Date:         Mon, 31 May 1999 10:44:09 -0700
Reply-To:     Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Subject:      fridge and other doors
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Coincindent with Mr. Bulley's musings on replacing the door seal on his
Dometic fridge, I was depriving my family of my presence by trying to make
the fridge and other doors in my '82 westy work a bit better.

First the fridge, I removed the door (you all know that the door lifts up
off the hinge pins, don't you? It may stick a bit, give it a bunt from
below with your hand. Same with the other cabinet doors), then I removed
the plywood fascia piece from the front of the fridge (three screws,
covered by flimsy plastic buttons). The fascia has the fixed pin portion of
the hinge which is held on to the plywood by screws driven into the
"edgegrain" of the plywood. Even the most optimistic engineer at Westfalia
can't have imagined these screws holding for very long, and mine were
allowing the hinge to move slightly (this little amount of movement at the
hinge translates with a fair amount of movement out by the latch).

The screws were stripped in their holes (surprise!), so i removed them and
the hinge. I "pinched" the hinge a bit in a vise to cause it to grab the
plywood more firmly (have a look and you'll see what i mean) and I applied
a drop or two of polyurethane woodworking glue to each screwhole in the
plywood. The idea was to "harden" the screw holes, and give something for
the screw to bite into. One could use epoxy, I didn't feel like mixing a
batch just for the small amount needed. Then I pushed the hinges back on
the plywood (they were tight) and replaced the screws. I did the same
thinge with the screws that held the latch plate onto the fascia aswell as
bending the latch back into its stock position (been mangled by years of
door shutting abuse). One of the hinge pins appeared bent, so i
starightened it out. I set the plywood fascia aside and went on to the
fridge door proper.

The corresponding parts of the hinge are let into a slot on the edge of the
door and held in place by pop rivets, two per hinge. Only the topmost rivet
of the topmost hinge was visible, pulling back the door seal partially
exposed the rest.

Mmmm, what to do? --- when in doubt, whip it out!

So I started to try and remove the door seal and I soon discovered that the
bugger was stapled between the door liner (the molded plastic shelves), and
the door itself. I stopped for a minute and examined the door further, and
realised just exacltly how the door is assembled.

The door proper is made of plywood and is similar to every other cabinet
door. The door liner (that neatly holds bottles of beer etc.) is made from
plastic (polystyrene? maybe!) and vacuum molded to shape, with a 1/2"
flange around the edge. This flange sits flat on the door. The door seal
has a profile that allows a portion of it to slip under the door flange,
and the liner with seal is stapled to the door. Then, through a hole in the
bottom of the liner, some foam is injected (2 part, pour in place then
expand) as insulation.


I went ahead and removed all the staples from the flange and removed the
liner. The flange was very brittle and much of it broke off. When all the
staples were out, the liner came right off, exposing the hard foam.

Now I could get at all of the pop rivets that held the hinges on the door,
rmember them?

I drilled out the rivets, being carefull not to drill though the hinge, and
used some "short buit thick" pan head screws (belive it or not, from an
assortment of screws bought from Ikea), to hold those hinges tight.

I trimmed the liner flange off, scuffed up the foam and applied more of the
polyurethane glue, spreading it out with a plastic squeegee. I then placed
the liner back on the door, taped it in place and held it down with
weights. One of the characteristics of the polyurethane glue is that is
foams a bit upon curing, and it can force apart the pieces you are glueing
together unless firmly clamped/held in position.

After the glue had cured I remounted the seal, sticking it straight onto
the door with some Shoe-Goo, just a small amount, I want to be able to
replace the seal later.

I reinstalled the whole shebang back into the van, and yes, the door works
flawlessly! Shuts firmly yet easily, tightly sealed all around its edge.

At the same time I worked on the cabinet doors, gluing and screwing as I
did on the fridge door. I also cut some foam bumpers from a strip of
self-adhesive, closed cell black weatherstripping (approx 9mm wide by 4mm
thick) and stuck them  on the doors (and drawer) where the stock open cell
foam bumpers once were. I had removed what was left of stock bumpers a
couple of years back and had tried little hemispherical polyurethane
bumpers, but they were just too firm. The weatherstripping foam works
perfectly, having the right amount of "cush" to allow the door to close but
not rattle.

A drop of oil on each hinge pin and i was finished. My cabinet doors now
close so easly, with a satisfying "thunck". No more struggling with the
latch or having the door swing open by itself!

I really recommend this bit of restoration .

Alistair