Westy 142 Mods

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GA Westy


Im starting this thread to keep all the information about my mods in one place. So here goes.

LEFT: The condition of the Westy when I got it. Everything stock except for the nudge bar and driving lamps. The previous owner had painted the bumper a very dark gray. The stuff above the grille is what's left of the adhesive from the old Dodge chrome stripe.

RIGHT: After restoration by Auto Image in Woodstock, GA. The bumpers, grille were sprayed with SEM bumper coating. He also buffed the headlights and sprayed UV resistant clear coat. Blacked out the space between the side windows, refinished the corner skylights with bronze tinted clear coat to get rid of the eggplant look. Don't use VHT night shades on them. They don't last long.

The lower half of the door and rocker panels were sprayed with 2 component Bullet Liner. Same product was used on the cracked plastic and the nudge bar and I will show that on my next post. I fabricated a flat bar mount for the driving lamps and mounted it upside down to get rid of the "cookie monster" look.

The sealant around the fiberglass roof was also removed and re-caulked with a 3M product that can be painted. So that eliminated the black stripe above the windshield. At 10 years old, the Sikaflex is not doing to well.

I had my friend in the Philippines do all the decals (free). More to follow.
 
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GA Westy
Magnum MS2812 Pure Sine inverter installed where the old black tank used to be. Perfect place for it.



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GA Westy

Here's a picture of the cassette toilet conversion. Non slip coating over the revised shower pan with new 4" drain. I decided to go the home depot route on the plumbing so it would be easy to fix on the road.

My original sink wasnt in great shape so i fabricated a custom Corian countertop and dropped a round stainless steel sink with standard bathroom fixture.

For the shower, i added a colder fitting similar to the outside shower but installed an inline hot/cold mixer so the shower is always at the temperature i want.

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GA Westy


For the floor drain, lowes sells a ABS 2" to 1-1/2 adapter. Then i used the Hepvo trapless system to finish it off. Works great. No stink in the bathroom at all! Nothing comes up the drain when vehicle is in motion.


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GA Westy


This is the hepvo under the bathroom sink. Lots of space recovered. The flex pipe is for the colder fitting hand shower.


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GA Westy


Hepvo installed below the kitchen sink ad well. Recovered 50% of the storage space here. Since im using a regular bath faucet now, i decided to get rid of the submersible pump and used a shurflo revolution instead.

Higher flow and pressure. The old pump was not powerful enough to turn on my instant hot water heater.


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What materials did you use to rework the shower pan ?

I want to remove the existing toilet and add a composting toilet. In order to do that I have to remove the pedestal that the existing toilet sits on that is integral with the shower pan, then rework the shower pan in that area.
 

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GA Westy
I had a friend help me rebuild the shower pan. I will ask him next time i see him.


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GA Westy

Larger map pockets work very well here for cellphones, keys and wallets. Its not in the way even with the upper bed deployed.


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GA Westy

Instant Hot Water Heater conversion. Had to put in a new quarterpanel so i decided not to cut the hole anymore. The suburban is old and insurance was paying the repair. The heater costs a lot more but part of the cost was offset by not having to cut the hole.

The stuff outside the door was inside the cabinet. You cab see how much space recovered.


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OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
1. Notice retrofitted stepbumper (search for stepbumper thread in this subforum for more info) and the European taillights. Westy exterior without huge cutout and cheap Suburban water heater door looks really nice (note that Westfalia did spring for custom molding around the Suburban water heater which fits contours of body indentations--not a part which can be found; other RV manufacturers didn't spend the time on such a detail).

2. Awning center support looks like mounted on edge of wall next to water heater door.

3. Airstream installed 120 volt outlet on water heat r door has another wire cable in back of blue gangbox--presumably for electric to water heater?

4. In separate postings on description of instant water heater, Discus mentioned need for higher water flow to activate new instant water heater. Also, Discus changed out submersible fresh water pump for an external one mounted under kitchen sink. Venting for this instant water heater is through floor.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Think it may have been an earlier mod where Discus installed a Magnum inverter in the water heater area before relocating inverter to under bathroom. I believe Discus mentioned the large Magnum inverter can run the replaced now 120 volt rooftop airconditioner off engine. Westfalia should have gone this route.

The distance between inverter and batteries requires heavy gauge wiring.

Just mentioning above for those fiddling around with replacement ac.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Earlier, Discus removed and replaced the black sealant between the fiberglass top and metal body, and painted new sealant with silver so no black line (looks really nice in photos).

Looks like similar change made between taillight metal panel and main body panel--.don't see a vertical black sealant line?
 

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GA Westy
I moved the Magnum to space where the black tank used to be. When i pulled the Kerstner, I dropped the 2/0 welding cables to the back of the van so im currently using the same cables for the inverter. Moving the magnum also resulted in a much shorter cable run. Im still monitoring the setup and will provide feedback.


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GA Westy
Extra wire from outlet goes to weatherproof outlet under the vehicle. I dont like keeping the door open to have power under the awnings. Water heater runs on 12v. It does not require a lot of flow to keep it going but the small submersible does not provide enough flow for any faucet that does not use a flow restrictor.

I currently have a hot water premix valve for the outside and inside shower. Ive showered dogs continuously with that heater and temp is constant.

You are right about the bottom exhaust. Thats why I have dual exhaust pipes. One is for the heater but the exhaust never gets that hot. The heater is very efficient.


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