My 79 Super viking resto project.

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by icepug, Oct 15, 2013.

  1. I have been fixing up my Super Viking for over a year now so I thought it about time I started a resto thread. Let me take you on the journey that I am on with my Late bay. I brought (insert name) in June of 2012. I travelled to Devon one sunny day to have a look at this van as it seemed cheap but fair. £4500 I coughed up which is reasonable when you consider the condition. No rot, little welding and no major surface rust issues. Just in need of a little TLC like they say. Mainly the little things that annoy me about second hand old cars. Petrol gauge didn't work, all the gaskets and perishables had well, perished and the colour had to change.

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    Theres something about that orange that gets my back up. Anyway, off I went on my way home on my 6 hour journey. Being quite the novice I decided that surely 60 mph is okay to do in these buses. Surely? Well it turns out they do not like this all to much and mine decided to give up the ghost around 5 miles from home. I did stop about 4 times on the way back to let the engine cool but after a long day the need to get home outweighed the risk at the time. Anyway, I got the bus towed home and called it for the day.

    Next day after licking my wounds I went to have a good look over the van. Pretty gutted I couldn't drive her but there was nothing I could do about that. In my usual style I didn't do enough research to start with and I did not really understand the Super Viking interior completely and it was apparent that the interior for mine was not original. More like a hodge dodge of original parts and home made items.

    The next weekend I decided to rip the engine out and try to understand what caused the engine to Marmite its oil all over the road. Turns out the crankshaft had split from the flywheel so was kinda fooked.

    So I had a dilemma, I had a van with no engine and dodgy interior. Useable but dodgy., So I did what any other sane minded person would do and I brought ANOTHER van for spares. As luck would have it there was this little beauty for sale on ebay and I managed to snap it up for a measly £1050. (When I say measly , I mean 'really that much for a heap of Marmite?')

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    more to follow. Stay tuned!!!
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2014
    Lord Congi likes this.
  2. My logic was that I could use the engine in the green one and put it in the orange one. Simple! That was until I had a good look at the engine and decided even I did not want to tackle that for the first real job to the van so I changed my thinking. What I had planned was to break the green bay as it was far to gone to restore, take the little bits I needed for my van and sell the rest for cheap to fund the resto of my new van.

    As it happened, that worked out very well. I got a load of bits to complete my van 90% and managed to swap the 1700 engine and some cash to get my engine rebuilt which was a bit of a result tbh. Whilst I was waiting for the engine to come back I decided to dig in to a few bits that were bugging me on the van. I do not have many pictures as I just kinda like to get on with it but I have a few and will post them up as they become relevant. First I wanted to sort the driving position out. The PO has welded in some seats, they were comfy but too tall and they sat offset to the steering wheel. I mean what dick would weld seats in that do not line up to the steering wheel??? I had the original seats and runners from the green van to use so I set about changing them. I bit of grinding, drilling and welding later I managed to get the OG seats in place. The van felt so much better being sat where you are supposed to sit.

    The engine came back from the fixer, although later than thought it was back and I could get it in the van and take it for a spin. Awesome!!! Engine felt good and it looked as though all was good in the hood so I decided to turn to the paintwork. I know a guy I grew up next door to who owns a paint shop so I thought I would chat him up and see how much it would cost to change the colour. As it would happen I spend alot of time with another mate of mine who is a good painter and he said he'd paint it for nothing, Bonus to me!! I still used my other friends paintshop and I paid him to do the prep work involved.
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    It turned out to be a nightmare. The chap i'd grown up with turned out to be so unorganised it took him 6 months to do the prep work which proper *******ed me off but I was happy with the fact that he only found one hole so I could rest on the thought that at least the van wasn't a pear . My other mate was on the money with the paint though. He managed to get me some really good paint on the cheap due to connections and also managed to get one of the best custom bike makers in the country to come and do a bit of custom paint on the bus. Nothing to major, just some subtle flames on the front panel leading to the cab doors. But I did manage to get the bus painted in the end and I had to do all the rebuild.

    Before I show you the van, I did manage to pick up a fab set of empi 5 spokes from @poptop2 that just needed a little polishing up. So I thought whilst I was waiting for the bus to be painted, I would set upon the task of cleaning them up

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    I fetched a few basic products from the garage. A tube of Autosol, 0000 grade wire wool (so fine it can be used on glass), some vinyl and rubber cleaner, tyre dressing fluid and a rag. Set myself up on the decking for the afternoon with some ale and cigarettes and got to polishing like no tomorrow. I enjoy this kind of work as it is mindless and you can just zone out. Quite good to relax to really!!! And they cleaned up a treat!!!

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    Before I show you the van I just have to have a little rant about not doing a job yourself. So not being a painter and not knowing the general routine I was not my place to comment until too late. I had noticed that they had not prepped the doors shuts for the respray when I was visiting the shop to help out on a few task for the bus. Rubbing things down etc etc. They painted the bus and I assumed that they would have done the shuts, I would have if I was paint shop for job satisfaction if anything. So I went to see the van after it was painted and the door shuts were not done :(. The guy who prepped the van for me didn't really want to know but he did let me sort them out in his paint shop so that was the next task. Mask up, sand, degrease and paint. So thats what happened. Bit of a mission but well worth it I think. And the chap did actually make the join look good with alot of polishing cause I think he felt a bit bad. But the moral of this story is 'if you want a job doing, do it yourself'

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    Oh and for the keen eyed for, you will notice the roof is masked up. That's because they never painted that *****er either. So naturally I had to put the graft in and get it painted. Not that I'm to worried how that worked out as it is covered by the viking roof but i just wanted it sealed from rust etc. I have no pics of that event but I can assure you its painted.

    to be continued..........
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2013
  3. I had brought alot of shiny new parts for the outside. Such as new gaskets all round, new rear lights, front indicators and lots more. Basically everything for the out side is new. I did however find myself replacing the door handles, both the cab and the sliding door as I found the new ones just corroded in the first winter so I sought out some OG ones in good nick, re-keyed the barrels and fitted them to my van. I did also change all the glass, bar the front screen and doors glass with low iron glass which do not have the greenish tinge to it like normal glass and also have whats known as a G value so it actually heats up the van by absorbing the suns energy and getting warm. I changed the glass mostly for aesthetics as the new glass would be 100% scratch free and the glass is actually clearer so its brighter in the van.

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    After a few long nights and weekends. The van was drivable so I took it to my yard where the rest of the work would take place.

    Stay tuned!
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2014
    Lord Congi and paradox like this.
  4. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    looking good dude :thumbsup:
     
  5. you should br pretty chuffed as it looks very clean and tidy. good cour choice for a viking.
     
  6. I didn't really give the colour much thought. I had always wanted a red and white bus so the only question was finding the right shades. I wanted to stay true to VW so I scoured thesamba and other sites for some reference colours and got some samples made up. I went for the two that I like best. Senegal red and pastel white. Still got some spare paint for the repairs need but I'll explain that when it syncs in with the time line of this thread.
     
  7. well dont dawdle were waiting
     
  8. Ahh the viking the best vw conversion as voted by swingers magazine:lol:

    I do love the amount of practical space the viking gives:thumbsup:
     
    NatchoNatchoMan likes this.
  9. So, after getting the van back to my factory, where it will stay whilst I am working on her. I finished up the exterior bits that needed doing after the respray. Standard stuff, fitting all the handles, getting the winding windows to work right. Whilst I had the door cards off I had to work on making all the locks and catches work right on the Cab doors, sliding door, boot and engine lid. The spring in the sliding door catch was missing so it would not stay open, I had a replacement so I fixed that. I took all the locks off the van. Then gave them a lashing of wd40 type lube. I let them dry of whist I made a cuppa then I gave them another lashing with spray on grease. Once refitted to the van they all worked so much better and I would advise any one with dodgy locks gives this a go. I did the same procedure to the rollers for the sliding door as they rolled a bit rough. The bearings aren't perfect but after a good clean and lube they were so much better. I cleaned out the tracks for the sliding doors also. All this work now meant that I did not have to slam the sliding door and it works just perfect now.

    I had some under belly pans off the green van that were a bit tatty but not rotten or dented so I decided to get them powder coated. I set about get the old central pan off and the bolts were a right arse. Rusted, bent and down right rude when it come the coming off easily. In the end, I cut through the bolts to get the pan off but I don't fancy doing it again so I borrowed my mates air powered rivnut gun and and bolted the buggers on. I've had to take em off a couple times now and this little improvement save me time. But once on it totally transforms the under side of the van. I also took the liberty of insulating the heater pipe with some aluminium bubble wrap and some aluminium tape.

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    Stay tuned!!
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2014
  10. Faust

    Faust Supporter

    very impressed with your belly pans nice job . I take it is original ride height , its nice to see.
     
  11. Back to my factory

    What do you make?
     
  12. Windows, doors, glass sealed units. Any thing to do with the double glazing industry really
     
  13. Wow love the effort on those wheels, just shows what a bit of spit and polish can achieve!
     
  14. I was the best part of a days work but the sun was out, put some music on and got to polishing. Was actually good fun and a great sense of achievement to boot!
     
    smoggyrich likes this.
  15. So with the exterior painted and shiny I set about sorting out the interior. I quickly ripped out the old conversion which left me with a bare shell. It was a bit daunting lifting the old flooring as I had visions of finding a rusty floor but to be fair the floor was in pretty good nick. Only surface rust to worry about so I buzzed it down with a cleaning wheel on my grinder and gave it a fresh coat of paint.

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    Freshly painted with a rattle can. Done the job and I wasn't really too worried about the finish as I done the work in my lunch hour. I also decided to totally sound deaden the cab and rear floor. No pics I'm afraid

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    The 40 year old dash was looking worse for wear and the brown tartan seats had to go. I took the dash out and had it sandblasted then powder coated. I also spent some time painting the plastic parts of the dash in satin black to brighten things up a bit. Here it is fresh from the powder coaters

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    More to follow!
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2014
    Lord Congi likes this.
  16. Here it is fitted into the van. I also fitted myself an under dash parcel shelf. Stereo was installed with the speakers in the kick panels. I sound deadened the kick panels which help to make the speakers sound a lot better. Not perfect but not bad.

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    Sent the seats off to Jim the Trim who also made me a load of other bits such as new door cards, walk through panels and panels for behind the seats. Fitted that lot and a JK carpet kit and some new red seat belts.

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    Attached Files:

    womball likes this.
  17. With the Front cab finished I then took some pictures of the van after a good clean and polish up. Looking pretty good if I do say so myself.

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    smoggyrich and womball like this.
  18. What did you do with all of the old fabric? I've just bought a 1979 viking and need some to cover the bed pads. It looks like a lovely resto but I do like the original styling
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2013
  19. Then DISASTER struck. On my way back from its first real journey the engine decided to give up the ghost. There I was, sat on the A1 waiting to be recovered. My day couldn't get any worse, or so I thought. With the van on the recovery truck and on my way home on a busy dual carriage way a car drives past shouting something through the window. The driver of the recovery truck wound the window down and what I was about to hear I could not believe. The bloody roof had come off!!!!! We turned around to go and retrieve my mullered roof but by that time the police had arrived to shut the carriage way and I spotted a copper dragging my roof across the road and tossed it over the edge of the road. It was about a 20 foot drop so you can imagine my language when I finally caught up with the copper.

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    I was bummed out to say the least. Totally gutted, all that hard work, in the middle of summer. I wanted to cry, but that's not my style and I brushed myself off and set about getting it sorted. Thankfully the engine was still under warranty (1 week left) from the engine builders and they agreed to fix it free of charge. Then I spoke to the insurers about the roof. I had to claim off of the recovery people due to the van being in their duty of care when it happened. I didn't want too but what could I do?
     
  20. Once the interior is done I will have loads of original fabric available (i have about 30 original cushions) but I want to use the originals for template so if you willing to wait i'm sure we can sort something out.
     

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