# 1978 VW T2 Bay Window



## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

alright, now for something different.

Ordered all the components and will track progress here.

The vehicle is a 1978 Volkswagen T2 ASI Riviera camper. We've been working on it since 2007, preparing and upgrading for overland journeys.

In 2008, we drove from Amsterdam to Beijing and attended the Olympics, in 2010 we drove from Amsterdam to South Africa to attend the FIFA World Cup.



















Plenty of driving time, plenty of time to enjoy some good tunes. This will be our 3rd audio upgrade. Installed a simple HU with components in the front, 6x9's in the back in 2007. Then upgraded the HU and added an amp and sub in 2009. Third time's the charm, so will be ditching everything except for the HU.










MS-8 channels:
1 - Left front midbass - Dynaudio MW170 powered through rockford fosgate Power T600-4 
2 - Left front midrange/tweeter - Dynaudio MD140/MD100 powered through Rockford Fosgate Power T600-4, using the Dynaudio X360 passive crossover
3 - Right front midbass - Dynaudio MW170 powered through Rockford Fosgate Power T600-4 
4 - Right front midrange/tweeter - Dynaudio MD140/MD100 powered through Rockford Fosgate Power T600-4, using the Dynaudio X360 passive crossover
5 - Left rear - 5" Focal Polyglass 130 CVX powered through MS-8 internal amp
6 - Right rear - 5" Focal Polyglass 130 CVX powered through MS-8 internal amp
7 - Subwoofer - 8" Sundown Audio SA8 400W powered through Rockford Fosgate T500-1bd
8 - Center - 5" Focal Polyglass 130 CVX powered through Kicker DX 100.2 bridged

Subwoofer will be mounted between the front seats in a custom center console facing to the rear. 
The dyn MW170's will be mounted in the bottom of the doors. Midrange and tweets as high up on the door as possible aiming them across, few inches in front of driver/passenger, which will give a 60 degree off-axis for the nearside, 30 degree off-axis for the offside.
Center will be in a custom baffle on the dash, mounted horizontally.
Rears fill with some other focals, mounted in the rear facing forward on ear level

We have plenty of 12V skills but very limited fiberglassing experience. Lets see what comes of this! All parts are on their way!


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

holy crap man. thats a sweet van and a sweet system! im really jelous that you live over there and can just up and drive to all these crazy places! 

welcome to the forums!


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

deadener, lots and lots of deadener, you gotta make that van as quiet as possible.

crazy photo of that van at the cape of good hope  well done.

id try the sub in a small sealed box aiming forward, down, and rear and se what sounds best, before final instal.


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

I love me some aircooled action! Really looking forward to the upcoming build!


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## MTopper (Nov 4, 2009)

this is a really cool looking van and should be an interesting build. i'm tuned in for this


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## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

So here we go. All parts have arrived.

(sorry for the mediocre pics)

Front Cab. You can see the old sony xplod speakers installed in the doors and the tweets on the dash.


















The center console will house the sub, probably firing to the rear.









Impression of the location for the new gear. Tweets and midrange will be mounted on the door, firing across the cab. We'll also need to install power windows since the crank is in the way









Front amp layout beneath and behind the seats









As all the new components sit on the desk, waiting to be installed









Current aux battery setup. These two Optima 75Ah batteries will power the amps. They are separated from the Optima Red top starter battery through a mosfet battery isolator. As you can see we've already installed the 1/0 gauge wire heading to the front


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

wow dude! thats one serious upgrade!! 

i look forward to seeing how well you can fiberglass!!!


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## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

req said:


> wow dude! thats one serious upgrade!!
> 
> i look forward to seeing how well you can fiberglass!!!


Thanks, so am I :surprised:


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Dope!!! Thanks for keeping it on the road and bringing smiles all over the world!


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

Should be as sweet sounding system! Love the jugs/cup holders aswell!


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## thewatusi (Feb 1, 2011)

Awesome. I love the conveniently mounted hatchet behind the passenger seat.


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## SSCustoms (Oct 16, 2008)

sinister-kustoms said:


> Should be as sweet sounding system! Love the jugs/cup holders aswell!


+1

Can't wait to see the finished results!


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## Streetbeat Customz (Mar 19, 2011)

I'd love to do a wall in this thing!


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## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

All right, all right, finally got some time to get this thing started.

Now the engine is reinstalled we had to fix a minor oil leak in one of the fittings, but all is well now. We just managed to get everything up and running in time to attend the last Orange Trophy meeting. 










With the engine is all done we finally had some time to start work in installing the audio gear this weekend. First I built a new center console, basically it is the same as our old one, except this one has a compartment in the back to house the SA-8 subwoofer.










The top has a removable panel, which will feature no handles so it is more or less a secret compartment once the whole thing is upholstered.










In between the documents compartment and the subwoofer housing is a small trench for routing the amplifier and signal cables.

We also decided to hack up our perfectly original dash (  ) to fit the center channel speaker (a Focal 130 CVX driver). So, out goes the dash.










This is how it should all work out. The speaker will be fitted horizontally in the middle, recessed in the dash. We also cut out the vents, because we want to refit the stock outlets to the new fiberglass enclosure.










Next we laid out the frame for the fiberglass. If you see anything really dumb happening here, feel free to say so, this is our first time fiberglassing.










We put two layers of glass on it now. We need to fix up some minor details and then we'll put over a layer of bondo to get it perfectly smooth. After that we'll get it finished in alcantara, probably with a nice orange stitch 8) 










That's all for now folks!


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Cool idea on the mesh!


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## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

We went to work on our audio setup again this weekend, so here's a little update.

We finished up the modified dash by refitting the defrost outlets. Now all the fibreglass work is done on the dash we smoothed it out using bondo. 










The dash will be upholstered soon, but for the time being we just spray painted it black. Here is a pic of the dash fitted.










We also went to work on the new doors panels. We reinforced the lower section of the door with 3/4" of MDF. The lower section will be backed by another 3/4" of MDF on the inside of the door, using bolts and T nuts the whole thing is sandwiched with the inner door skin in between. This will make for a very nice and solid base for the woofers.










The pods that hold the midrange and tweeter are positioned in a cross firing manner, so that the right door's speakers are aimed towards the driver and vice versa.










The next step was to cover the pod with cloth and soak it with resin. This creates a nice and firm base for the fibreglass.










Now covered with fibreglass, the pods' shape will be finished with bondo.










We also installed the subwoofer in the new centre console. To make sure the sub is properly mounted we also used T-nuts here. We did have to grind them down since the did not entirely fit on the narrow edge the sub mounts to.










And with the woofer installed:










We still need to fab a protective cover/grill for the sub so it won't be so easy to damage the driver.

That's it for now, more to come soon!


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

Hell yea! Keep up the good work!


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## neuspeedescort (Feb 23, 2010)

that dash is money! would have never thought of using chicken wire to help aid the shapping process.


NEUMAN


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## MTopper (Nov 4, 2009)

Wow, awesome progress. love the center console and center channel. looks great


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

more deadener !!!!!!!!!! you gotta wrap the whole of the rear of the van (engine compartment) in some serious thick carpet or something, 3 or 4 layers, to keep all the noise of that motor away from the music.

i love what your doing, but please make the van as quiet as possible.....

all those big metal panels will really benefit from some deadening.


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## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

60ndown said:


> more deadener !!!!!!!!!! you gotta wrap the whole of the rear of the van (engine compartment) in some serious thick carpet or something, 3 or 4 layers, to keep all the noise of that motor away from the music.
> 
> i love what your doing, but please make the van as quiet as possible.....
> 
> all those big metal panels will really benefit from some deadening.












Just received a shipment of Dynamat and Second Skin for the front cabin!
All large side and rear panels are already covered. Since it's a campervan we also have a 5" mattrass over the engine compartment


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

Awesome !! 

i once owned a vw camper the same model, most of the noise came from the rear/motor, if i owned one again, id start by doing everything i could to stop the engine noise entering the listening area.


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

Great first job of the fibreglass work. Good attention to detail and a great result.


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## trojan fan (Nov 4, 2007)

Get-r-done


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## Mrnurse (Sep 8, 2011)

very cool, like the old vw vans. and the dash rocks.


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## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

Progress is a little slow, but here it goes

We've started with the sound deadening of the front cabin.

First order of business: removing light surface rust from the floor and sealing it with a POR15 equivalent. And removing the left-over soundeadening/glue/****e on the wheel wells which was a PITA










Applying Dynamat Xtreme 










Cut to size two mats of Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro, a mass loaded vinyl barrier with closed cell foam decoupler. 










Stock mat in place, covers everything nicely (yes it needs cleaning)










We've also installed the window-motors in both doors. The window motors from a BMW E30 are easily retrofitted to the 70's VW mechanism.
It's important to weld in place stops on either side of the motor to prevent it from moving around. Just notching the metal tubing isnt enough, these motors got torque! They install in stock location, but you have to bend the metal tubing slightly for it to swing back enough to clear the vent window frame in the door.



















Also, the pods on the new doorpanels are starting to shape up. Last step is mounting some decent arm rests and it's off to the upholsterers


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## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

So we've started with wiring it all up.










Removed the doors to drill additional holes in the pillars. When this verhicle left the factory in 1978 there were no wires running into the doors. So far we've added 15 wires, for central locking, power windows, lights and the 3-way setup.










New reproduction mats on the wheel arches to help with sounddeadening. Also secured all amps and the crossovers into place.










From there the wires continue their way up front underneath the floor mat










and up behind the kickpanel










Current situation, looking forward to powering it up for the first time!


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## OrangeDub (Oct 21, 2010)

Reupholstered dash is here!

Sneak peek


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## reithi (Mar 29, 2012)

Nice build.

I have a 1973 VW Bus under restoration and audio is next in line....where some inspiration would help.

How did this end up?


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## JoshHefnerX (Jun 13, 2008)

Man that bus has seen some things in it's years I'll bet!


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

That dash was sweet. Very good work.


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