continuing along the same topic...

i spent yesterday pulling out our westy's interior to do some serious
cleaning down to the body.  it was *filthy* with spilled sodas, crayons,
sucrets, various hard candies, and tons of dirt.

i am thinking of using the purple power stuff from our flaps to clean the
gunk off of the entire interior (the panels have spills; the plywood
underthe cabinets will have to be replaced, but i want to keep the same
vinyl).  everything is out except for the rear cabinet, because i didn't
want to mess with the air conditioning.  i read in the poptop cleaning
discussion on vanagon.com that the purple stuff will oxidise paint.  will it
do any damage to the "rattan" on my van's fibreboard walls?  or to the
formica on the cabinets?  if this isn't going to work, what do folk suggest
to clean sugary, syrupy spills impregnated with both organic and nonorganic
materials?

once cleaned, i am thinking of doing a half-bulley for now, and putting on
some kool patch (the asphaltum mastic to seal the steel), then over that
putting the sound damping sheets from mcmaster-carr.  bulley did it the
other way, putting down his q-pads first then the kool patch.  what have
others done with this combination?  paint then cover, or cover then paint?

we're also going to get some of the spray-on material that hardens to a
flexible, waxy coating for the door interiors, and perhaps the sound damping
sheet over that.  i only worry about the coating pulling up and the sheets
falling off.  has anyone had any success with it either way?

thanks in advance.  btw, if you buy a used westy, be sure to pull your
camping hoses and replace them.  ours were disgusting, and it's an easy
thing to do if you've got the interior out.  also replace all the
galvanized/zinc fittings with stainless; some bolts had gotten wet and were
really hard to get off due to the rust.

cheers!
bill
'87 syncro westfalia
http://www.scruznet.com/~kasper/pics/westy/