Full Westy Conversion

[davevickery]

I am about to undertake the conversion from passenger van to full westfalia conversion. I found a couple nice threads on the roof which seems to be the hardest part, but any tips on what order to do things would be appreciated or any other tips. I didn't see a comprehensive thread of the conversion.

Are there any issue with doing the interior cabinets first? I'll have to scrap the van when I'm done and I'd like to do the roof last if that doesn't cause a bunch of issues. THanks, Dave

I been around long enough to know you gotta have pictures.

[Zeitgeist 13]

From what I've seen of these conversions, it behooves you to gut the interior and leave it like that while the roof is being prepped, welded and primed...in other words, do the interior bits as phase II of the project.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Bills85Westy]

I've never done this conversion, but knowing all of the pieces involved, it would seem to me that you'd want all of the trim & cabinets out of the way to do the structural work. Do you have a garage or someplace you can store the interior bits in while you do the top?

Bill
_________________
89 Tristar Syncro Doka - White
85 Westfalia Syncro (conversion)
SAH 1.8T Conversion - 2005 AWP
Engine Conversion Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612144&highlight=
85 Doka L345 Grey - 1.9L

[crazyvwvanman]

I would transfer the cabinets, kitchen, and bed first, except for the small head banger cab over the bed. When you are finally ready to do the top all that stuff should be pulled back out. But then you will already know how it goes in and pulling it back out for the roof job is a very small deal compared to the whole project.

Mark

[davevickery]

[16CVs]

I would remove only enough of the interior from the donor as needed to remove the roof section from the donor van. Essentially the Curtain rails,head banger rear cabinet and front headliner. I would then separate the roof section in the desired fashion and clean up the welds and metal and make it ready for a conversion .
Next I would strip the interior of the "to be" van of all of its interior ,seats headliner ,glass and floor mats and then I would remove the roof in a fashion to match the donor roof and proceed to mate the two together .Grind all of your welds and paint it, to insure all is properly sealed if you are not planning a full respray.
While doing step two I would be getting rid of the unneeded seats and crap. No need to hang on to unneeded crap.
Now that your new roof is welded on and painted I would proceed to swap all of your Westy items back into "to be" as you can compare holes and brackets directly and not have to rely on your memory or old photos stored on your phone.
The nice idea of this method is that you'll be less tempted to must throw the interior in and finish the rest on another day .
I wish had been able to do mine this way. My donor was across town and hindsight I would have been better off to have had it towed home and have it to look at. We cut the top off with a Sawzall after we stripped the interior on a Saturday, went back to get a few brackets on a Tuesday and they had scrapped the van .
Lessons learned along the way ,transfer the wiring hiring into the "to be" van before putting the roof back on and remove the headliner rails ove the front door before installing the Westy headliner.
All in all my basic conversion took 3 weekends , extracting roof and parts from donor (first weekend) removing and prepping both roofs ,drilling and grinding spot welds and trimming( 2nd weekend ) fitting ,welding and grinding and paint where needed (third weekend ) and about a month of re installing after complete interior and exterior paint.
Besides a few learned minor differences mine looks and acts just like a factory Westy.
At this point get rid of the donor and all unneeded crap, fill the icebox with some food and Iced tea and take the family for a trip somewhere.

Stacy
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[Tbob]

I had to trim the top of the rear closet cabinet to fit in my 86 with the stock air conditioning and stock headliner. I wasn't planning on installing the pop top, so I didnt want to tear up the headliner. It took quite a bit of trimming to get it to fit nicely. It may fit ok if the headliner is not an issue, and I had to do major surgery to the top a/c clamshell to allow it to work with the least amount of cutting on the closet cabinet also. That would be a drawback with installing the interior first. As noted, I do not know if it would fit w/o trimming if the headliner is sacrificed/modified.
_________________
1969 Deluxe, owned since 1973
1973 Westfalia, owned since 1983
1980 Westfalia, watercooled conversion
1985 Westfalia, stock!
1986 Westfakia, Audi I-4 conversion
A couple of trucks and a couple of Jeeps

[crazyvwvanman]

In this case it is all about risk reduction. A major issue sounds like the risk from the HOA. Doing as much of the interior fitment as possible while both vans are co-located greatly helps facilitate that part of the process. Once the roof comes off the donor the poo may hit the fan. Then there may be severe pressure to stop work and get the donor out of there. Then what? Getting as many of the details of the interior done first reduces the risk since the project would be farther along in the important details before the hammer drops due to the unsightly body with the roof off. Also since the donor will be outside once the roof is off there is greater risk of damage to the interior stuff from the elements.

The time spent swapping in the interior part is mostly about getting all the details right. That is best done with the donor right there. Once it is in, taking it out and putting it back is much simpler.

Mark

[specialev]

I did mine with the interior gutted. If I could do it again I'd have the Windows all out too as the paper I put over them didn't stop the spatter from welding and I got a few pits. If anything use welding blankets on the Windows.

Otherwise, given your limitations do the interior swap all the way, then gut it and swap the roof pan. The metal work involved is time consuming but not hard. You can clip the roof off the donor at the pillars before it goes to the scrap yard then move it somewhere away from prying eyes to prep it for your van.

[16CVs]

If all you are doing is a roof ,I agree. But the OP was doing a full conversion, those missing bits were a pain. Having the donor there till the end is worth a few extra dollars. In the end you can call a Craig's list junkie and have the hulk hauled away.
If you live in a Gated community ,maybe you re think doing this project until those naggy neighbors or president of the HOA is gone.

Stacy
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[SyncroChrick]

$200/month for a garage space to do this work vs doing it in the driveway in the winter while getting out of trouble with the HOA?

seriously?

go rent it right away. you can always sell enough left over parts from this donor van to pay for the rent.

[davevickery]

Let's not derail this too much with my lack of garage space. I will do what I can here and will need to move it at some point. It's convenient to have it right outside so I can get a bit done here and there. If I could work on it for long stretches a garage space would be more appealing.

I have a cover and will keep it covered up when not working on it. But cutting the roof off will draw too much attention so I'll have to move it at that point. And I am the president of the HOA but I still have to follow the rules.

D

[TequilaSunSet]

[BavarianWrench]

A nice grey interior is not something you want to do a bunch of body work around. I would remove all the mounting brackets for the cabinets, weld them in the syncro, test fit, then store the cabinets and fabric items for last. Complete the top swap and paint. Then just bolt in the final install. No stink or burn marks on the final product. One Thing to consider, do you want it to look factory? If I build one for myself, I'm skipping the hook ups on the drivers side of the van. A van for resale, well you should make it look normal. People buy normal, even if it can cause rust.

[Syncro Jael]

We did a conversion on my son's Syncro. He already had an 85 Westy and he purchased then converted his Tin Top.

Here is a blog of the transformation.

http://www.wandrerwesty.blogspot.com/2012/08/camping-black-bumpers-and-conversion.html
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Hightop - NAHT
Subaru EJ25 Forged Frankenmotor, Triple Knob.
Jael = (Mountain Goat)

[davevickery]

Thanks for the blog, syncrojael. Man it looks like a lot of work. I don't weld, so I was going to have the roof welded on for me, but do as much myself as possible.

It'll be fun once I get going on it though.

I'll post pics as I go along, and probably have questions here and there. Thanks,
D

[davevickery]

I made a little progress in the warm weather but now I'm stuck. I have the seats and bed out, curtains, upper bunk, the sink cabinet and the middle cabinet.

I'm looking at the rear cabinet and wondering how I get it out? Or do I start taking the AC cabinet apart first? BTW, I'm also assuming the AC units themselves don't need to be swapped out?

I'm also wondering about the side panel behind the kitchen stuff. It uses a grooved strip whereas the passenger van has two panels that just snap in. It looks as good if not better without that strip. Is there any reason to use the Westy panel and grooved strip? Or just cut holes in the existing panel?

Also I'm thinking ahead to the welded in bolt receivers in the floor for the sink unit and the rear seat. Any other ways of accomplishing the same thing without welding? Or at least not cutting those particular ones out and uysing something else from the hardware store? I was thinking of just bolting down a small block of hard wood. Then I can screw down the seat and cabinet into the wood, which makes exact positioning less important. Any advise on that or other ideas?

Thanks very much,
Dave

[BavarianWrench]

Dave
The unit I swapped in was an older one so do not hold this as gospel for your swap. Mine was a separate and very different harness for the rear A/C as well as components. I think it was a Westfalia harness. It was cake to pull as a unit and install. The late model may be more complex. I was sort of anal and welded in each mounting tab.

[rubbachicken]

some of us were wondering dave, how much did you py for the donor van, i saw it on craigslist, and i know what they wanted for it
how close to the skiing price did you give them
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[Syncro Jael]