TheSamba.com :: View topic - Sliding door swap

Sun Jan 24, 2021 6:58 pm

How difficult will it be to swap the sliding door from an 85 Vanagon into a 80 Vanagon (longer handle, different latch, different sliding track...?) TIA

Sun Jan 24, 2021 8:43 pm

I don't have a complete answer for you, but I looked into it at one time and studied the track system behind the cover under the rear window. The track is completely different, and you'd have to drill out the spot welds and separate the track from a donor van and then properly locate it in the earlier van and weld it in place. It looked like way too big of a project given the relative gains of using the newer door, so I gave up on the idea. The front latch is different, too. The rear latch pin on the newer van is on a welded on bracket that covers the attachment point for the earlier rear latch.

Sun Jan 24, 2021 10:18 pm

1980 - 1984 have the "early" sliding door system.
1985 - 1991 have the improved "late" sliding door system.

Can't say it's not possible to cross the '84 / '85 boundary, but it will be a "project" while staying within your year range will just be a swap.

Jim Davis

Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:48 am

Why do you need/want to swap it? Is it rust damage, collision damage or something else?

When we purchased our '83 Westy the bottom of the slider and the bottom of the slider door opening were both rusted out along with the bottom of the rear hatch (thanks to the fiberglass insulation). We were able to source decent replacement metal from a few of the usual suspects (Bus Depot and CIP1) to rebuild both and now we have a solid slider door and a solid lower track for it to roll on.

We did replace the hatch with one from a later model and although it fits it does not fit as well as the original hatch did.

Mon Jan 25, 2021 7:34 am

The slider in my 80 is rusty at the bottom and I have access to a nice free door from an 85...
Sounds like I need to do some rust repair...

wbailey2112 wrote: Why do you need/want to swap it? Is it rust damage, collision damage or something else?

When we purchased our '83 Westy the bottom of the slider and the bottom of the slider door opening were both rusted out along with the bottom of the rear hatch (thanks to the fiberglass insulation). We were able to source decent replacement metal from a few of the usual suspects (Bus Depot and CIP1) to rebuild both and now we have a solid slider door and a solid lower track for it to roll on.

We did replace the hatch with one from a later model and although it fits it does not fit as well as the original hatch did.

Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:40 am

Here is a picture I posted years ago of the rear roller bearing. You can see the early one has a U shape to it. The supplied one did not, but is more of a "V" shape.

So, You might be able to adapt the early roller to you new door. The other real difference is the rear catch on the later van welded to the door frame. I compared early to late and I believe you could weld the catch to the older door frame if you could locate it properly. The top and bottom tracks appear to be the same.

I've not done this. Myself, just looked at it when I was stripping my 87 for the scrap yard.