Our new bus! 1979 VW Riviera Penthouse

[Wasted youth]

The Vanagon forum has a lot of information on the Dometic 3-way refrigerators, and the Vanagon Bentley has some notes on maintenance and the mod to the air pump.

I changed the small 12v cooling fan out on both our 1981 and 1987 'fridges and used a 12v computer cooling fan and that is a great improvement.

Keep the burner box clean of rust flakes. I do not have any idea if your fridge is set up the way they are in the Vanagons. Need pictures of yours to ascertain. But ours has a small ventilating tube at the base of the fridge with a small screw cap on chain. That's where I blast in compressed air to clear the burner box when it's shut down. I do that before every trip. The dust and crap just blows out the ventilating stack. I just leave the cap off all the time because the vent tube open like that helps the propane flame.

Only time I ever got propane smell was after I did some maintenance work on the fridge. The gasket for the burner box was NLA and I hoped it would seal up. Nope! So out it came again, and I use Hi-Temp RTV coating both sides of the gasket. Never a problem since.

[Clementine79]

Ours is a two way unfortunately, I wonder if the vanagon fridge is a direct swap? Either way the 12v and 120v appear to be in order and the fridge seems to function fine. The propane holding tank on the bottom is quite rusty how long are these serviceable? Does anywhere sell a new tank that fits in the same footprint? I would eventually like to replace them anyways to clean up the look from the outside.

[Wasted youth]

There is a whole thread of arguments regarding propane tanks. I think the first issue you may have (at least in my experience in California) is that the average service station attendant will need to be coached on how to fill it.

You may also have an outdated filler neck; you might need to replace it.

They might get anal looking for the certification tag.

I have never had one leak, and I cleaned up both of mine, made sure the filler was working properly and repainted it.

[Clementine79]

Here’s what was found in the compartment with the original jack, this flare is dated 1981

My son “helped “ install the Alpine unit to replace the original blaupunkt unit. This was done by enlarging the hole just a bit with a metal file.

[Clementine79]

OK so wiring on this I don't even know where to start..

Fuse box has 12 fuses, all of them except one look to be in good shape.

So testing electronics here's what works:

Radio always has power, turns on and off and works fine.
Windshield wipers work with key in the run position
Headlights sometimes work with key out and car off but not with key in and running
Intermittently the rear defrost will light up
dome light works and camp interior lights work

Not working:
turn signals
hazards
marker lights
dash lights and malfunction indicator lights
gas gauge
ignition

I am guessing there's possibly multiple shorts but unsure how to go about testing and finding them, I do have a multimeter. I believe I need to redo all of the wires going to ignition harness but I am unsure on where they run to and I cant really see where they are routed under the bus but they must be in a tube somewhere?

Are the ignition switch wires bundled with the turn signal and light wires somewhere down the line? In the hatch I can see wires that melted together and may have further up the chain too.

[Clementine79]

Next weekend I am going to pull out the steering wheel and cover to take a look at the switch and wires below. How do I do continuity test on these wiring harnesses?

I'm trying to figure out which wires are shorting out and where at?

Is it possible the ignition switch is fine and just the wires to the ignition coil and starter are shorting out somewhere? Would the ignition switch still activate my accessories that are only on in the run position if it was faulty?

[KentABQ]

It sounds like you need Robbie's or Colin's help to sort out your electrical gremlins.

I believe Robbie (Asiab3) is in Seattle. Maybe you can get on his schedule before he heads east. www.AirSchooled.com
_________________
-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

[Clementine79]

I think its something I will have to diagnose my self with our funds situation, most shops and mechanics wont even look at it since the other owner did an engine swap on it.

[WestyPop]

Way to go! Nice camper. And, before anyone else yells... Adjust your parking brake!

Just a few comments: The Cologne V6 engine at one time was thought by Kennedy (KEP engine/trans adapters) to be near ideal for a splittie or bay. In North America, only the 2.9L & 4.0L Colognes got hydraulic lifters, so be sure your 2.6L/2.8L valves are adjusted properly. (4.0L's RPM range NOT suited for bus!) Owners of Cologne-powered bays I've met stated that their typical highway fuel mileage was 23-24mpg. Up-sizing to larger tires would bring down the engine RPMs a bit for highway cruising. Doing so may also help to correct an overly-optimistic bus speedometer!

Thanks for your your posts n' pics. Keep 'em coming. When work/family priorities finally allow, I'm planning a similar engine swap to a bay Westy. Parts rich/Time poor right now!

Best wishes. Have fun. Explore.
_________________
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
______________________________________
J.R.
68 Westy
(+ others)

[Clementine79]

I'm still new to these buses but what tells you the parking brake needs adjusted? It seems to hold fine. Is the lever pulled too far out and that indicates its out of adjustment?

23-24mpg would be amazing but I need to get the engine running right, it runs OK at the moment but definitely needs tuning and possibly rebuild soon.

[WestyPop]

[Clementine79]

[HonuHI]

I have a 1978 Riviera, I've been calling mine a studio, but penthouse sounds much better.

Anyway love the van, electrical is a crazy place. Good luck

[Clementine79]

In this last photo does anyone know of a bracket that works to hold the outside table up that folds out from the side of the fridge? One of the few parts I'm missing is that bracket.

[WestyPop]

Quote:"In this last photo does anyone know of a bracket that works to hold the outside table up that folds out from the side of the fridge?"
Maybe this one? https://www.campingworld.com/drop-leaf-table-support-49683.html

Quote: "Do you know of any other owners on the forum or facebook that have this swap?"
Sorry, no current personal contacts with Cologne V6-powered Bay camper owners. German Capris came to the U.S. with 2.6L or 2.8L Cologne engines; which is yours? A co-worker had over 350,000 miles on his 2.6L Capri & it still ran great. The Cologne 2.8L engines from the cars (Capri/Mustang) seem to have better factory-balancing than the truck (Ranger/Bronco) units, useful if you want to run in the 4,000 rpm range for any length of time! That was also noticeably true for the Cologne 2.9L EFI motors in the Merkur Scorpios vs. trucks: my Scorpio was very smooth to the 5,800rpm redline; truck 2.9L exhibited roughness above 3,800rpm.

BTW your SurePower battery isolator (shown in the engine photo) looks "under-used"! They are typically one of the most reliable for separating & charging main & auxiliary battery banks.
_________________
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
______________________________________
J.R.
68 Westy
(+ others)

[Clementine79]

From what I understand it’s the 2.8L variant. The aux battery is not even hooked to the isolator because the battery pan is rusting through. These look to be the main areas rust has struck and need to be fixed eventually.

[Abscate]

Get rid of that old ordinance (1981 flares) by testing it somewhere safe.

We had a local put a case of Vietnam frags on eBay, after he found them in his attic and thought they might be valuable.
_________________
.ssS!

[Clementine79]

[Clementine79]

Finally fit in the garage, we can only back it in to fit. Does not fit driving in nose fist due to the incline of our driveway.

We are going to hook this up to some solar panels to keep us off the grid:

Cleaned up wiring, all these were wired up front leading to nothing in the back..

[Clementine79]

Diving into the rear bed yesterday, we are pulling out both seats and the flooring/carpet. Deep clean the inside, then recover the seats/arm rest/buddy chair and rear cushion.

Old foam was bad, we have new foam to throw in it

This cover was the worst, the others are not torn

Our Plan is to keep the "leather" just on the seat back and armrests