As I suspected, Mark confirmed that not all Westy beds are equal.  I
harvested me bench/bed from an early Westy and the rear cushion from a
second.  I noticed weeks ago the rear cushion was a couple inches wider than
the bench/bed.  Since my bench/bed cabinet finish is wood grain and has a
huge, rectangular access hole on the front, I suspect its a P22.  I covered
the hole with large hole, black, vinyl window screening (inside).  Looks
great and allows me to use the rear heater too.

I plan to paint the wood grain formica brown to match the rest of the brown
interior.

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 3:58 PM, mdrillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:

> I have noticed this same thing and dealt with it in just the way you
> propose. It is not quite as simple as you might hope. For one thing,
> there are different versions of the Westy hinges. The standard common
> ones are for a less than full width bed. The difference is in the
> driver's side hinge only. The hinge on the driver's side is different on
> a full width Westy bed in that is is shaped to fit into a depression in
> the engine lid shelf differently than the 2 person seat bed hinge does
> on the driver's side.
>
> The cleanest solution is a bed assembly from an 84 Wolfy Weekender. This
> will slide into place and fit properly.
>
> Later Wolfy Weekender poptop model beds also fit, 85-87, but these have
> slightly less space underneath and are not exactly as wide as is proper
> to fit the GL interior side panels.
>
> The bed assembly from a 80-81 Westy model P22 will also work great, but
> the lower face plate was woodgrain finish only and has unsightly holes
> for things that you would not have. You might want to cover the face
> with formica or something to get a better color match and cover the holes.
>
> In all cases the rear foam cushion from the 87 GL is not a perfect fit
> with a Westy bed but this can probably be lived with by sliding it
> forward against the bed when sleeping.
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> Jake Beaulieu wrote:
>
>> What is the difference between these creatures?  I recently purchased a
>> 1987 Vanagon Syncro GL.  This is a passenger van with a rear seat that folds
>> into a bed.  I have noticed that the height of the storage compartment under
>> this seat is much lower than in my 1982 Westy.  I am basically interested in
>> retrofitting the full width rear seat in my Syncro with the hinge mechanisms
>> from a Westy bed in the hopes of gaining storage space.  Can this be done?
>>  I tried to distill this from the archives, but got really confused trying
>> to differentiate a Z-bed, from a sofa-bed, etc..
>>
>> thanks much,
>> jake
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>

--
Neil2
'82 Diesel Westfalia (Fwd Puke Qualified)
'86 Vanagon/Westfalia Wannabe (Savannah)
Nunquam Pendite Divendium