Westy bellyplate advice needed

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AlanH
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Westy bellyplate advice needed

Post by AlanH »

Hi guys,
On my Westy it seems the outer belly plates are welded in place. Is that normal?
I will have to remove them to get rid of all rodent traces and also some more sand bags...

Anyone have a stock belly plate lying around that I could purchase?


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Re: Westy bellyplate advice needed

Post by Dawie »

On sunroof/ Westfalia/ or where there's doors on both sides, the belly pans are welded in place to be part of the chassis-strengthening. They compensate for structure weakness caused by the extra big hole in the body.
Staying Aircooled is so much nicer.
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fig
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Re: Westy bellyplate advice needed

Post by fig »

As Dawie said, belly plates are standard on all buses that left the factory with a hole in the roof or with cargo doors on both sides.

They are quite straightforward to fabricate if your old ones aren't reusable. Not the kind of thing you are likely to find used.
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AlanH
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Re: Westy bellyplate advice needed

Post by AlanH »

Thanks, just seem to remember reading a thread on the UK forum where the guy unscrewed the belly plates.
Anyone ever attempt taking them off?
Centre belly plate on mine was split in 6 smaller pieces riveted into the Air pipe.
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fig
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Re: Westy bellyplate advice needed

Post by fig »

They are definitely spot welded on at the factory, so shouldn't be too difficult to remove, especially if you have a spot weld cutting bit for your drill.

I'd have to have a look under Bessie to see exactly how they are constructed/fitted, but it sounds like yours may have been cut and refitted for some reason to do with the Toyota conversion.
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AlanH
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Re: Westy bellyplate advice needed

Post by AlanH »

Tx Christiaan,
Googled last night and mine are definitely normal sheet metal pieces. I see one can get an original belly plate, but also read that they were not fitted to Westies for some or other reason. Possibly only very early Westies.
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Donovan D
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Re: Westy bellyplate advice needed

Post by Donovan D »

AlanH wrote: Thu Mar 22, 2018 2:25 pm Thanks, just seem to remember reading a thread on the UK forum where the guy unscrewed the belly plates.

Im sure I also read somewhere that these are just screwed on, maybe it was the same thread.
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fig
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Re: Westy bellyplate advice needed

Post by fig »

AlanH wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:30 am Tx Christiaan,
Googled last night and mine are definitely normal sheet metal pieces. I see one can get an original belly plate, but also read that they were not fitted to Westies for some or other reason. Possibly only very early Westies.
I don't know about later buses, but early baywindow pop-top westies definitely had them from the factory. The originals are sheet steel plates with an X pressed into them for strength. Factory plates were welded on.
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