Interior panels\cards\boards and fabrics

[daveye]

Further to the great answer to my "How to get things working" thread, I have another question that I hope you can help me with.

The inside of the van is looking tired and I would like help on the following:

Can I paint the internal metalwork easily? After reading the "paint your van with a roller thread" it all seems straight forward enough. Just want to tidy it up as its a little chipped.

Some of the internal panels need replacing. I am happy to cut them myself unless there is a supplier that supplies them ready cut but where from? When it comes to covering and edging them, are there any tips? I would like to cover them in the same Westfalia stuff that is on them already (a canvas\hessian beige style covering) but I assume that you cant get it exactly the same? If I were to cut my own panels for the whole van (main and hi top) what do I cover them in? Fablon? Or is there stuff you can recommend? If I were to do this in say, plain flat white, would it affect resale value?

Regarding seat covers and curtains. Does original equal good even with rips and tears? If I were to recover the seats in plain fabric with matching curtains, would this affect resale value.


Thanks in advance again.

[meehaja]

given that original often means over 20 years old, it also means dirty and smelly. If it looks brand new then great, but if not, by all means refresh it. If keeping value is your thing, use good quality materials and stick to neutral designs. There's a guy on bay who'll do you a set of door cards for about £100, but if you have all of yours, just draw round them onto some ply and order clips from just kampers (a few £ a bag) Just kampers can also supply you with some very nice vinyl door cards/ fabrics etc, but a bit pricey IMO.

fabric wise, ebay is a good resource but remember putting VW camper in the title adds about 30% to the value in some peoples eyes. Glueing and stapling fabric to board is cheap and easy, or if you don't fancy it a local upholsterer will be glad of the work and its fairly straightforward.

Mega van mats is another company that provide fabrics/carpets that seems really well riced, might be worth checking their website out?

[matt brighton]

Hi

Earlier this year we retrimmed the door cards and panels in oilcloth. The dark brown carpet and vynil was just tooo retro for us.

With oilcloth you are spoilt for choice for patterns. You need to invest in a staple gun (B&Q) and i was surprised how good they turned out and certainly cheered up the interior..

We also retrimmed the bench seats and rear engine cover cushion and made a new set of curtains.... although pleased with the result we have found the seat fabric to easily stretch so a little "baggy" now and colours have faded in the sun.

In hindsight we would have used heavier weight/guage fabric for the seats and investigated non fading patterns.

Someone on tinternet offers to make a full set of curtains and will even run up a set for about £60ish quidwith you supplying the fabric - a bargain in hindsight given the amount of evenings my wife sat at the machine...take a google around as I cant recall the name or site (sorry)

But much better and happier look inside than the original and well worth doing....

Hope this helps

Matt - brighton

[chuckle-bus-tom]

Just doing ours too. We got all our fabric for the panels and curtains from Ikea for about £60 and bought the actual cards from a mixture of Just Kampers, eBay and VW heritage.

Little tip, cover the bare panels on both sides with a liberal coat of wax (candle or bees or something) to prevent moisture penetrating.

[clifford coates]

The chap on ebay sells 4mm ply interior panels - better than the MDF ones.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-T25-Transporte ... 3f03e0106b

Watch out for the blooming clips - the ones I ordered have broken easily and some do not hold. Will be going down the plastic rawlplug and screw route methinks.

As already advised there are loads of fabrics on ebay that are suitable for panel covers. Best to pad with felt.

Good luck