I had a friend mention to me that my bus popped up here on a different thread, and I realize that I do not actually have a build thread going for this bus... so here is my attempt at doing so Having driven nothing but split campers for the majority of my life I had never thought I would be driving anything but, then my son came along and something began to change. Long story somewhat short I sold off my splits and purchased a 1976 riviera from Tom Toms in Moab. Got it running and loved the way it felt, even the spirit of the bus. Old habits die hard though so I began buying bays like mad, built and drove a 77 Welty and back burn'rd the Riviera. Westy just didn't have the feel I was lookin for and I sold it, landed in a vanagon. Loved the heat! The way it drove reminded me of the feel of a split and comfort of a bay... Now I have always taken my buses of the beaten path and suddenly an old friend showed up in a tin top syncro. This was the beginning of the end, I needed a syncro. I also always missed that Riviera so my dumb drunk ass came up with the brilliant idea to make my riviera into a syncro. The first attempt was using a eurovan t4 front end with a chunk of the center and other misc modifications involved, building a rear end out of imagination, vanagon parts and magic. I got as far as having all four wheels on the ground and driveline mocked in before the realization hit me that I abuse my buses and am not a mechanical engineer. Scrapped this idea, bought a split and drove it for a summer, then another vanagon westy to try to fill that hole. That didn't work and my Riviera just kept burning its embers in the recesses of my mind. Plan B. Bought a syncro tin top, a garage and began the work of cutting it down to its chassis, built a makeshift lift in my garage that could hold the bus 3.5' off the ground without touching any of the undercarriage and began removing everything I hoped I wouldn't need. I feel pretty safe in the assumption that I am at the summit of this project and about to start the downhill slope to camping and snowboarding with the family. Feel free to have a look, chastise me or whatever you like. Thanks, Kris. I'll post a few pictures but if you've got time to kill... https://www.facebook.com/kris.balfe.5/posts/1331906980157124?hc_location=ufi
Awesome build @Kris Ive seen some of the work you've been doing on thesamba posted in the off road modifications thread, enjoyed reading what you've been up to
Thanks everyone. I'm kind of wishing I had started a build thread after looking through all my pictures and seeing every setback and little victory. The current hurdle I'm facing is clutch and brake pedals and going ons. I removed all of the undercarriage supporting all the levers and such ( plan E) and was hoping to install them in approximately the same location. I was pretty happy with the booster location and began patting my self on the back, because I'm pretty much done at this point right? Wrong. The skid plate wouldn't fit anymore... Well, back to the drawing board... Oh hell yes, I'm a genius. Except that I'm not, I'd planned on welding the bay pedal pushing thingy on this support, angle a piece over to the hole in the floorboard, attach the pedal and start figuring out the clutch. Pedal geometry will get you every time. That's what I get for spending high school in the bus roasting my afternoons away instead of in math class. I moved it over to be under the hole and added a pivot point in the arm... at this point I was just barely clearing the steering arm ( another battle that took place before this thread ) and I still wasn't very happy with it considering all the funky angles, gussets springs and stops that would be needed to make everything push a pin into a cylinder that could be required for life saving or what have you. I scrapped this plan. And conjured another.
Well. Brakes, clutch, steering, accelerator and shifting are all good to go. Here are some pics of the brake/clutch job.