Westfalia wallpaper restoration 1982-1984

[plummerdesign]

The restoration of the 1983.5 Westfalia has taken time. These earlier campers have that factory veneer wallpaper which has not aged well in the elements, peeling and cracking itself to death.
Here are a few ‘BEFORE’ photos:

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The bus being restored just had too much sun. It faded the fabrics and destroyed the wallpaper. So I had to remove every cabinet and wall panel, then remove the wall covering with a heat-gun and scraper. Tedious work for sure. The ‘Blond Tolex’ fabric from Parts Express is the replacement wall covering I chose and is about as close to OEM as possible.
The fabric looked great applied to the first panels using 3M 38808. Thankfully I did not have time to install any of the first set because under a summer sun I noticed the fabric lost adhesion. It became ‘glue’ again. Not good.
The ‘Blond Tolex’ fabric was too heavy for the spray glue. I switched to 3M 1357 aircraft grade contact adhesive, which has shown impressive initial tack and a permanent bond that is not affected by heat. This is the stuff.
The panels are nearly complete. The bed boards and cabinet ‘wallpaper’ areas have all been resurfaced. Heck, I even dropped in some nice new Kicker coaxial speakers into the upper cabinet while resurfacing it, reusing the OEM Westfalia speaker mounts so the next owner will enjoy good sounds. The original cones were so rotted they cracked on touch.
Moral of this post is: Restoring the ‘wallpaper’ is not for the faint of heart. It will cost about $200 for 9 yards fabric and another $200 for a gallon of cement. That does not include new wall board, roller for bonding the fabric, a heat gun or the massive amount of time required to tackle this endeavor.
Even so, I still preferred doing this over replacing the pop top tent any day. Period.

Here are some 'AFTER' photos:

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It is old and green and it makes me grin.
1984 Westfalia 1.9

[Stephan Schmidt]

Great write up! Thanks for sharing!

[tkic]

Wow, nice work!
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84' westy JX turbo diesel, Giles pump/injectors

[djkeev]

Great info!
Thanks for posting it.

I too found the 3M 1357 THE product for quality adhesion but expensive and difficult to obtain due to VOC regs.
I found a supplier but due to "laws" they couldn't sell me a pint (which is all tat I needed) but could sell me a quart. In essence saying....... "No sir you can't ruin the ecology by using only what you need but we will force you to buy three times too much which will need to be disposed of...... somehow".

I used it to recover my dash and it has held up well.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...p;start=80

Dave
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[yardbug]

I restored an 84 westy and found wall paper at sherwin-williams that was an exact match to the OEM in color and texture.. took me a while to find it. Love the blonde tolex option.. it's the best covering for a Vox AC30 guitar amp ;D
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'69 Tintop T2 - '86 Syncro - '87 Westy - '02 337 GTI - '99 4Runner - '13 4Runner

[Fiddlestyx]

[yardbug]

At this point, it's anecdotal information. It was 7 years ago, I did it for a customer. I threw the rest of it away when I was finished. I will say, it wasn't wide enough to do the slider door panel. Sorry I don't have any other info.. but it's out there.
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'69 Tintop T2 - '86 Syncro - '87 Westy - '02 337 GTI - '99 4Runner - '13 4Runner

[plummerdesign]

Glad the post is of use : )
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Before doing this project I ordered samples from several suppliers. Colors and textures varied along with overall thickness of the product. Having tried the headliner material from GoWesty and found it to be less than desirable (love GoWesty…but not this one product), I knew to stay clear of any product that had a backing. Then also to avoid material that had a tendency to stretch. So many have foam or a padded backing. Others easily stretched like taffy. No taffy, please. The Blond Tolex holds its shape while being supple enough to work with.
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If you consider taking on this endeavor, plan your cuts wisely. Keep the yardage intact along one side so that you have the length needed for the two side panels that run along the length of the camper interior (behind the parcel shelf and above the slider). The glue is dark green, so protect anything that would be ruined if glue got on it. Blue tape and masking paper are your friends. Ventilation is super important. I did this work in an open garage, you should do the same. Because these are small pieces of material going into small areas (cabinets), a contractor pack of 2” natural bristle chip brushes are perfect for application. On the larger areas, the compressor and glue gun could be used but I never did because of overspray issues.
Keep in mind…really…this glue has amazing initial tack. Once on, there is no pulling it back off.
Once the interior is re-installed I will upload the photos.
Cheers,
Jeffery
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It is old and green and it makes me grin.
1984 Westfalia 1.9

[plummerdesign]

The project continues. I am so pleased with how the cabinets and walls look. Everything is going back together nicely. THEN I DISCOVER MISSING TIDBITS!!!
Looking for these little items. Seems like they should be so easy to procure, but no.
They are the edge protector caps that go at the driver/passenger door top edge. Also the same thing for the slider, but in white (1980-1984 Westfalia).
Cheers,
Jeffery

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It is old and green and it makes me grin.
1984 Westfalia 1.9

[Jeffrey Lee]

Looking good!

Here's the black trim end caps:
http://www.van-cafe.com/page_2303_173/door-threshold-trim-end-cap

They don't seem to stock them in White, but you could ask. Or buy some extra Black ones and paint them with Rust-oleum Fusion for plastics.
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Camp Westfalia
Camping Tips • Newsletter • Cool Campervan Apparel
www.CampWestfalia.com

[sphet]

Wow!

I'm sold on this for my big job next summer. Did you do anything to replace the rubber trim on your cabinets or was yours stock and in good shape? The sun and heat have not been good to mine.
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1982 Diesel Westfalia 1.6 NA - The Shellakabuukiee

[plummerdesign]

Jeffery Lee: Thanks for the source on those end caps. They are now installed. KUDOS TO YOU!
Sphet: The trim vinyl was removed, warmed, stretched some- then reapplied. This takes care but has good results. A company in Germany 'OK-Bus' makes the brown trim, but they do not export to USA. Time to travel...? : )

the work continues...and used 6 quarts of glue with 12 linear yards of Tolex $$$
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All wall panels are installed and the view is pleasing. In the midst of a dismembered bus my neighbor walks up and peers into the rig with a sort of "what happened here" look across his face. How to explain that a month back there was NOTHING in this interior.
Re-installation takes hours or tinkering and creating solutions. All cabinets are in, the water tank cabinet is plumbed and the electrical reworked to OEM. It is the first time I have had a water tank NOT smell musty. A side benefit of 6 months airing out I suppose. All sterile now.
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A new rear heater core was installed yesterday, done only because I noticed some tell-tale green stain on the edge of the bed cabinet floor plywood. The core I replaced was the original, and covered with corrosion at the bottom. The valve worked fine, and given a little refresh- it was reused. Done.
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The bed cabinet and back seat is dis-assembled, awaiting the 'new' fabric to be fitted this week. All tan vinyl surfaces neededed the Tolex covering, as the heat affected them as well. The fabric is from another bus, mine only because the owner (WestyBob) wanted to do something new. The fabric is near mint. Saturday found me removing the vinyl from the seat back. Still deciding if the black gaffers tape will be re-applied to the edges once done. The tape has always seemed like a tacky solution, albeit OEM. The seat will be done this week for install next weekend or sooner.
[To anyone who wants to clean their seats, curtains or woven fabrics...they are washable. Staples need to be removed, clips released, and then hand-washed and line dried. You will find that the water tells everything...decades of dirt make brown water. You can get new foam too. Go big.]
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On Thursday I dropped off all interior metal parts to be media blasted and powder-coated. Advanced Powdercoating in SE Portland will be turning all corroded things to a blissful rich Westfalia brown color @ 80% gloss.
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Yesterday the new skylight (which was cut in last May but unfinished) received its closing assembly ( i.e- No more being held closed with a clip). Works nice, looks...new of course.
Restored the sink, drainboard and grille. These were greasy but had no burn or previous molestation issues. Sometimes I see that people have used their fold down drain boards as pancake griddles. It ruins them. Not for pancakes. When my work was done the sink and all surfaces looked like new. Super pleased with that.
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The OEM faucet was not a happy camper. At some point the previous owner had stopped a leak below by using the same gray epoxy found on any surface needing a repair. SIDE NOTE: Dark gray epoxy had been used to reattach wall vinyl, to mend cracks/impacts to the slider door and attach/hold down anything that was loose. The faucet must have ceased working with the top knob, as they then bypassed the wiring, and crafted a wonky mess of wires to an on/off switch. On removal, I found that the faucet had only lost its connection under the turn knob. A simple wire fix. Instead they drilled hole in the stove face plate to mount a horrid blue on/off rocker switch. This is MacGuyver for the wrong reason.
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All better now. I am ordering the OEM Delta Six style faucet, along with the GoWesty hook up kit. No SurFlo, as I am also going to replace the sink lid folding arm stay with the hydraulic strut so wonderfully shared by Alistair (ragnarhairybreeks). It will not fit with the SurFlo faucet.
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Okay then. Next post will have updated pictures.
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It is old and green and it makes me grin.
1984 Westfalia 1.9

[70coupyel]

What about the panel clips that hold the rear deck and sliding door. Did you find any in the correct white color?
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[plummerdesign]

I buy the same ones that have been on all of the 1983.5-1984 Westfalias under my devious wrench, the beige panel clips. They are a decent price from vwbusshop.de, in packs of (20). Just purchased 2 packs last month.
I'm such a hoarder
Product# 251867299 2VA
Cheers,
Jeffery
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It is old and green and it makes me grin.
1984 Westfalia 1.9

[plummerdesign]

While enjoying this beautiful summer weather, my hands have been busy working on the 1983.5 bus restoration. Getting close to finishing after 15 months on this project.
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Major things seem to be nothing compared to the little details. Like just now replacing the front fan control switch. Typically these switches pop out when you release the spring….right? This one had the spring pushed too far in and it was jammed in place. I destroyed the switch removing it.
At some point someone had replaced the original antenna with a very poorly made rubber one. That got replaced today as well. Not quick and easy, as the rusted screw holding it in place required drilling it out…carefully.
The original kitchen top folding stay hinge was missing chrome. I chose to follow the great idea Alistair had, and installed the strut. Looks good plus opens and closes like a charm, with one hand.
https://shufti.blog/2017/03/30/vanagon-kitchen-unit-lid-strut-support/
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Early in the build I chose LED lighting over the original somewhat distorted fixture in place over the kitchen. Even though I had put an LED festoon lamp into it, I was not pleased with the very dated, cheap look. Taking select liberties has been the theme with this bus restoration. After all, every interior metal piece that was galvanized or silver is now powder coated (brown) like Westfalia did starting late 84. The three light levels for the LED fixture are very pleasing.
Small items like new EMPI window cranks and Kicker 3.5” coaxial speakers all around really add to it.
Earlier this season I replaced the rear heater core after noting some green residue the told me ‘someone’ had been leaking. To my surprise when test driving this week no heat came out of the heater. How could it, as I discovered the previous owner had put a bypass T in the pipes underneath the bus. Instead of replacing the core they just bypassed it. Kind of like how instead of replacing the faucet they bypassed it with a toggle switch. Kind of like how that switch burnt out the tank pump; so I replaced that as well.
This build has taught me that EVERYTHING needs to be refurbished or replaced as 33 years have taken a toll on almost every component. Very thankful that these parts are available and also for the patience of those around me who have noted my hours spent restoring this vehicle.

It started when I brought home a bus that was missing much of its interior and all the wallpaper had turned to chunks of cracked vinyl. From the top down and the inside out, underneath and through every component this is a brand new bus. Thanks also to Kyle Automotive for building me a brand new harness for the engine bay.
Starting Saturday I began buffing and waxing, the final step on the journey back to the road.
Pics coming soon : )
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It is old and green and it makes me grin.
1984 Westfalia 1.9

[blackfilmguild]

Is there a link to buy the fabric anywhere? I am trying to the back part of my back seat is peeling and needs new material but I cant find a link to make the purchase.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

this is the closest I have found. I have not bought any yet

https://bus-ok.nl/Type2-Bay-Westfalia-Trim-Panel-H...25m-x-125m
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