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Early Westy interior panel restoration
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:06 am    Post subject: Early Westy interior panel restoration Reply with quote

I've finished redoing all my interior panels in my 81 Westy except the one behind the stove/sink, so I figured I show everyone how I did mine.
One of the problems of the early Westy's is the thin vinyl that was used to cover the interior panels, It had a bad tendency of cracking and pealing with age.
I thought about a bunch of ways to cover them, and realized after reading a few things about people that had covered them, later to find they were now to thick to fit in the tracks, so I would have to use something thin. GoWesty sells vinyl like the original, but I wasn't going to spend all the time covering it only to have it do the same thing in a few years.
Then I read something about a person that had pealed all the vinyl off and painted the panels. That sounded good, and I could always cover them later if I thought of something better, well it worked out better then I thought.
So here's how I patched and painted my sliding door panel, the rest of them where done the same way.
Here's the before, with a nice hole and ratty vinyl
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First I took the panel off, and then pealed the old cover off using an iron to heat it up. Heated the old brittle stuff will come right off, if you just try pealing it will take wood up with it.
Next I Cleaned the panel and cleaned up the rough edges on the hole with a sharp X-acto knife.
Then I took my iron and pealed off the thin vinyl on the other side of the panel around the hole, exposing the wood underneath, this gives the glue something good to bond to (the wood), vinyl isn't a good surface to glue to.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Before I started I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a sheet of heavy balsa wood that was the same thickness as my panel. I used my hole as a template and drew the shape of my hole on the balsa wood, since I had the room on the wood I traced out two in case I messed up the first. I then cut out the "hole" with my X-acto, sanded off the rough edges and set it aside.
I got some good old Elmer's Glue all and some poster board.
Cut out a square of board that covered the back of my hole well and glued it down.
I taped the edges and weighted it down to get a tight bond.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

After the glue dried I took my "hole" and glued it to the poster board filling up the hole, I weighted that down and let it dry.
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When it dried, I mixed up some Durham's Rock hard water putty (wood filler) and filled the gaps and any other holes in my panel.
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After the filler dried I sanded it level and even.
Next was priming it for painting, since the panels were old and stained I sprung for some kilz, I knew that would give me an even base coat no matter what was on the panels.
The panels still had texture on it from the vinyl but where I patched them they were smooth so my patches would stand out.
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I solved this by waiting till the Kilz was partially dried them using the fuzzy paint roller on it.
This gave it a soft texture over everything, just enough to cover the patches and even everything out. Once the Kilz dried I finished it off with a coat of washable latex paint.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

I also took out the old insulation
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And replaced it with B-quiet sound deadener, and insulation that is made for cars and RV's I also masked off the top track and repainted it.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

And here it is finished, just have to ad the second handle, you can't see the patch even if you get close I didn't think it would turn out as well as it did.
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I did all the rest like this, and it turned out real well, next came the window tint....


Last edited by mightyart on Fri May 29, 2009 2:29 pm; edited 1 time in total
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backcountrymedic
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beautiful work!
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kevinbassplayer
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks good, I'm glad to know that there are other people out there who "get it" and like to work on their rigs as much as I do! Applause
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backcountrymedic
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If only my wife would "get it"... She is patient with me, and enjoys the use of the Westy. She sure as hell won't drive it though! And gets a bit frustrated with me when I'm outside all day, tinkering away...
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klucz
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ALL HAIL ART!
ALL HAIL ART!
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lovedavdubs
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Applause Nice work man.
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MacGyver
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's a pretty tight patch job, excellent. You do know you could have saved some time though... bullet hole stickers are in, these days.
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westylife
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice work Art,

My Westy is the same color as yours. I just took everything out of mine and will be repairing my panels the same way as you did. Where did you get the insulation? Do you like the white color you picked? would you change it if you were to do it again? The PO tried to match the color of the van but didn't turn out well.

Thanks.
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captainpartytime
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse....Asuan Brown panels! Please promise you WILL NOT post any before photos Shocked
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 10:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

westylife wrote:
Nice work Art,

My Westy is the same color as yours. I just took everything out of mine and will be repairing my panels the same way as you did. Where did you get the insulation? Do you like the white color you picked? would you change it if you were to do it again? The PO tried to match the color of the van but didn't turn out well.

Thanks.


The insulation is "NASA Insulation" I bought a big roll of it from J.C. Whitney.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-Brow...69/c-10101
It's made for installing in RVs and Vans. Won't contain water, won't mold or mildew, fire resitant, it's nice and tightly packed, I put B-quiet sound deadening matierial in first to cut down on the vibration,
http://www.b-quiet.com/vanagon2.html
Then I put in the insulation.
The paint color is a white satin washable latex, I stuck with white to keep the interior brighter inside, the less you have to use your interior lights when camping the better.
I'd do it the same way, I've even touched up the panels now and then with whilte paint, was easy to care for easy to do, and didn't have any reinstall issues.
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Last edited by mightyart on Fri May 29, 2009 2:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
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westylife
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Art,

I'm going to order some today.
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Points Mean Prizes
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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 1:41 pm    Post subject: Where have the pics gone? Reply with quote

I have this exact problem and have been trying to see what the options are to refinish the interior. My problem is that some panels are damaged. Does anyone know where there may be a post on how to remove the interior trim?
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Sheesh
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PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I refinished some panels with removing the vinyl with a hair dryer, using acetone to remove glue (applied with brushes, scraped with putty knife, then brushed again and wiped off with paper towel), sanding, then painting with tinted floor and patio paint (hard / washable). Did the cabinetry this way, too.

A few others that were damaged, I cut new plywood that fit in the retaining slots. One, I finished with stain/urethane. I would have liked to do the same with all the others, but the glue residue would haven't produced good results.
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tam_shops
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice job!

Is the handle on the right original? I think I read about that on the thread about things you didn't know your van had. LOL I've never even noticed a hole or anything over there, thought the missing handle was on the left over the thing that seems to be there for no purpose (back of exterior handle).

tam
mightyart wrote:

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TequilaSunSet
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

^^ 4 years ago... ya might be waiting a while on a response Razz
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Merian
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

this looks interesting

CLD material in a tube and sticky like a glue

http://westcoastsoundsolutions.com/greenglue-walls?gclid=CMLKotbfj8MCFUeEfgodjSgABg
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 11:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

tam_shops wrote:
Nice job!

Is the handle on the right original? I think I read about that on the thread about things you didn't know your van had. LOL I've never even noticed a hole or anything over there, thought the missing handle was on the left over the thing that seems to be there for no purpose (back of exterior handle).

tam
mightyart wrote:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.



Yep that's the original stock location for the handle.
And it did take awhile (several years) for ya to get a response Laughing
sorry
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dobryan
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shocked
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