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christian
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003
Posts: 46
Location: Westminster, Ca
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 Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 4:49 pm Post subject: 71 Westy Conversion... |
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Hi,
I've posted a couple times on this forum when i need help..
..and that time has come again.. So PLEASE Help!
Getting to the point..
I basically bought a 71 Westy Campmobile...and was hoping to someday find a decent riviera top...
I finally found one at Interstate VW [if you live in socal you should check it out.. They are great and have pretty much any part you need for any type of VW [ http://www.interstateusedparts.com/ ] << CHECK THEM OUT!!
Anyways so I am having trouble putting this VW Rivera Top on my 71 Westfalia...
My major concern is old camper non top busses where cut for the riviera to be installed...however mine is a poptop and is already cut...so im PUZZLED...
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71' westy |
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Adventurewagen
Samba Member
Joined: April 14, 2003
Posts: 1583
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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Not sure what your question is exactly. I am assuming you are wondering if you need to cut more to put the new top on or not. I would expect that the riviera top is pretty close to the same dimensions as the original poptop and that you shouldn't have any problems or need to make the camper hole much bigger. Here is a guy with a Riviera, it has a couple pictures of the top that might help.
http://www.john-perry.com/jamie/ |
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70 140
Samba Member
Joined: September 22, 2002
Posts: 8471
Location: Ontario Canada
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ratwell
Samba Member
Joined: April 26, 2003
Posts: 8717
Location: Victoria, BC
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2004 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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| 70 140 wrote: |
Thr rumor is that the early westies just used the hole from the sunroof, whereas the later ones had a special hole.
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That could be possible. The sunroof busses had VINs starting with 22x and the Westfalias always had numbers starting with 23x. Remember that the second digit just describes the body style and the early westies also had bulkheads behind both front seats (no swivel seat) so the only difference would be the opening in the top unless I missed something obvious. This would lead me to believe that they didn't use the sunroof bus but I could be wrong.
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'78 Westfalia CDN
'76 Doublecab
Read the Baywindow FAQ |
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redbus Steve
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2004
Posts: 133
Location: Southern California
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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Hello,
I'm new to the forums (been reading for a long time, but this is my first post) but I think I can safely reply to this thread. I drive a '70 Westy that had a VW poptop that I replaced with a Riveria Penthouse top last spring. My bus did have the cutout from the factory (it was the sunroof chassis). The hole on the doner bus was the same size but was 1 inch farther foward on the roof. All I had to do was adjust where the canvas attached to the roof. I redid all of the vinyl that came with the Riviera top, so it was easy. There is enough canvas to easily compensate for an inch or two. Just mount the top centered between the raingutters and at the proper location in the back. Once it is attached, fasten the canvas wherever it lands. I put a new headliner in the top before I installed it on a Saturday, and removed the old top and reinstalled the new one on Sunday. It took two people to take off the old one, and five to install the new one. The following weekend I redid all the the vinyl trim and connecting boots. Not too hard a project and definitly worth the effort.
I have a few pictures I can post and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.
I hope this was some help. If I screwed anything up I'll use Homer Simpson's excuse "It's my first day." or in this case "Its my first post!"
Steve |
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greenmonster
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2003
Posts: 44
Location: Southeastern MA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:11 am Post subject: |
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I just wanted to point out that Jamies ex-riv (he's got an early bay westy now), has a 75 Westfalia interior swapped into it. The above link is to the forsale ad I created for Jamie, and I left it up on the website for "historical" reasons.
Jamie's bought his Riv in mostly original condition, but the original riv interior wasn't in the greatest condition. When the opportunity to buy a rusted out (bad frame near rear torsion tube) westy with a mint interior came up, he jumped on it to upgrade the interior.
Just wanted to point out the strange occurance of the very rare RivFalia (or Westeria) conversion 
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79 VW Westfalia
03 Acura CLS 6spd |
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greenmonster
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2003
Posts: 44
Location: Southeastern MA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:18 am Post subject: |
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| ratwell wrote: |
| 70 140 wrote: |
Thr rumor is that the early westies just used the hole from the sunroof, whereas the later ones had a special hole.
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That could be possible. The sunroof busses had VINs starting with 22x and the Westfalias always had numbers starting with 23x.
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Yeah, that's the rumor that I think is most accurate. I think that Karl mentioned this when the debate about the early vs. late westies came up on the type2 list some time ago.
Here's my take on it: The 68-73 westies were built off of the sunroof bus chassis, so that's why they only have a small cot in the poptop. The factory knew which buses where going to westfalia werks, so they'll have the 23x number. They're just a sunroof bus with a westy code prepped to be shipped to westfalia for conversion.
The 1974-1979 westfalias were made with a special gusseted roof to support the weight of the bigger upper bunk.
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79 VW Westfalia
03 Acura CLS 6spd |
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christian
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003
Posts: 46
Location: Westminster, Ca
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2004 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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interesting...
Red Bus steve...
I am very interested on how you installed it and would like further guidance...
I was going to attempt it tommarow however i feel that I am not ready to install it yet...
If you have pictures of what you did or if you are kind enough to email me and try to help out, that would be great...
my email is [email protected]
Thanks for everyones help.
Oh and my vin is 2312073895
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