Thanks for the good tips so far. To add a little information that may help . . .

I understand that the aged foam seal around the utility connections
lets in lots of water and is largely responsible for a lot of the rust
on that side of most of our vans. Knowing that, I am replacing all the
utility connections and seals.

Windows are another source of leaking and rust in our vans, so I'm
also replacing all of the window gaskets, being sure drain holes are
clear, and resealing the plastic that lines the interior of most of
the doors.

I'm also replacing my antenna, as that dried up piece of plastic
against the body was letting in water on the driver's side.

Trying to do this all right . . .
Marc Perdue

On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 12:50 PM, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:
> I see that you had it tarped but the following is easy to do.
>
> If you've removed the Westy cabinetry, run a hose at the window seals
> on that side.
> On my '88 Westy, I had a leak at body seam. Fixed that but was
> surprised to see water still getting in. Water was getting in via
> forward most side window seal. I suspect this happens at bottom of
> seal at glass.
>
> Neil.
>
> On 11/4/14, Marc Perdue <mcperdue@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Now, to other stuff: To prepare my van to be painted, I removed a lot
>> of bits here and there, including the utility connections on the
>> driver's side. It is an '87 Westy. I don't have a garage to work in,
>> but kept it tarped as best I could. However, I noticed some water got
>> into the fiberglass behind the fridge.
>
>
>
> --
> Neil n
>
> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
>
> 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
>
> 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>
> Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>