My 1989 Suburban with a Westfalia top grafted into it... also dual 360 swivel seats

[lt1fire]

are westy tops fairly easy to come by on the west coast??

 

[dbreid]

I wouldn't say "easy" but anything is findable if you are patient.

 

[k9lestat]

Very nice build

 

[centexan]

I just realized that the past incarnation of your burb (with the box on top) was my screen saver for a long time. It was one of the reasons I ended up buying my suburban. Great job on this build!

 

[dbreid]

Oh. The monument valley picture? That is a good picture.

 

[dbreid]

Couple more pictures of the rear platform (without the rear corner piece, which I haven't built yet):

 

[dbreid]

Also, I am the process of covering the foam with Denim. I am sewing it myself (I am not an amazing sewer) and I chose denim because it was washable, flexible, strong and color matched (sorta) to the interior.

I did the little "wedge" first:

 

[cyclic]

If you want it clean looking the foam needs to be slightly larger than the area of the cover. Or make the covers slightly smaller than the foam. Same result.
As you've probably already cut all the foam to fit, I'd just add a piece of 1/4 thick foam to two or three sides to fill out the cover.

 

[dbreid]

I am custom making the covers.

 

[Dratwagon]

What he said but there is a 1/2" pad that I think is cotton, just wrap the whole thing and use some spray glue to hold it, you might want to put a wrap of plastic around it and stuff it in to the case and then pull the plastic out, I spent some time working in an upholstery shop in San Leandro.

ps. It's called batting I think.

 

[dbreid]

Sorry to be slow to respond. I totally know about batting, but I decided not to use it. It does nothing for comfort and is designed to make cushions look plump and filled out. I decided to skip it, and go with a more squared off look. Plus, I am gonna put a fitted sheet OVER the denim material to keep it clean and to make it softer.

Anyway, I finally finished covering the mattress. The pictures are of the mattress leaning against my wall, so it looks a little more "bunchy" than it is. It came out really well I think.

I used a 100 inch zipper (sleeping bag zipper) so I could get the foam in and out. It was tricky to make the zipper make the corners, but it worked!

Fun fact... I used an entires 150 yard upholstery thread spool on the two cushions. And went through a whole pack of number 100/16 denim sewing machine needles. All on a 1967 Pfaff 79 I got on eBay.

 

[dbreid]

Mini beach and camping trip this weekend. Here we are on the coast.

 

[akraven]

Awesome job getting that top on there. I will have to keep my eye open for one of those.

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Looking good! Great job on the denim covers. Learning to run a sewing machine is on my list this year.

 

[dbreid]

Anyone looking to do something similar should look at this

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=201325271420

That is a one piece top and might be easier to make fit?