1978 Westfalia Cabinet Refacing FAQ

[Emeritusx]

[Andre4]

I went with Formica's Sovereign cherry when I recovered the vanagon kitchen unit in my camper. Again it's not a perfect match but I redid the door panel, rear door panel and side panels besides the seats and it came together pretty well...

[theizzardking]

[Emeritusx]

Well, after I pulled the laminate off the cooler and storage bin and one cupboard I said "this sucks" or something like that. I tried stain on the cupboard (I like that word -cupboard-) I probably didnt even hit it that hard with sandpaper, its pretty cheesy wood. Ultimately I would like to cover it with urethane like those tables made out of stumps.

So no I didnt sand it much, but the stain looked like sh t (imo) (it was walnut)

To seal the wood on the cooler and storage I coated it with oil based white paint, the old wood drank it right up, took 3 coats to get it smooth. The white I rolled on.

The panels with the paper wood grain I replaced with waterproof fiberglass (14 bucks for 4*8 by 1/8th or 3/16th) The fiberglass (white with texture (little bumps) looks real good. Paints real nice too.

Better late than never...
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82 Westy ☢, 66 Splitty ☮, 73 Type 181 ✠

[yopacific]

I'm going with #6208 Glamour Cherry for the cabinets. Instead of just doing the spare tire cover I'm going to do all the vertical doors and small drawer for consistency. Basically all of the front.......

1 4x8 sheet is $59.00 at my local distributor.......Adhesive is $10.00

The iron does work, you can simultaneously iron and peel back at the same time when the temp gets up there.....use steam option. Most def take the pieces out of the bus.

Thanks for all of the input Team Samba........
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-Pacific

[theizzardking]

[Emeritusx]

Always needed a reason to see the north west, last time I was in Seattle Nixon was pres..., maybe Ford, 'ts been awhile. ended up in Boise though working for some gypsy's at a car lot as a shagger. It rained so much I left a tent somewhere in Washington, still pitched - full of water. Hitchhiking in either direction just to get out of the rain, so Boise it was...

I really want to do the shasta snow trip, it was the whole reason I bought the 66, even put a CB in it. Its ready for the trip, so maybe this winter.

Anyway I'll tell you what, I can do in a week what anyone can do in a day I do get sidetracked a lot...
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82 Westy ☢, 66 Splitty ☮, 73 Type 181 ✠

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

I am trying to remove the cracked laminate from my 2nd drawer down...bought a heat gun..but have a question...do I need to somehow remove the plastic drawer before I heat the formica? I have donor formica (OEM) but do not want to (melt) the plastic drawer...kindly let me know what I need to do...Bob
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1963 Convertible (Lizzie) and 1964 Convertible (Patience) 1976 Westfalia (Winnie)

[Westfabulous]

[Mike Boell]

I used a flat steel putty knife and a harbor freight heat gun. Start in one corner heating until you can start the edge of the putty knife. As the glue starts to give you slowly worked your way across preheating the area ahead of you. I did my intire 1975 westy cabinets with glamour cherry. One "L" of a lot of work but it looks beautiful.
Mike
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Mike
Oregon City
"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."
- Henry Ford

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

Westfabulos and Mike,

Thank you for your replies.I bought he heat gun from Harbor Freight, and have not used yet...Will try this weekend with your relevant replies...cannot figue how to remove the drawer front from the plastic drawer anyway..thanks again,Bob
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1963 Convertible (Lizzie) and 1964 Convertible (Patience) 1976 Westfalia (Winnie)

[sherpa7200]

I've got the interior out of my 1978 Westy. Everything is sanded and ready to be re-laminated and put back together. In pulling things apart some of the black rubber trim pieces got a bit mangled and I'd like to find a replacement that is as close as possible. Has anyone had any luck finding something to replace this trim:

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this. I've been lurking for a couple of years on the Samba (thanks for all the advice and great tutorials!) but still haven't got the knack for posting things.
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1978 Westfalia

[curtis4085]

[Chris_914]

Two things come to mind, fender welting like on a bug or the similiar corner edging/beading used in upholstery.
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'75 Westfalia Camper FI 1.8L
'75 914 2.0L

[pep242]

[vw76westy]

[obnoxiousblue]

I'm getting ready to reface my cabinets too, found that Wilsonart has a few close matches,
I think the Walnuts are the closest match currently, followed by the Mahagony.

Windsor Mahogany

Walnut Heights

English Oak

Montana Walnut

If I were to order 4 X 8 sheets, how many sheets would I need?
I've NEVER done this before, and am not really sure what the best way to measure is.
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Mike
1964 Beetle
2001 Eurovan Camper

[vw76westy]

how many sheets you need will depend on how you
go about cutting the laminate

the 1 thing that always messes up peoples calculations
is the direction of grain
you can get 6 pieces of 20x30 out of a 4 x 8 sheet of laminate
but you can only get 4 30x20 out of the same 4x8 sheet

your abillty to cut a 20 x 30 out of a sheet
without cutting all the way accross a 4 x 8 sheet
will also determine how many sheets you need

when i did my cabinets a few years back
i spent days drawing out how each and every single piece
would be cut then doulble checking that the grain was correct
after that i cut all the laminate, some cuts with a table saw,some cuts with
a router in order to get the best yeild

you need to do the same thing

last, laminate should be cut about 1/2 an inch to 1 inch over-sized
depending on how good you are when laying up lam
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[JPSummers]

I pulled our interior out last fall. Then over the winter began removing laminate. All of it was damaged in one place or another so we decided to go with a color change as well.

To remove it I used a 3" stiff putty knife and a heat gun. Take your time. The laminate IS Brittle and Sharp. Then sanded the plywood and applied the new laminate using contact cement. Then used the router with an edge bit to trim it all out. Just like you'd do in the kitchen.

Overall for all the cabinets, stripping, sanding, edging it took @ 2 weeks. I did it while I was home and work was shut down.

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78 Westfalia Campmobile Deluxe
As long as I have my Bus, I have a home.

[heynanc]

Okay! This thread should have an answer to my query.
I’m working on a 1978 Westfalia. Time and damp has some of the surfaces delaminating from the cabinets.

I am trying to find out if I should just stick down the places that are pulled up? Or is there a better way to approach this? I don’t want to make it look half assed.

Is contact cement the way to go? Or is there a better adhesive?

I’ll take any suggestions. After reading this thread, I’m wondering if fully removing the laminate and re-adhering it would be better?
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Nancy
2011 Subaru Outback daily driver
1975 “art bus” transporter “Cherry Garcia”
1984 Westfailia Vanagon EJ22 “ Guinness”
2006 Dodge Sprinter (long/tall)
2006 Winnebago View (in case the buses aren’t cooperating)