and paint needed.

The door cards hardly fit. It was a puzzle to get each clip directed to almost hit the hole in the doors.

windows overhaul (change every (!) seal)...

I changed the channel seal with the chrome trim. You hardly get the old ones out without ruining the chrome. And it's not worth the time to change all the rivets and place a new seal in the old chrome frame (if you succeeded getting it out without dents and bents). Be aware of the fact that the aftermarket chrome channels don't fit the original holes in the door frame. Carefully test the fit, mark the holes and drill / widen the holes to fit outside the car - that's much easier than installing it completely and then drill. BTW: I often used the old original clips wherever possible. They do fit better than the new ones. Also the brackets which hold the chrome channel in the door frame.

Again, treatment of the vent window frame with cleaning, rust converter and 3in1 paint in black.

sliding door:

I replaced the old foam in the sliding door with a layer of alu-butyl sound deadener / insulation pads and then a layer of original thick felt. The door sounds like a mercedes door now and will keep cold and hot outside for a while. I'm very pleased with the result. It changed the can rattle of the huge sheet metal panels for a decent sound.

_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 6 - engine:

That was what I found - a filthy engine and engine bay, slightly molded throughout. Heater hoses missing (heater completely out of service throughout). But the engine was running like a stitching machine - after 7 (more) years just sitting in a barn.

This was the finish except the missing isolation/seal around the engine and engine bay sheetmetal. As I was waiting for the connector from the heat exchanger to the engine sheetmetal I had the RH warm air hose not connected at that time.

We had to completely renew the DIY engine bay sheet metal which separates the hot exhaust air from the engine air. Eventhough it is welded in the engine bay originally we decided to weld in nuts to bolt the side sheetmetals in for the case we have to work on the engine again (to get more space with unbolting the sheetmetal).

DIY engine bay sheetmetal to separate hot exhaust air from engine air (seen from underneath).

Many open ends and pitched wiring in the engine bay...

_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 7 - mid section

The start felt good - not much to do -- I couldn't been wronger!

Just because we wanted to weld some tiny spots we saw on the underside the welder told me to get out the wooden floor to prevent it from being burnt away...

Under two layers of wood I found a lot more rust than we could make out from underneath. The floor simply rotted away from inside out.

First thougt was, we patch the different areas with the new floors I bought...

...realizing later that it might be more work to patch instead of just replacing both floor boards in one piece. The first patch in the best sight (mid front) will ever remind us of that mistake. Always think twice!

And when I just wanted to overhaul the side panel from inside - I discovered that there was another rat toilet hidden behind the wood panel...

mid section underbody:

furniture:

land power:

_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 8 - front floor repairs:

LH side - the "license plate side":

RH side - the "better" side:

front floor work underneath:

_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[1973T2bRivieraGE]

Part 9 - miscellaneous:

As with all this report parts I'll update later with some more pictures which I have to look for or which I still have to take (more than 600 pictures to check...).

rear (light) repair:

backup light re-install (was ooo):

One of the many electrical questions - why don't the backup lights work? First find the backup-light-switch under a thick layer of oily dust from years of use - which I finally found where it should be:

after cleaning the switch and the nearest neighborhood:

I re-connected the bu-lights from port 15 (coil) to the bu-light switch port and from the other port back to the open end wire I found (next to other open ends) in the engine compartment. And what should I say? BU-lights back at work!

polish and paint finish test:

My goal is to safe the patina from the first paint being burnt by the western sun while on the other hand give the panels protection and care. So I decided to polish the panels below the curvature (below the windows) with a paint cleaner and polish. Above the curvature where's hardly any paint any more to treat I want to treat the area with a rust stopping and waterproof oil (I use Owatrol).

after washing before polish on the rear side panel:

after washing after polishing the rear side panel:

testing owatrol oil treatment on the upper / window panels which are burnt by the sun:

before treatment:

after treatment:

heating system (overhauled from front to back):

The heater blower motor was not running free. So I cleaned it, oiled it and put it back in running a lot more free and - that's my hope - working.

windows (glass out, cleaning frames, rust converter, oxyblock, paint, glass in with new seal):

I re-installed the mid-windows (slide windows) 180° inside-out because I'm missing the sliding window lock on both sides and everybody could have opened the windows from outside. Now I can use those blocks from inside to lock the sliding windows. And I do like the flush look from outside more than having the sliding windows peeking out an inch. Drawback is that now even more water collects in the slide channels which unfortunately tilt towards inside. Any ideas are most welcome to keep the water out of those sliding windows and channels.

roof seals:

I polished the rough roof plastic (fiber) to refresh and protect it. Then I used the seals for the Westfalia roof to protect the edge and keep water out a bit better. I'm curious how the front seal will perform, especially because it's the wrong way around (open face to the driving wind - on the Westfalia roof the seal has the closed face to the driving wind).

front lights (replacement of the US sealed beams to European H4 headlights + blinker switch US (with parking light) to European (w/o parking light)):

Parts storage:

Tires:

I decided to get a full set of new tires since the old ones showed age on the rubber flanks. I sourced Continental "C" code tires (all weather) with a whitewall insert.

Almost done:

_________________
With greetings of a Classics Enthusiast from Cologne, Germany!

Markus

[KentABQ]