James Cook Forum

Good afternoon
We have a Euro 2008 Mercedes Westfalia James Cook in California and a Us 2015 Mercedes Low top passenger van. We will take the Euro parts and install on the US Mercedes.

My Question to you: do you know how the fiberglass top is installed on the Westfalia James Cook? Do you know where I can get pictures of the hole in the roof and how it is sealed closed? And how the floor is put in (is it glued?). Also will need to open roof on US Sprinter.
We are looking to pay a qualified technician to remove parts from Euro Westfalia and move to a US Sprinter low roof machine. They will stay in Califorina in our guest home with payment and we will be happy to take them around. Holiday and work in the Sunshine near Malibu Beach We have both machines in US.

Thank you
Mark Epstein

eppyranch@yahoo.com

Hi Mark,

this seems like quite an undertaking. I've had my JC for a couple of years, and have taken much of it apart now to perform upgrades to various systems. Putting aside quite how you got the JC into California in the first place, you are going to probably need to find someone who can dismantle the major components of the van and move them across to the donor van. Only a small number of JCs were made, and even Westfalia dealers don't know much about how they are made now.

My first recommendation would be to get hold of the Mercedes WIS software, as this details almost everything that you would want to do with the van, including how to pull it apart. As far as I know, the roof is bonded onto the van. If you check the build sheet for a JC, you will see that the roof is deleted from the base van, so it would not have been cut off by Westfalia at the time.

I suspect that the hardest part is going to be transplanting the substructure of the camper, as most of the interior panels fit into a bespoke metal framework that will need to be moved, and this will necessitate taking everything. Almost nothing mounts to standard points of the van, and you will need to move all of the metalwork across first. Also, the windows are going to need to be moved across without breaking them, as you will not be able to purchase replacements.

The floor will be fairly simple to move once the bed and other furniture are out. The Mercedes WIS software has instructions on how to remove it, and all necessary steps to get to that point are listed.

The large items will be fairly easy to remove (bed, kitchen, etc). The fun part will be the smaller systems such as the diesel heaters, hot water systems and all of the looms. The interior panels are held in by poppers, screws and the strongest velcro tape known to humankind. You need to be brave and pray that nothing breaks when removing it, as you can't get replacements. Mercedes sell the clips as they are used on their cars, so easy to replace.

I'm assuming you are moving the parts because you can't register this in California?

Happy to provide advice if you need

Good luck...

Hi Gentlemen,

I'm in contact with Mark so this is just for info for all others.
I agree to all above points except the removing of the floor. I removed all the furniture and metal structure but the floor was absolutly not easy to remove: The biggest piece I got out was about 10 x 20 cm. It was fully glued to the floor and a nightmare to get it out. My son helped me to peel it out.

Regards

Roland

Quick response to the question about removing the roof. According to the workshop manual, the high roof is held on with Sikaflex. The removal process is to punch a hole through the Sikaflex using an awl, and then use cutting wire to break the bond. Once done, stick suckers to the roof, then use straps attached to a forklift truck to lift the roof away. Sounds like a trivial operation

Please more Piktures ... we all need them