1993, RAF 2203-21

[el Serge]

Well, guys, i guess this van you had no chance to see in any case, but i can tell you that it's next version was made by british company International Automotive Design, IAD.
Here it is RAF 2203-21 ex. tax police car. Year of build is 1993, which is late, because last was build in 1997.
"RAF" stands for Riga's autobus factory - in Latvia - ex-USSR republic. City of Riga is a capital of Latvia. 
Engine is four-stroke, four cylinder, 2,445 cc volume 98 hp late Volga GAZ-24 engine.


That van was specially build for tax police guys, had "luxe" passenger compartment, some specific devices for surveillance, which i still can not identify. But you should not forget that this is a car from 80's, so it's quite ... archaic.

 








But, what had been done:

- forward suspension replaced for the new



- totally rewired
- backward suspension replaced too
- engine totally overhauled (new cylinders, pistons, head lowered down to use 92 juice)
- new hydro-vacuum brake system
- and newly repainted forward part due to... well, couple of years ago, when a was going to make some works on a forward suspension... i got a fire in the engine compartment, so... it took time to rebuild it. 

[el Serge]

It took almost four years to make those works done, but the van still not finished...
The reasons are Zaporozhec, world situation and so forth... 
Anyway, this summer, 'cause i hadn't finish the works on RAF, i just had to visit to first "intergalactical"   meeting of RAF owners in Riga, Latvia with my lovely Zaporozhec.









There is some short vid of that meeting:

[vitessetony]

love it! keep us posted on your progress.

[el Serge]

I will, next year i hope very much, that will happend a great adventure. Our Latvian friends gonna cross the Russian federation, over 10000 km from Riga, Latvia to Vladivostok, Russia, and i hope i will finish my ride and take part at least on a third of of their voyage.
That journey will celebrate of 40th anniversary of first transcontinental test voyage on RAF 2203 "From ocean to ocean" made back in 1977.

[darrenh]

i love that the inside still looks like 1970's, even in a 1993 truck van

[düdo]

Great van. The inside looks like a old train with those sofa like chairs.

I like the Riga van meeting too - never seen any of those vehicles.

[Morris63]

This sort of post is one of the reasons why this forum is brilliant. I bet most of us have never seen this sort of van ever. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

The tax police knew how to roll in retro style

[el Serge]

Well, actually those sofa-style seats can be turned into a real "bed" , it has a mechanism, that first, move forward backrest to the back, so you can travel "forwardfaced" too. Then the table goes down, and the backrest falls horizontally, so we got a flat sofa 1,6 x 1,8 meters. Later i will make some pics to show. At the moment old suspensions occupy the "bed"

Regarding other buses in the video, the biggest is RAF-251, based on the chassis of old truck GAZ-51, the buses WV T1-like is RAF-977 Latvija (1959-1976 years of built).
RAF 2203 was in production from 1976 to 1997 years.

[el Serge]

So, some pics what was done with an engine.

Old head gone to the garbage:


Got used, milled, etc...



Got new cylinders, pistonsб etc...



Just checking...



Max difference - 2 gramm.

A friend of mine "put it all together" in the "box" - so i have "new engine"

[el Serge]

Because engine caught fire in the past, and i extinguished it with powder-type extinguisher, due to that powder, front window frame totally rusted. That finely divided powder is very, very hygroscopic, and free the water back to the atmosphere for a very long time, thus keeps a very high level of humidity.

Frame removed.


New one. NEW!



Got new frame installed.



Friend made "new" parts



Some welding...



Some brushing...



Some painting...



Voilà!



So, at the moment RAF is on its own wheels, need some adjustment of the hydro-vacuum brakes, door and cabin detailing, and most important - to remove front and rear suspensions from the "bed"

[dikkehemaworst]

Never ever seen one!! I'm in love with the older model. Thats a thing of beauty ! Is there somesort of ENGLISH website for them? Are they expensive?

[el Serge]

Nov 23, 2016 11:00:24 GMT dikkehemaworst said:

Never ever seen one!! I'm in love with the older model. Thats a thing of beauty ! Is there somesort of ENGLISH website for them? Are they expensive?

I guess there aren't any special websites in english unfortunately. Some info can be found in Wiki: RAF 977, RAF 2203.
The most information can be obtained on the Google autotranslated website Drive2.com, which is a mirror of the local site Drive2.ru
Average prices for RAF-2203x in Latvia (which is an EU country) is 1500 euro, in Russia prices varies from free to 3000 euro in a reasonable good condition. Truly restored RAF 977 is almost priceless. Older RAF-977 is a very rare van, let's say less than 10-15 known to exist, mostly in Latvia and Ukraine.


(c) Rawcar.com Photography


There are "a lot" of late copies of RAF-977, named ErAZ 762. Those were made by another factory, in Armenia, mostly delivery vans, very poor quality.

[eternaloptimist]

This is terrific. I used to travel to Central and Eastern Europe a lot in a prior job. Love seeing this sort of stuff, it really takes me back.

[dikkehemaworst]

el Serge ,
These are a thing of beauty ( in my eyes certanly !! )
Stupid question , but from wich websites you you guys buy your cars from? especially second hand and older models?
I know poland has allegro.pl but i love to know the russian variant.
Thanks already

[darrenh]

hmm now we play guess the wheels, is it from 1990s toyota rav 4 ?

[el Serge]

Nov 23, 2016 14:59:24 GMT dikkehemaworst said:

Stupid question , but from wich websites you you guys buy your cars from? especially second hand and older models?

There are some: avito.ru, auto.ru, irr.ru...

darrenh - the wheels are from Volga GAZ-31105, because front and rear suspensions are also from that car. It fits perfectly, "bolt on", same, but a little bit more fresh construction Most of the parts of RAFs are borrowed from corresponding it's epochs Volga, let's say RAF-977 <-- GAZ-21 Volga, RAF-2203 <-- GAZ-24 Volga
So we stay most closely to the original

[el Serge]

So, interior is more or less ready to take passengers and me for a voyage.

Workplace.




Passenger side.




"Train cabin" style




Not yet finished, but...



"Local bus" style




Bedroom 





And finally, couple of pics from first "big trip".

[jamesd1972]

Do you need to be a contortionist to get in the drivers seat ?
Love it, not sure if I'd want to be in a crash in it though !
keep up the good work
James

[strikey]

the bolts sticking out of the middle row of seats look like they would rip open an unsuspecting shin very nicely!

coming together now though.

[07lilredwagon]

you are very determined!...glad you saved it after the fire. I never would have thought that a fire extinguisher would cause all that rust..but it makes sense.

congratulations on a great project

JP