Our new bus! 1979 VW Riviera Penthouse

[Clementine79]

Riverside State Park
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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[Shonandb]

[Clementine79]

Yes lots of trails and hiking, taking my son out to explore then camping that night. The camping isn’t the most scenic but the hikes are beautiful.
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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[metahacker]

how's that fancy new shifter working out in that sweet riviera of yours?

[Clementine79]

Yes that is the best upgrade we have done so far, those shifters make it so much more enjoyable to drive!
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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[Clementine79]

Lots of rain this weekend, arrived at camp to a downpour.

When the rain let up we went exploring

Came back in to warm up and have dinner then watch scary movies

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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[dodger tom]

leave it to mac n cheese to take the edge off stephen king.

looks like a great halloween weekend.
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1978 Champaign Edition 2 Westfalia
Would never find the time to keep up another classic air-cooled.

[Clementine79]

Ran into some traffic on the way home from work, no bays on the way but two moose on the loose!

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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[Axel Breaker Earl]

Cool Thread!! I haven't read it all, but did start in the beginning of the thread and read about three pages in a row.....then started skipping through it to the end.
Pretty awesome timeline of how your son has grown and is represented throughout the thread.....along with your bus and all of the improvements and fixes. From one Dad to another......you're doing it right Dad!!

[Clementine79]

[Clementine79]

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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[fatmatt650]

How's that 2110cc treating you guys? I'm embarking on a new build after my last one "overheated" a bit. I have an 1832cc type 4 engine that I could use or I've got a 2110 project that I haven't built yet. Obviously I'm concerned about power vs. heat management. At first I'd dismissed the idea of the 2110 in the camper but now I've seen multiple people running them w/ apparently no issues.
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62 Single Cab
70 bug
72 Hightop
72 Hightop
"So much to do...so little time."

[Clementine79]

No issues with heat so far. We have drove in temps up to 110 degrees and down to around -10 below.

We havent had any reliability issues over the last 4 years. Only the minor things like carb needing new parts, starter failed (oem Bosch-bad solenoid), and ignition switches.

The engine is fine with plently of power, but the quality of aftermarket VW parts is a pain and I only seeing it getting worse as there are less on the road in the future.

Pulling up the mountains with the 2110cc it still does stuggle speed wise, and it feels like on flat ground its comfortable going around 60-63mph with the 091 transaxle.

I think after the life of this engine we would look into Subaru, mainly due to the VW parts being subpar quality on some key components.
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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[fatmatt650]

Interesting feedback. Thanks.
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62 Single Cab
70 bug
72 Hightop
72 Hightop
"So much to do...so little time."

[Clementine79]

It appears winter has finally decided its going to bring some snow and cold temps, still take the bus out every now and then when the roads are not covered in salt.

Handles exceptionally well in the snow and ice with the Vantra tires.

We have some trips planned in the summer and the bus will be heading down to California (Mt Shasta) and up the Oregon coast for some camping!
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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[Shonandb]

Nice! We are planning on camping this weekend locally. There's snow on the trails but it's mostly hard packed now.
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76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
Click to view image

[Clementine79]

Tested out the tow bar, it works great!

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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[Clementine79]

Dispersed camping on blm lands

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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[Clementine79]

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1979 VW BUS
Riviera Penthouse Model

[Shonandb]

Looks like a nice quiet place!
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*******************************
76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
Click to view image