pulling kitchen, chucking fridge, ideas?

[droogvan]

Ok, I'm finally going to tackle the ol kitchen and get at that seam rust. I want to put shelves in place of the fridge as I have never had a use for it. I'm wondering though about the fridge vent on the side of the van- does this in fact let water into the van? I've seen the vent covers for sale but never gave it much thought before. I'm assuming that if I haven't noticed water at this point it should be a non issue but I don't want to have water seeping in that might normally evaporate somewhere inside the recesses of the fridge to rest in the seams or on my new woodwork. Has anyone done this to their westy? I saw some nice examples on GoWesty's site but asking them for help or advice is a waste of time.

Also I've been thinking about pulling the A/C and using that for storage/ speaker space. Anyone got any tips for pulling that off?

Wasn't there a sticky for kitchen removal and rust repair a while back? I used the search but didn't come up with anything real detailed. Any help is much appreciated!
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89 Westy zetec
Some ol bullshit

[[email protected]]

if you were to remove the fridge then yes there would be an opening into the van as the vent tubes on the exhaust would be removed. Those covers fit like shit on the OG vents, supposedly the real deal westfalia ones fit good, cant comment though.

I would just make a solid plate and seal it with a good caulking material. It could be hidden onderneath the stainless vent and would still look like it does right now.
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Markus

[bucko]

Don't waste any money buying a fridge vent cover. I bought one from a poster here that had OEM ones for sale. Lasted a wooping 3 months before the plastic dried and cracked into pieces, falling off.

I'm trying to think of another way to cover the vent during washing the van, rain, etc.
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Current VW drives: 1984 Westfalia

Past VW drives: 1967 Beetle, 1973 Beetle, 1977 Bus, 1971 Military Type 181

[tikibus]

Droog,

5 points to look at. Seams mostly.

1) Drivers side: where the "vapor collection" canister is look for puckering of the brushed on seam sealer. If any rust or bubbling out side of the body is present then some welding and body work/PM of the unibody is needed.

2) IF any, ANY bubbling of the two body parts that sits below the Galley/Kitchen area is present on the exterior, beware: damage done. How much.....

Rabbit Hole: What I mean by this is how much are you willing to take on.
Small. Medium, Large. Take it as fair warning. I hope for you, small.

2-A) Remove Galley- Yellow insulation; burn it. take it out. stomp on it. crap. PURE CRAP.

3-1) PM me, If you want to save the VW.
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Happy Trails!
Mark
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Founding member of the Empire State VW Camping Club.
http://www.empirevwcamping.org/
1984 Westy - Tiki
1997 Honda Civic -The Green Hornet
1971 Volvo P-1800E- needs TLC

[droogvan]

I am planning on having to do some welding. Hopefully not too much but I want to do it once and do it right. I went on GoWesty's site this morning and I see they left the vent in place. I sent them an e-mail asking how they keep water from seeping into their $80,000 van- I'm assuming they must have done something!

Loud and clear on the insulation removal. Fully planning on ripping that out. Any tips/tricks on pulling the kitchen I should know- I'd hate to damage the cabinets being too heavy handed.
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89 Westy zetec
Some ol bullshit

[kayakwesty]

Here was my seam rust project and I wouldn't remove the frig. Once you do the upgrade with a new check valve and fan for the frig they work great. (my 2 cents) And if you sell it one day you will have ruined re-sale.

anyway...here was my project

http://home.earthlink.net/~mark.cumnock/westfalia/id16.html
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1984 Westy 2.0 Jetta ABA Motor/1.8 head converted to auto tranny, with 180,000 on body, 55K on engine and transmission

B.5.5 Passat Wagen with 30v V6-67000 Miles

DAS AUTO

CHANGE YOUR FUEL LINES!

A post without pictures is useless

http://www.kayakwesty.com

http://www.waldensridgewhitewater.com/

[Tomswesty]

When I took out the ol worthless frig, I bought a vent cap from GW and then used the poptop seal glue to keep it in place since it would fall off everytime I closed the door. Doesn't leak and is still going strong after a year. Also replace the seals between the vent and the body since they rot and leak too. You can make your own out of the sticky spongy stuff from the foil insulation foam you get at HD. Reeplace all of the seals for all the outlets to keep the mositure out. If you take it to a car wash try to avoid this area with a high pressure hose.
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87 Westy
2.2L Suby convert

[droogvan]

Hey, I got a reply from GoWesty! They said they just cut a piece of scrap plastic and siliconed it in place. I don't want to do anything that can't be reversed later on so this might not be a bad- and cheap- way to go. I kind of like Tom's idea of siliconing the fridge vent cover on though. And that Norcold install looks pretty clean. Well, to be continued.
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89 Westy zetec
Some ol bullshit