| When
I bought the bus the Westy fridge wasn't working and the second
battery was gone. I have heard many people say that the fridge
doesn't work that well anyway. The space is good for storing
things if you like, but I was lucky and found the standard model
ice cooler unit in a camper headed for the scrap yard and it's
one of my favorite things about the bus. When you are spending
time in the bus you can just reach in the cooler and pull out
a cold drink! Here are some pics and tips if you want to remove
your fridge: The lids come off as a unit. There are screws around
the interior, inside edges of the black trim piece. Once you
have these removed you can pry the black trim up from the cabinet
edges and the lids will come out. It's easier if you have the
z-bed unfolded (flat) so as not to scratch the cabinets. In
the pic on the left you can see the additional 12 volt outlet
I hard wired to the battery for the coffee maker, etc. That
is a little reading lamp hooked up to it.
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Once
you have the lids off there are some big screws holding the
cooling unit in and some screws on the outside of the cabinet
holding the fridge part in. Also there is a 2 piece strip of
wood shown on the pic below, left. It has to be pried apart,
and removed, but keep it for later use. The wiring has plugs
in the control panel and down in the cabinet. After these are
unhooked the fridge and cooling assembly will pull out as one
unit...and it's not heavy. |
Adding
the new cooler was pretty easy. I had to drill a hole through
the floor, for the drain, but there is a hole there as a guide
already. Don't forget to put silicone around it for a good seal.
The rest of the cabinet makes for excellent storage too. I utilized
the fridge power wires (blue and white) to run two oscillating
fans and an interior light. There all run on the auxillary battery
now since I don't have the fridge. Actually I went so far as
to install a third battery and this can be found on page
7. |
I
installed an Olympian propane heater I found on Ebay, the 3100
model. This is the kind typically found in RV's for heat when
you are camping. I ran a tap off the existing westy propane
line and drilled a hole through the floor to the heater. This
took about 2 hours to install. Here is another guy who installed
it in his Vanagon: Propane
heater. I had Kathy of Classic Stitches sew me up a plaid
cover for the heater that is held on by magnets and she also
made me a draw string bag with the plaid for my tv (notice the
Full Moon patch!). The heater works pretty well and takes up
little room. It's self igniting and was much cheaper than a
gas heater or full size furnace.
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Jamie
Auch traded me for some fresh air fans, sometimes refered to
as ambulance fans. They go into the fresh air vents under the
dash and force the air that comes through the vent on the front
of the bus (blue lever on the dash). The fans force about 4
times as much air as would normally come through at around 55
mph, and that is even when stopped at a light!! Becuase my bus
has the dealer installed air conditioning it took a while longer
to install the fans. The second pic below shows the "hanger"
bracket that supports the air conditioner. You have to remove
the lower screw to access the fresh air duct if you have a/c.
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Because
the fans are hidden I can't really show a finished pic, but
I wish you could feel and hear the fans running on high! I piggy
backed a "key on" powered wire from the emergency
brake light to power the fans. If you buy a set of these fans
without the ducts or if you didn't remove them yourself, the
fans have 3 tabs that you can see in the first pic below. These
tabs orient the fans and secure them to the metal of the ducts.
The fans would appear to be blowing the wrong way when you install
them, however the blades are meant to draw the air through.
Another tip.....if you want to gain access to the speedometer
cable, etc., drill through the rivets holding your turn signal
lens assembly on to gain access behind the dash (only in a late
Bay). You can put your hand in there and see things much better.
This is shown in the last 2 pics. I used self tapping screws
to replace the rivets. |
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