'75 Westfalia Interior Refresh

[drober23]

My wife insisted on new carpet for the '75 Westfalia pop-top. Also, the pressboard flooring under the existing (non-original) carpet had deteriorated over the years and needed replacing. So it began...

Once I had the cabinets, bed, carpet, and floor out my wife says "You know... we never use that sink anyway."

The new plan is to build a cabinet where the sink was. The cabinet will house a Propex heater, then have the spare tire above that. The balance of the space the sink cabinet used to occupy will house a seat. There will be space under the seat for my toolbox and a small jack. The spare had been in the spare tire well in the back. This will be covered with a piece of plywood, and a cushion will be built to extend the sleeping area. When we camp with the dogs, sleeping area is at a premium!

The result should leave an extra seat to use while camping (not driving!), an extra foot of sleeping space in the back (to go along with the '75s full width fold out bed), and a secure place for my toolbox/jack so they are out of sight and don't fly around in the case of an accident. The cabinet for the spare tire can also be used to climb up to the upper bed like we have used the sink cabinet in the past.

Lastly, we will re-paint the original interior body panels, as they had been painted black by a PO. Soundproofing and solid foam insulation will be added. Deadline is June 27th, wish me luck! Pics to come.

[yondermtn]

Sounds like a plan.

Looking forward to seeing the results.

[jonyem]

Good luck.
Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[Sylvester]

Heck post the pictures you have now!

[drober23]

There was some minor rust on the floor, plus a couple spots that concern me around the sliding door track. After brushing away the rust, I hit it with Rustoleum and am calling it good (for now).



The hole in the lower right is from the icebox cabinet, I just plugged it with seam sealer to keep the inside dry. The crunchiness in the lower left concerns me a bit. But, this bus is getting rolled (body wise) until the end of next summer. At that point I will take it down for some body work.

The upper right has what used to be the Westfalia sink drain.



There was some rust there as well. I patched it with a piece of metal using screws and seam sealer. The idea is to leave it reversible in case I decide to put the sink back, so I didn't want to weld anything there.

The Westfalia subfloor came in two layers. The bottom layer is a roughly 3/8" wafer board. It had conformed its shape to the corrugations in the floor a fair bit over the years. I am replacing it with 3/8" plywood.



This will get painted (all 6 sides) before final installation. It originally came in 4 pieces, but since it is 51" wide, I couldn't do 4 pieces with one piece of 4x8 ply. The last area is hacked together. Some of this will go away when the propex is installed as well.

The top layer of Westfalia subflooring was a roughly 60" x 51" piece of Olsen Board (made in Sweeden). It is about 1/4" thick pressboard. I am replacing it with 1/4" plywood underlayment. It will also get painted before final install, as the original took a fair bit of water damage near the sliding door entry.



Then there was the quest for the perfect shade of green for the carpet. Had to be close to the original, but my wife wanted it a bit more vibrant. She thinks it goes with the green in the blue/green plaid. (I mentioned she is addicted to the plaid, didn't I?)



She says the color is perfect! Who am I to argue.

Fitting the propex heater this afternoon. Hope to have more pictures soon. Once the propex is in, then I will start with the Raamat sound deadening material. My hope is to make it a bit quieter, especially in the back. We're going on some good sized trips and the passengers might enjoy a quieter ride. This is sort of a 'practice bus' in my mind. Almost all the goodies going into it can be pulled and used on a different bus if need be. The sound deadener cannot, but I will get a good audition for it to decide if I want to use it on any of the other busses

I got a bit of good news / bad news by tearing it down this far. A previous owner had painted the body below the beltline in truckbed liner. You know that this must have been to hide a million sins in body work. Getting all the inside panels out has let me see more of the bus to determine exactly what had been done. The driver's side rocker and lower panel had been replaced, probably poorly. Now the passenger side rocker (inner and outer) are bad along with the driver side inner rocker and a few crunchy bits in the doglegs.

A lot to be concerned with, but actually not as bad as I had assumed. I think it is worth saving the body on this one. When I take it down for body work next fall (2013) it will give me a chance to learn some body work skills on a less than pristine bus. The '79 and '76 Westfalia Deluxe waiting in the wings are more solid body-wise so it will be good to learn a little on this one before doing body work on an original paint unmolested bus later.

Anyway, more to come.

[RussellK]

Looks good! We carpeted ours because we thought with the cabinets a wood laminate floor would look too woody. Saw some lightly colored laminate floors at the FunFest a couple of weeks ago that looked really nice against our original colored cabinetry.

[drober23]

Making some progress now!

I set my workshop up in the driveway.



Started cutting and measuring (seemingly in that order sometimes ). Got the Westfalia bed back in, and roughed the base of the new cabinet/seat in.



Left space between the backrest of the seat and the bulkhead for the spare tire. The Propex heater will live there too.



Some success! My toolbox and jack fit, almost like I planned it that way!



Made a removable shelf over the Propex heater and stared fitting the spare tire in.



Tomorrow I'll finish the cabinet off and stain it. Hardest part will be the door to let me get at the spare tire when needed. My wife is sewing up some new curtains. I think she is going to dye them in colors from the blue/green plaid. She is also going to make some cushions for the seat (over the toolbox).

It's coming together!

[jonyem]

Looking good.
I've wanted to find an alternative to the spare on the nose or in the rear.
I really like your solution, may have to try something like that.

[drober23]

Later model Westfalia's ('76 - '79?) put the spare tire there (but lower to the floor).

[drober23]

Getting pretty close to done! I finished the cabinet, then stained and polyurethaned it. It screws into the mounts on the floor and on the bulkead where the original Westfalia sink attached.



You can see the vent on the front. That is the output of the Propex heater. The inlet, and controls, are on the top. The top can also be used to step on to gain access to the top fold-out bed.



The new cabinet encroaches on the space between the seats by a couple inches. Much like a late model Westfalia with the spare tire stored between the cabinet and the seats. It's not hard for me to get through there though. We'll be trying it out this coming weekend. My wife, kid, and two dogs will be camping with me. I'll report back then!

[Heliconman]

Looking good DJ,

Have a nice trip! I will look forward to the full report when you return.

[Gypsie]

functional and stylish. =D> =D> =D>

[Sylvester]

I have a propex in my Bus, I will be removing it. No need for it down South ya'll. The neat thing was the small propane tank under the seat. Now if Propex made a air conditioner, then I would swap.

I like your set up, I was thinking of removing the sink also, really I just put crap in it and the room would be so very nice.

[drober23]

Finished the interior and went camping this week. We drove to the Sleeping Bear Dunes in Northwestern Michigan.

Here is how we traveled with the interior. The cooler had a small pillow on it, with a towel over it. This made an uninterrupted "L" from the rear bench, and the dogs really enjoyed the space. Usually one dog sat next to my wife, or on the plaid cushion, and the other dog was my co-pilot in the passenger side chair. For some reason, my wife spends most of her time in the bus while camping, riding in the back. I think its easier to nap back there.



Here we were getting ready to leave the driveway. The white dog next to my wife is Archie, and he is usually the co-pilot. The other is a beagle named Annie.



Here is the obligatory "Bus Parking" photo with the Sleeping Bear Dunes "Dune Climb" in the background. You don't get the full scope of the climb from this picture. Climbing up a giant hill of loose sand is harder than it looks!



Anyway, we had a great time! Drove the bus about 1100 miles in 5 days with no incidents. Moving the spare tire into the new cabinet REALLY opened up our sleeping area. Between the extra space due to the tire being moved, and the new plaid cushion over my toolbox, there was plenty of space for me, my wife, and both dogs without us feeling cramped.

[Sylvester]

Between the extra space due to the tire being moved, and the new plaid cushion over my toolbox, there was plenty of space for me, my wife, and both dogs without us feeling cramped.

Egads the back of my Bus, on a camping trip, is usually crammed to the top with stuff! Nice story!