New boy to posting, pics of my bus

[thebaldyman]

Hi

I have had my 1981 2.0l Aircooled Viking since May last year but have yet to post any pictures of it on here. I did a straight swap for it with a mk1 golf gti convertable which i bought after selling my bay(to stop the wife spending all of my VW money ). The interior was knackered and I took this straight out and sold off the bits worth salvaging to pay for the Autosleeper interior I bought from Westphalia shop in Penzance. As you can see I had gutted the van completely first off prior to refitting the interior I remade and covered all the panels in a brown vinyl and covered the upper exposed metal areas in a beige/tam leather. Behind all the panels I used dynamat and then the foil bubble wrap material as insulation. For the floor I again used the insulation and 12mm marine ply for the floor, covered in green carpet tiles for easy replacement when stained.

Here's the van as it currently is:-



I made the curtains myself and wired in a new ZIG CF9 aswell as a 240V consumer unit and a couple of mains plugs. I have remade the headling and installed 12v lighting utilising LED bulbs for saving power and cutting down on heat. I have also installed TV screens in the front headrests and dvd player in the dash all running through from 6x9's, 10in sub and 10cw 3 ways mounted in the rear headling. Overall it sounds good and keeps the kids quiet, which is nice





Sorry for all the pics!! I have also got a louvered window from a westy to fit on the drivers side window but I have just found out it won't fit so I am looking to replace it with a sliding window to fit a converted van. I have a repalcement sliding door which is a factory fit window door and I have managed to secure a nice sliding window for that side at least. I am currently looking at fitting my twin dellortos from my 62 bug to replace the 34icts already fitted to the bus. No rush though as it drives nicely at the moment.
I am looking to spray the bus back to it's original liana green before May and finish of the interior, I have just made a removable buddy seat box to house the porta-potti for the kids. It is lowered and runs 17" Audi sport wheels which I will be respraying at some stage. It is currently my daily driver as all my v-dubs are.
I hope you like what i have done so far

[Mocki]

i have a loovre window from a panel van conversion, which may fit..... for the kitchen area, but i dont know where you are, please fill your profile iin.....

[Doctor Foster]

Looks cool

[thebaldyman]

Hi Steve&Bev

Here's the shots of the roof up you asked for. Ignore the pole across one of them as I was expermenting with some old awning poles I have to see if I could add extra support to the roof canvas in case of nasty weather!!






I hope they help. Somebody has fitted a Fiamma roof vent at some stage but I am looking to replace it with a Mini Heki rooflight in the future as they are more visually appealing The roof is bloody heavy to lift as the struts are kippered luckily I am 15 stone and able to lift it up myself before locking off the struts My middle strut needs to have a wheel or something to keep it in the channel, must look in the garage for something suitable. Please ignore the headlining as it's not finished yet

Do you have the cushions etc that go up in the roof? Mine bus didn't come with any and I would like to replace them..

[Popeye- Doyle]

Nice job Baldyman

[dugcati]

I like them spot lights

[thebaldyman]

I like them spot lights

cheers! they are left over when a mate revamped his bathroom. They where originally 240v fed to transformer down to 12v, hence 12v straight into the bus. They originally had 20w halogen lamps which where very bright but with the power drain on the liesure battery and the heat produced I sourced some 12v led lamps from ebay. Added a couple of multicoloured ones for the kids

This is the third bus interior I have sorted out the other two being my last bay window and my splitty before that

[Steve P]

Thanks for posting up the pictures of the roof. Your's is slightly different to ours. What you will find is that when you've replaced the roof struts the roof will stay up fine. There is a metal clip type thing which locks in over the struts on either end to keep them up. Campershop do the roof struts, that's where I got mine from last year. The roof goes up and down really easy now because as you say they are a tad heavy when the struts aren't working.

Mine came with the roof cushions but only a cover on the single bed one. We've since managed to buy a double cover off of someone on here who was breaking a Viking. The material isn't the same pattern which is a shame. I am still looking out for the elusive brown check so that I can get them matching. I don't reckon I am ever going to find one because I know from research that our Viking was one of the first produced on the T25.

Bev can give you measurements of the foam roof cushions and if you were to talk to her really nicely would probably make you up some cushion covers.

Just edited to say: it looks like your roof bar is missing from the outside. If it is, make sure that the holes are filled up with some form of sealant to stop the water from getting in. Ours was missing when we bought it and water had got into the roof. It had rotted all of the wooden supports in the back of the roof so that the strut had nothing to hold on to. We stripped it all out and replaced everything and then refibreglassed it. We've also replaced the headlining in ours. Took a little while to do and lots of back tacking tape but it doesn't look too bad. We also had a new canvas made because the other was shot where it had been put away wet too many times and had gone mouldy.

Steve

[thebaldyman]

Hi Steve

I would reeeaally appreciate the measurements for the roof cushions if at all possible I was wondering about the missing roof bar? when I got the bus I got up there and checked it out, it seems that somebody had the forethought to seal up the holes so I am lucky the the wooden supports for the roof are still in good nick!! I am thinking of bending some stainless steel pipe to replace it, again this is when time and more importantly money are available. The side handles of which I am missing one seem a tad flimsy to me so I don't actually use it although I have some galvanised handles to fit with suitable load spreading washers for in front and behind the fibreglass to add extra support.

I will be fitting new struts before I get using the bus again in May and also I will be painting it back to the original Liana Green with some white highlighting around the central windows. Before this I have to finish off my 1966 Vespa V90 as this needs to be sold to raise bus funds, well that's what the wife says anyway but me and the kids have other ideas on the score oh it's a vicious circle

I see you are listed as living in Ringwood. My best mate comes from Fordingbridge and his family have a farm at Gods Hill just outside with land backing onto the Sandy Balls campsite, god that name makes me laugh everytime I'm up at the farm

jamie

[Steve P]

I'm nearer Fordingbridge really and know Sandy Balls/Gods Hill really well. Bev grew up in the Forest so it's her stomping ground as I come from Doncaster originally. Put Ringwood on my profile as it's only a couple of miles away.

Will get you the measurements later on if that is ok?

With regards to the roof bar, I just got a local metal company to bend me some pipe and fitted it myself. Luckily Ermie on here gave me her old rotted one as a template for the blokes to use.

[kooldubs]

ere baldyman..did you get your van from tavistock be any chance chap....

see ya on saturday ok ...

[thebaldyman]

Hi Kooldubs

I got it from a guy in Mary Tavy the other side of Tavy! It's in better nick now mind as the engine pissed oil on the way home due to a split rocker gasket and one heat exchanger was unattached on the head!! but it flew it's MOT

see ya around 9.30 tomorrow cheers

[Vanagonman]

Only things I can note is that if you change the carbs to Dells, expect better performance, but you will lose choke.

Also, I would think twice before replacing that vent. The reason why the vent was added is that it gets VERY muggy up there even during normal temps. If anything, consider a clip on 12v fan to allow air circulation up there if you expect anyone to sleep there in addition to that vent.

If it colder outside, a cheap trick to sleeping up there is to use an electric blanket alongside sleeping bags. It really makes or breaks the camping experience, even if you're running a heater throughout the whole of the camper.

[thebaldyman]

Only things I can note is that if you change the carbs to Dells, expect better performance, but you will lose choke.

Also, I would think twice before replacing that vent. The reason why the vent was added is that it gets VERY muggy up there even during normal temps. If anything, consider a clip on 12v fan to allow air circulation up there if you expect anyone to sleep there in addition to that vent.

If it colder outside, a cheap trick to sleeping up there is to use an electric blanket alongside sleeping bags. It really makes or breaks the camping experience, even if you're running a heater throughout the whole of the camper.

Hi
The bus currently has Weber 34 ICT's without chokes. So far they have been fine but I really want to put the Dells in as they are far bette carbs and have served me well on my old splitty and my 62 Bug. The roof vent will be staying as it is a welsome addition to allow heat to escape when its hot. I am thinking of changing this one to a Heki mini skylight like they have on caravans.

I'm looking forward to getting out an using it this summer