Garys Westfalia Multivan
Posted: 30 Jul 2016, 04:38
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
will hopefull be welding all this up tomorrow and sunday then seam sealing it unless weather gets in the way
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
will hopefull be welding all this up tomorrow and sunday then seam sealing it unless weather gets in the way