Club 80-90 Forums

Hi there,

Am new to the forum and relatively new to T25 ownership. I have "acquired" a T25 by confiscating it from my hapless brother, who bought it 5 years ago, blew the head gasket and decided that he would upgrade the engine instead of repairing existing engine. Long story short, van sat in dismantled state for 4 years until I kidnapped it and embarked on a re-vamp project.

Engine has been done for a while and interior is almost finished, electrics are an ongoing nightmare thanks to a replacement of fan belt by a mechanic who ended up setting the heater motor (and rest of dash) on fire, but are slowly being dealt with.

Anyhoo, next on hit list is the bodywork. The van itself is a LHD 1984 watercooled (originally 1.6 TD) 1.9 TD. Its a Weinberg half high-top/pop top beauty in bogey green called Svetlana and I have a love / hate relationship with her (I love her, she hates me ).

She has those funny perspex double glazed windows, however they are all either cracked or have condensation in them so need replacing. From what I can see you really cannot get this type anymore so I am going to replace with regular windows. I've bought the first one, the sliding front side window. However its too small. I have been told that they are all inter-changeable, however I'm not sure that is true. Is it simply a case of needing a different seal, or are their different size windows? If so where would be the best place to buy one for my van? Also where would be the best place to sell the one I've bought that doesn't fit?

Thanks in advance!

Andrea

Weinsberg. Nice choice!

I would guess that your van was built from a panel van, which then had window apertures cut into it. If the windows seals stand slightly proud of the body side (about 5-10mm) on an otherwise flat panel that runs all the way from cab door to the rear vents, then it was a panel van.
PS the other thing is to look at you vin code. WVWZZZ25.... the number that follows the 25 is the identifier, along with a white sticker (if still present) on the cross beam that runs below the dash. The sticker will have all the vans built option codes that can be looked up.

How much too small?
millimetres or inches?
I may have some seals which could be suitable, as they were a bit too big for my glass, so could do the job for you.

Hi there,

As far as we can tell, it was not a panel van, this is the brochure for the van type. http://www.vwpix.org/T3/Prospekte/deuts ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Have checked the VIN against Brick Yard's data base and its not really making sense as according to them its a RHD, but it definitely isnt! Also the serial number doesn't match up with the year, so even stranger!

The window seals are flush with the van itself.... except this particular one. Have tried to attach a photo but the board quota has been reached apparently! Definitely was not inches too small, more like a cm. Current window is 42 x 16.5 (not including the lips that go into the seal and the new window is 41.5 x 16 (again not including the lips).

The current seal is pretty thick, possibly its that this panel has been replaced at some point but having a look, it doesn't seem to be the case. What are my options if I can't get a seal to fit? The actual frame of the current window is buggered so can't even replace the glass

Time for some photos of your van. All will become clear.

kernow yardie wrote: What are my options if I can't get a seal to fit?

Don't despair - I reckon you will be able to find a seal to fit - the question is, which one?
There are a number of good suppliers of seals.
Go to http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/c-122-screen-section.aspx - best to download their pdf brochure and print the seals page. Then you get a near enough full size profile which will help.
Also try http://www.sealsdirect.co.uk/shopping.a ... rtmentId=4. You can download their catalogue too.
There are 3 things you need to get right.
1) the width of the groove for the glass, depending on your window.
2) the width of the groove for the metal surround (bodywork). If it's just a single thickness of metal, this groove is sometimes just a narrow vee.
3) the thickness of the web, i.e. the space between the glass and the metal. Should be opening size less width / height of glass divided by 2, less a bit for tolerance and fit. The tighter it is, the more of a fight you will have!

Good luck!

silverbullet wrote:Time for some photos of your van. All will become clear.

For some reason I can't upload photos! It tells me that the board has reached its quota. However I have some on Picasa which I hope are public. . . .

https://picasaweb.google.com/1132757156 ... 2/Svetlana" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ok. So it was a Bus/Coach/Caravelle once upon a time i.e. it hasnt had windows cut in, the oanels are pressed so the seals have a feather edge and sit flush.
Do the windows have Westfalia logos in one bottom corner (or signs of having once had a small rectangular sticker?)
I see it has Lithuanian plates. Not suprised that your log book and VIN dont match, from what I hear about Eastern European imports.

Log book and VIN on van do match, I have paperwork from the owner prior to the person we bought it from also. The VIN information isn't matching to the info on Brick Yard in regards to the model though, according to Brick Yard's details it should be a RHD and is 1983. It wasn't a Westfalia, but does have stickers of the windows that say something about being made in Germany, they are very faded now so hard to read. Van was registered in Germany until March 2010, then registered in Lithuania, but was bought just to drive across Europe and was sold to my brother in September of 2010. The van was obviously very well cared for until recent years and the interior was in good condition, but very dated. I don't have any reason to believe that there is anything dodgy about the van to be honest. I have send an application for its "birth certificate" so I guess that should reveal all!

Ok... the Brickyard info is known for being pretty reliable and well researched. If your VIN is definitely coming up as a RHD then your van has had the identity of a RHD van applied to it.
Check the rear vertical face of the RH front jacking point outrigger.
The true VIN will be stamped there.
I don't wish to cause offence or upset anyone but the Lithuanians do have previous on this sort of thing. Stolen vans come from Germany, get re-registered in LT then appear on the open market.

Yep, as I have said..... the VIN on my van, EXACTLY matches the VIN on all of my paperwork (and there is a fair old stack of it, going back 20 years, which I would imagine anyone selling a van for a few grand would not bother to fake).

We seem to have strayed far from window sizes onto whether or not my van is stolen, on which we obviously to have different opinions. However as I have transfer paperwork from the last two owners and my VINs match, and the German owner before the last Lithuanian owner seems to have owned the van for at least 15 years, according to my paperwork, I'm pretty certain its not stolen. I thank you for your concern, but as I am not worried, then perhaps you should not worry either?


Anyhooo..... windows ..... Is it simply a case of a wider seal? Or are there different sized windows?

No offence meant, but this sort of thing crops up from time to time.
You mentioned the RHD /LHD discrepency, not me.

Windows: it was a Caravelle, so standard Westfalia double glazed windows with the appropriate seal will fit.
Some more detailed photos would help though.

don't forget that early/late sliding door windows are different lengths, if you are trying to fit a late RHD sliding door (so LHS) window into the LHD LHS aperture then it will be about an inch too short

leisure windows direct will make them to measure if it is a panel conversion but only singled paned openers.


For a caravelle these would probably fit maybe email them the exact apertures and enquire first.

http://www.vwbusshop.de/en_GB" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm having a pig of a time finding just a single window for mine & am just about to advertise a westfalia acrylic sliding window 1080 x 435mm