Date:         Wed, 26 Jan 2000 11:24:20 -0800
Reply-To:     Lee Wood <leewood@LELAND.STANFORD.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Lee Wood <leewood@LELAND.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject:      '81 Window seal & weather stripping kits?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I'm having my '81 Westy painted before too long, and planning to have it
done through a trusted body shop in San Carlos (SF Peninsula), not one of
those $199 quickie-joints. I've budgeted about $2,000 for a quality
urethane job, including:

- fixing all the minor dings (no major damage or major rust, thank goodness)
- a new windshield (old one is cracked) and new seal
- R&R rear window, repair minor cancer on rear hatch, and new seal
- prep and repaint "fuzzy" top and luggage rack
- R&R bumpers, wipers, lights, etc. myself to save several hundred dollars

Lately I've started to think -- if I'm investing that much in a 19-year-old
bus, why not spend what's required to do a fairly complete exterior
restoration now? That is, have all the windows stripped out and paint the
thing with absolute minimum masking, re-install what's still good and
replace the rapidly deteriorating weatherstripping and window seals in the
front doors? I'll probably have to do it in another three years or so, and
the parts will be more scarce and expensive then.

But I have no idea where to find sets of weather stripping for the wind-up
windows and seals for the other windows that might be required.

Anybody done this recently and can give me an idea of where to start
shopping? Any recommendations on a paint shop in my area?

Thanks for your help. You guys are such a great resource!

Lee