Aircooled VW South Africa

Just finished the camper conversion on my '72 Crossover - we fitted a Westfalia pop-top, jalousie window and rock 'n roll bed to a standard tin roof kombi.

A few interesting technical issues cropped up during the conversion. Firstly when you cut a hole in a standard tin top, you have to cut between the two crossbeams so as not to affect the rigidity of the van. This creates a slight issue in that the Westfalia roof is designed to be held closed with a rubber toggle which hooks on the edge of the factory fitted roof opening. That opening is actually about 20cm further back than the edge of the rear crossbeam on a standard roof, which explains why the rear of the factory Westy has the whole rear of the roof re-inforced with a double skin, as the crossbeam is missing. So I've had to use a rubber bungee cord to secure the roof, albeit at an greater angle. I also needed to construct a surround to enclose the hole we'd cut in order to strengthen the edges, as the support bars of the roof are bolted into the roof close to the cut. I did this with 6mm thick aluminium strips on the top, and 10mm wooden beams underneath.

Secondly, the front of the Westy roof is held in place by a hook system to prevent it from lifting up when you drive. Mine was missing from the roof, and of course I didn't have the matching hook into which the top hook would fit. This is a fairly flimsy solution anyway, so I've decided to install a safety strap across the front of all of my Westfalia's roofs which needs to be secured in place after the roof has been lowered, together with the three rubber toggles on the inside.

Lastly, when we fitted the jalousie window with the original rubber, which was a bit brittle, we found that it could easily fall out. I'm not sure if an interior bracket was missing, but I made up four aluminium brackets which screw the window securely to the body on the inside.

So now Daisy is ready to roll - after she got a window tint to increase privacy for campers and keep the interior a bit cooler...

Awesome! I love it.

Great job. From outside you can really not tell the difference. It looks just like an original Westy. Well done.

Derek wrote:... and 10mm wooden beams underneath.

Beware when attaching timber to bodywork. Even totally dry wood has a 10% moisture content, and moisture content changes depending on atmospheric moisture levels. If you attach any timber to the bodywork, it's best to separate metal and wood with a rubber gasket to prevent the car rusting at that point.

SA-built Kombis in the late 1950s came standard with hardboard headlining, which was strengthened with brandering at the sides. I've seen and owned several of these buses which had rusted through the roof above the cargo doors because of the metal to wood contact at that point.

Thanks for the advice Fig...it's a simple task to insert a rubber gasket so I'll be doing that...

With these camper conversions I prefer fitting less cupboards than Westfalia did, as our rentals tend to be for a few days and people keep their clothing in a suitcase or bag at the back. I have a cupboard made up with a space for a 12V fridge/freezer to drop in at the top, a space in the cupboard below for the battery pack, and then two shelves of cupboard space for food, coffee, sugar, crockery and cutlery, etc. Collapsible chairs and rally awning and poles go in the storage under the bed. A folding table goes at the back above the engine. Tools go in a below-window height side compartment next to the bed, which doubles as a side table. This configuration makes the camper seem less cramped and more spacious.