Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:51:55 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: [Syncro] Re: Westy Interior Swap- Rear Seat bolts without
welding?
In-Reply-To: <4E809F3E.80305@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Couple of more things:
- to reiterate on what I did with the main floor area. I cut the original westy plywood floor into 3 (not equal widths, widths determined by seat track layout) and I faced the ply with 1/8" luan door skins, shellacked. This was a cheap and expedient route and I am surprised it lasted so well (11 years and counting). I had originally wanted to face with thin cork flooring material. I have a closed cell foam pad on top of the floor, and a removable carpet on top of that. The foam ( interlocking squares found at home depot) makes a very nice cushioned floor, appreciated when kneeling. The foam and carpet come out in a trice for cleaning.
- Mark's comments on fitting the rear seat to the sloped surface of the van engine compartment is very true. I found that the bitumen based stuff cuts easily with utility knife and peels off. I removed it on the areas where the steel straps lie, and also where the edge of the seat butts against the slope rather than trimming the seat box.
- I relocated the ECU to the driver's side of the seat box
- I had installed a rear heater in my '82 westy , but rather than the vent opening in the middle of the face, I had moved it over to the pass. side as far as I could. I had to relocate the syncro heater to the same place when I installed the modified seat box. This meant splicing in more wire for the heater but the pressed wood subfloor under the box allowed me to cut a wiring chase and lead the wires to the new position without pinching them.
alistair
On 2011-09-26, at 8:50 AM, mark drillock wrote:
> You have to figure out what you want to do for a main floor finished
> surface. The Luan is used as a soft filler that deforms to the
> mismatched surfaces and cuts down on noise. As Alistair said the floor
> foam needs to go, at least under the cabinets. The Luan can cover the
> whole floor as an underpayment but it is not strong enough by itself to
> cover the spaces between the floor ribs in the main area after the foam
> is removed. If you don't plain a second solid floor layer above the Luan
> you will need to have filler strips between the floor ribs in the area
> not under cabinets. Or use the soft Luan just under the cabinets and a
> stronger type of plywood in the main floor area.
>
> There is often some minor interference where the bed/seat box assembly
> is contoured for the sloped metal body area under the rear bench. Expect
> to trim some small spots of the wood so the bed box sits right. The
> passenger body has sound dampening pads stuck to it that can keep the
> wood box from fitting exactly as intended. Trim the wood as needed where
> those contact points are a problem.
>
> Mark
>
> craig cowan wrote:
>> Does the height of the riser nuts have an effect if they're eliminated? I
>> guess they just meet up flush with the wood floor though.
>> So you just start with a piece of Luan cut to fill the passanger
>> compartment, then drill accordingly as you install? Do you remove the GL
>> factory foam sound deadening floor stuff or lay the Luan ontop of that?
>>
>> -Craig
>>