Hi all, I've got a twin slider panel that has had one door converted to a window with a westy type jalousie. The doors were replaced with cali import ones and i think the window thats fitted was already in the door when it was fitted to the van. It looks like a retro fit although there is a recess which i wouldn't expect if it was a van door - wouldn't it be flat? I now want to fit a window in the slider on the other side, and have managed to pick up a matching pair of devon type windows from an prototype bay. Has anyone retro fitted these to a panel van door? Whats the best method for tackling it? I know i'll need the westy type outer seal etc, and this needs replacing on the one thats already fitted anyway as its heat perished from the california sun, but is there anything else i need to budget for? Any help or advice received with thanks
So you have one microbus door and one converted panel van door? You may have noticed panel van glass is curved and microbus glass is flat. So your pair of louvre windows isn't going to fit one of them. Westy (3 pane) louvres were all made for microbus Other 6 pane louvres were made variously for either. The panel van ones are rarer and curved to fit the van opening.
The sliders aren't original to the bus, but were imported from the states. One has a westfalia full length slatted glass window with the twist knob opener fitted and this looks to be recessed in the window aperture but as i have no real basis for comparison its hard to say. The seal is the flat grey type that these seem to use. The other slider is a regular panel one, but on inspection behind the inner card panel, it looks as though if i cut away the bracing and trim a hole in the outer skin, there would be a slight recess anyway as there is a window shaped pressing on the inside which would be revealed. Hard to explain without it in front of me.....thats my recollection from looking last weekend at least. The devon jalousie's i picked up were previously fitted to a panel i reckon, as the top corners have been rounded more than their original profile by the look of things, and the vendor said that he bought them from a guy that had them fitted to a panel van. I'll whip the current window out over the weekend and offer up the devon one and see how it looks.
So, on looking at the windows i've bought they would both appear to have flat frames and i can't see any evidence of a curve in them. Does this mean they're unsuitable for use to convert a panel door? Looking at the curve of the door its pretty shallow, so i'm thinking a shim of some description would work to mount it up but i'd rather not go down that route as it would mean the frame poking out even more than converted panel doors tend to have already lol Anyone have any suggestions, apart from finding a RHD microbus door (Nigh on impossible without paying out 4-5 hundred quid!) or fitting a flat pane or sliding glass panel conversion window? I really want a matching pair of jalousies.
