Garys Westfalia Multivan

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weegaz22
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Location: Glasgow

Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Bought my westfalia multivan in the middle of may 2016, it needed some work but was happy with the price i got it for, here it is as i bought it
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as you can see it was a tad "flowery" and soon i remedied that with a hot air gun and a quick wipe over with petrol
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the biggest issue was the rear arch as you can see here, previous owner had hit a fence post and it was left to rot out so ordered some new panels from brickwerks as the little panel behind rear bumper cap was also rotten
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i then pulled off all the grilles and anything black like mirrors, rear vents wiper arms etc and gave them a clean to get any moss and algae that was growing on them off and then hit them with a couple of coats of satin black to freshen them up and polished the front grill badge back up till it was shiny shiny again

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I also went on a bit of an "ordering spree", some stuff from ebay, gumtree some from brickwerks etc

got a 3 way fridge off of gumtree for 50 quid, which fits perfectly in the bottom drawer of the non factory unit that houses the sink and stove, i started to modify the cupboard more for my needs and also in the process of covering it in a grey fablon along with an edging strip to match rest of interior as it is currently just marine ply, then i have to finish off the wiring and gas/water plumbing as i have changed that around from original owners specs, i now have the option to run fridge on gas where as i only had 12v or 240 before and will now add the sink drain out the bottom of the van, where as before it ran into a container under the sink meaning i had no space to store anything, have also added a 12v "fridge" switch to the panel as mine doesnt have an option to switch from 12v to 240 on the actual fridge itself so don't want to be pulling plugs out everytime i want to switch it from one to the other, along with a volt meter and a 3.1 amp dual USB charging adapter/port, which will be getting added in the 2 circular holes you see, have polished the cooker top so it looks new along with the aluminium angle that the top mounts the cooker top.
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seeing as i only had the 2 4" pioneer speakers in the factory westfalia units i thought i would add in 2 more pioneer 6.5" to the doors to help with the entertainment side, van came with a phillips mp3/cd head unit which is fine for my needs.
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also added in VW LED lights to the doors while i was at it



Bought myself an R-Tech Mig 180 so i needed somewhere to put it and the bottle, had some old angle laying around so put it to use and built a small trolley for it to hold all the associated welding, grinding, and clamping stuff that i will no doubt need when i go to cut the side off my pride and joy lol
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Also while the rear cupboards were taken out for a good clean and also to try and get access to a dent, i tinted the rear window that it covered by said cupboard, i should also state that the van sits at my mums and my dad has also adopted it as a project for himself during the week while i am at work so i usually come to it on a friday to find it in more bits than it was when i left the previous sunday :lol:

On the other rear arch there was some seam rash so i dug out the original seam sealer and cleaned it back and hit it with vactan to prevent any further rustingalong with other spots here and there, which also led me to discovering that part of the front of the rear arch had been patched up with filler, i thought to myself if i have to undo every bodge on a 27 year old van then it will never be finished so i ground back the filler to metal, hit it with vactan and refilled with fibre glass filler, the hole hasnt spread to any of the metal surrounding it, when it does then i will cut old arch panel out and put a new one in, i want to at least get to use it this year and not turn it into a never ending driveway ornament/project, at the same time i also hit the rest of the vans seams that were showing signs of rust with vactan, I have tigerseal to go on to the rest of the seams that have needed treatment so will do them all at one time once i mask them off

the Van also Came with a webasto night heater, a DBW46 model that Isnt working, oldiebutgoodie is currently helping me trace the fault but its not a priorty at the moment

I then got ready for the big job which was the tall rear arch panel, went mental with the angle grinder and ended up with this about halfway through
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i did cut off the rest of the arch but forgot to take a photo of everything that was cut out

i then went mental with the welder and ended up with this which isn't far off where i am currently with the van
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Made up this panel to go where the small rear quarter sits as when the webasto was added they drilled out a hole for the exhaust and never protected it so it has rotted out, also cut out the rot on the front panel at the bath and made up a new panel for that
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will hopefull be welding all this up tomorrow and sunday then seam sealing it unless weather gets in the way
1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
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Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Didn't get any welding done but today but i did add some Flashban we had lying around to most of the panel work as a sound deadner, it makes quite a difference to most of the van, so much so i went out and bought some more to finish the rest of the panels off, i applied it by peeling off the backing film and and using a hard plastic roller to force it to adhere to the panel, i also used a hot air gun to aid this, and there is no smell, even when hitting it with a couple of hundred degrees of heat from the gun, as i know some folk have been worried about this when considering it.

before

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after

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Sliding door, now sounds like a Golf instead of a tin drum :lol:
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Also did rear arch panels and the rear hatch, i will finish off by doing the front doors tomorrow as they sound tinny as hell compared to the rest of the van.

Also did some before and after videos, which will show the difference in a kind of before and after, as i know a few people have asked about using flashban, this may give a better idea of what to expect from it.

Before
Sliding door panel prior to Flashban

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after
Sliding door 80% completed as i ran out of Flashban, front doors still to be covered
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Rear Quarter/arch panel covered
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1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
Registered user
Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
80-90 Mem No: 15325
Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Would have got more done this weekend but seeing as some "idiot" nicked my number plates off my car so i had to spend a couple of hours dealing with that, anyway...

All welding finished now, just have to get the seam sealer on, small rear quarter and panel all now on and attached.
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also did the front panel, small patch on drivers side, flushed it and tacked round.
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also did the large plate on the front panel but the welding on that wasn't the prettiest so not showing it here :lol:

Also pulled the carpet out of the front as it was filthy, pre-soaked it with pressure washer, hit it with some "ariel" washing up liquid in a jet wash dispenser , worked it in with a brush then pressure washed the sh*t out of it, and hung it up to dry, there must have been oil or something on the carpet as the amount of white foam that came out of the carpet as i pre-soaked it was unbelievable

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1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
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Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Found more rust!, so on friday i cut it all out and saturday did the welding just at the passenger footwell a few inches down from the seatbox, next to the arch, made up a panel and welded it all in vactaned and zinc primered, and a wee bit at the ballast tank under the drivers seat, again made up a panel and welded it on but seem to have been so busy doing it i forgot to take pics of both of them

Sunday wasn't great weather wise so we (me and dad) did some work to the media Blast cabinet and powdercoat Oven that I am building.
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this will eventually be my powdercoat oven, it should be big enough to get a full size motorcycle frame in, or a couple of wheels at a time, did some drilling for the steel mesh that will hold the rockwool insulation to the inside walls of it, and when it isn't getting used it will still be able to take its shelves and be used as a cabinet to prevent the shed getting cluttered too much, no pics of the Blasting cabinet, but so far both havent cost me too much as its all stuff we have had laying around, think i have spent less than 50 quid so far, that was for the heating element and rockwool and the steel cabinet which i bought about 2 years ago for 20 quid

Also the carpet came up pretty well, will get some pics of that soon, and i took out the spare wheel and carrier and took the tyre off it redneck style( 2 big bits of wood) and cleaned it up with the pressure washer ready to be the first thing to be media blasted and powdercoated :mrgreen:

Front doors have now been Flashban'd and what a difference it all makes :ok

Oh and repurposed part of the broken Numberplate holder for the front of the welding trolley :mrgreen:
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1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

tforturton
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Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by tforturton »

Hope you reported that stolen number plate. They would have nicked it for a reason. 'Ringing' another vehicle, probably.
Oh...great work by the way.
1990 2.1 DJ Syncro Caravelle/Westfalia conversion RHD

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
80-90 Mem No: 15325
Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

tforturton wrote:Hope you reported that stolen number plate. They would have nicked it for a reason. 'Ringing' another vehicle, probably.
Oh...great work by the way.

Aye, It was the police that woke me up to tell me, they chapped on the door to tell me one of my neighbours seen the guys taking it off the car around midnight, they had tried calling at that time but i had crashed out due to being bushed after working on the van all day, i never knew anything about it till i seen the 2 officers at the door at 10am.
1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
Registered user
Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
80-90 Mem No: 15325
Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Didn't get much done to the van other than tiger sealing up the welding under the arches due to my neck being a bit knackered from sleeping at a funny angle so did a bit more work on the "oven" and got some pics of the Blasting cabinet, here is some progress pics on them

Blast cab
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Insulation and 2500w heater added to powdercoat oven
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Got more insulation added to left side of cab so just doors to do and right side and then insulate the height adjustable shelf then it should almost be good to go, will just need to wait on temp gauge arriving and make a small fan to prevent hotspots and itll be done
1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
80-90 Mem No: 15325
Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

here's the pics as promised of the carpets finished after their pressure washing, came up pretty well
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And PC oven 90% done
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1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
Registered user
Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
80-90 Mem No: 15325
Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Got some Painting done to the rear of the van, need to put some filler on sliding door for dents but will pick that up at Volksfling tomorrow, its a nice clean shade of white compared to the current cream/ivory colour, looking a lot fresher, rear hatch has had 2 coats with a flatting in between and the rear and side have just had 1 coat.

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1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

mshaw1980
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Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by mshaw1980 »

Some great work there. I am still a bit of a novice when it comes to welding but I want to get better. My van has some shoddy looking seams on the rear arch panel so was thinking about doing that job myself. Was it difficult to do? I have a decent migatronic 170 welder so am tempted to start cutting. Any tips? :D
1987 VW T25: Subaru EJ20 using RJES parts (If it was meant to go fast it wouldn't be brick shaped!)

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
80-90 Mem No: 15325
Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

mshaw1980 wrote:Some great work there. I am still a bit of a novice when it comes to welding but I want to get better. My van has some shoddy looking seams on the rear arch panel so was thinking about doing that job myself. Was it difficult to do? I have a decent migatronic 170 welder so am tempted to start cutting. Any tips? :D

Not really, I'm not all that experienced when it comes to welding on thin panelwork either and i managed to do it fine, most things that i have welded in the past would be cracks on truck chassis so fairly heavy gauge stuff that you don't need to worry about blowing through, I got some similar metal to what i would have been welding on and did a few practices with that to get the welder settings right before starting on the van itself, some would say you don't need to be good with a welder just good with a grinder :wink:

Half the battle is having a good welder to start with, i had a cheap hobby one that was useless, spent twice as much time trying to get it to feed than it actually welded, bought the R-Tech and never looked back.
1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
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Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Realised i hadn't posted a final pic of the blast cabinet, have also noticed i will need to put an oil and water trap on the compressors line out as you can see water being spat out after prolonged use, started blasting the spare wheel as a test, also put the spare wheel holder in as that was quite rusty and i will knock the worst of the rust off it, haven't really done much to the paint as the weathers not been great on the days i can work on it, gave it a flat yesterday and will need to get another few coats on before final flatting and polishing.

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Also pulled off all the gutter trim and cleaned the adhesive off with some petrol, that way i can give the gutters a right good coat of paint without having to worry about getting the black trim covered in white
1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
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Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

First full coat done, you can still see some filler and vactan through some areas but that'll disapeer with the 2nd and 3rd coats,
Rear hatch has had its 3rd coat, so will probably flat and polish that next week if i don't give it 1 final coat when i go over the rest of it

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Getting there :mrgreen:
1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
80-90 Mem No: 15325
Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Today i took off this...
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To find this...
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Water cress sandwich anyone?
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Drill out all the bungee tie down points as one was broken and the rest were pretty badly rusted up
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Replacement cleat from brickwerks
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Powdercoating the old cleats after sandblasting them
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Before on the left(after blasting and wire brushing) and powdercoated on the right
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Flash is kinda taking away from the how good the coating looks, will try and get some in daylight tomorrow, but their done the same colour as the westfalia sticker on the front so shouldn't look out of place, will be painting the luggage tray tomorrow as well
1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

weegaz22
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Posts: 253
Joined: 12 May 2016, 21:30
80-90 Mem No: 15325
Location: Glasgow

Re: Garys Westfalia Multivan

Post by weegaz22 »

Painted
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seal added and freshly powdercoated cleats added
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Manky and dull lights
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after a 2 min going over with the polisher
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they still arent 100% scratch free but they are still going to be coming off and on the van so will probably do them one last time on final fitting

Flatted the rear tailgate and polished it
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Its not coming up that well in the pictures but its good enough for me, waiting on another tin of combicolour coming, so i can eventually do the rest of the van and the poptop
1989 LHD Westfalia Multivan 1.9TD AAZ

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