Mounting a Westfalia kit-chen unit

[tforturton]

I'm slowly bringing a battered Westfalia kit-chen unit back into use, and have reached the stage where I want to fix it in the van. I have no idea how these things were originally held in place, but I want some sort of system that would allow me to remove it, if I needed to. The van floor is not not screwed down, so the unit will probably have to be fixed to the sides of the van? Anyone else faced this problem?

[tforturton]

Following a PM conversation with Isishkeet, I had a brainwave regarding how to do this job. Under my new ply and vinyl floor are the old middle seat rails. I thought maybe I could use these in some way to fix the kit-chen unit. So I lifted the floor, did a bit of measuring, and it looks possible. I'll post some pictures up later on, but what I'm doing is moving the 'tags' that the seats bolt into, so they're under the the kit-chen (or at least, under where it will be when I've finished). Then I'll bolt through the unit (wuth spreaders), and into the tags. If they're strong enough to secure a pair of seats with passengers belted in, then they're strong enough to hold down a Westfalia unit.
Not done yet, as I need longer bolts, but more to follow later....

[jed the spread]

I have some recessed stuff like this as well, http://campervanculture.com/shop/cargo- ... ace-mount/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; And maybe some of these, http://campervanculture.com/shop/thread ... g-fixings/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[danmetallic]

Bentley manual has a whole section on removing Westy interior if that helps. Might give you some extra ideas.

[tforturton]

The problem is that the vehicle is a Caravelle, so doesn't have the Westy fitting locations as standard. Still, bolts have arrived, so we might see some progress on this over the weekend.

[tforturton]

Okay, I eventually managed to get the holes lined up, and have bolted the unit to the floor. But I was haunted by visions of an accident, where the unit flies off towards me, leaving it's substantial base behind, still bolted to the floor. So I bolted four brackets to the unit sides as well, so hopefully the thing will stay put in a hurricane. I had to shuffle it about a bit to get the holes to line up, the cut-out to clear the seat belt reel, and yet still be far away from the seat for the bed to unfold. Then I fitted two table leg brackets - one on the corner of the passenger seat base, and the other on the end of the unit I just installed. So I now have two table locations. Also fitted a new steel edge to the floor. Wahey - most I've done on the van in months....

[danmetallic]

Lets see some photos

[tforturton]

Here's the seat rails - usually hidden away under the flooring.

I undid the bolts, and moved the seat mounting clips down to the far end, so they'd be under the kit-chen unit. Then it was a case of measuring to make sure I drilled the holes in the flooring in the right place. Once that's done, the bolts just go through the base of the unit (with BIG washers), through the floor, and into the clips.
Finished...

I also fitted a set of table leg brackets to the edge of the unit. There's also one in the usual place behind the passenger seat. New flooring (from Madmatz), and a new steel edge.

It's a bit fiddly to open the bed so it clears the top bracket, but once you've done it once, it's easy.

[Thefamegame]

I love timewarp threads from searching- did you find the fridge clashed with the pillar? I can't find many examples of modifying westy units to fit rhd

[Winchweight]

Nice to see it in finally. Where'd you get the edging?

[tforturton]

The step edge came from VanWurks. I couldn't track it down on their site just now, but if you google 't25 steel floor edge' it comes up first or second on the list.
There's no fridge in there! I sold the original fridge, as I had planned to put a waeco compressor fridge in (didn't want to cut any holes), but I still haven't got around to it. Work is often slow when it comes to my bus. More like glacial, actually. I did have to cut a shape out of the rear corner of the unit, so it would clear the seatbelt reel case, but it never occurred to me that it might also foul the fridge. It has to sit as far forward as possible, so that the bed can fold out properly. As it is, it just clears the top table leg bracket, with a bit of careful juggling.
I may have to lower the table somehow, as it's just a little too high when you're sat down eating your lunch. But the only way I can think of doing this is to cut a couple of inches off the bottom end of the table leg, and that would mean repositioning the top bracket a bit further down, and it might then catch on the edge of the bed.

[Thefamegame]

Aha! Thanks, I've not looked closely yet but I suspect there may be pillar issues with a fridge. there must have been more rhd Westfalia attempts, I probably need to alter how I'm searching

[irishkeet]

I will be fitting a westy interior to a LHD Caravelle soon and will post pics, not sure how im doing it yet though

Original westys have a couple of nuts in a square U shape frame welded to the floor, I may remove these from my donor van, will post images when Im at that stage

Be good to know how others have installed their westy furniture in their Caravelles, I know there are a few Syncro/Westy conversions about.

[Thefamegame]

I will be fitting a westy interior to a LHD Caravelle soon and will post pics, not sure how im doing it yet though

Original westys have a couple of bolts in a square U shape frame welded to the floor, I may remove these from my donor van, will post images when Im at that stage

Be good to know how others have installed their westy furniture in their Caravelles, I know there are a few Syncro/Westy conversions about.

I do know the Bentley manual goes into good detail about the fitting of the westy interior.

[irishkeet]

Finally got some photos of the fitting that holds the cooker unit in place, from memory I think there are some for the RnR bed too



I plan to cut these out and reuse them in the syncro.

cheers
irishkeet