Tintop to Westy

[chippi]

I have finaly got round to grafting my newly aquired Westy roof to my tintop, and as promised heres how it was done.......
step 1 donor roof and top aquired...and after removing pop top the support rails were removed from donor van.......

next, after some carefull measurements the roof skin (from donor) was removed to use as a pattern.....

Now comes the no going back bit (not to be attemted by small children, pregnant woman those with heart complaints etc)
the old skin now used as a template and the hole cut out and ready to be formed)....

time for some panel beating........

now the support rails are bonded back in using windscreen adhesive....

a bit more fine tuning and a lick of paint arty0009: .....

...

top now in paint stage too....

....
.....
finally from inside with top and canvas back on.....

More finished pics to follow,,,, :winking0060:

 

[uber cool]

Nice bit of tin bashing.

Christ you must have balls the size of coconuts to make the first cut in the roof. :shock:

or did you say your prayers first :innocent0001:

 

[chippi]

Nice bit of tin bashing.

Christ you must have balls the size of coconuts to make the first cut in the roof. :shock:

or did you say your prayers first :innocent0001:

:lol:

 

[sparkywig]

waste of a good tintop.........

 

[froggy]

1st cut :innocent0001:
seriously though nice job :tongue0022: :motion:

 

[scott wilson]

well done fella. I`m gonna do the same to a 70 deluxe very soon and i`m intrested that you chose to cut the hole rather than replace the whole roof. Is there a reason for this..time saving /easier. Once again i take my hat off to you. imp1:

 

[chippi]

Thanks Scott, it took me a day to do this cut out and have it to paint stage, personally i think this is the best way to do this sensibly and a lot less work than a complete roof swap.

 

[scott wilson]

sweet..thats what i wanted to know..please pm me your cell no as i wish to discuss at your leisure

 

[Trikky2]

Very nice job there Chippi, looks good. I agree with your method, its much easier than swapping the whole roof. I cant see the need to swap the whole roof unless the original is badly damaged.

What paint did you use on the westy pop top by the way? and how did you apply it?

 

[chippi]

the roof is sprayed in 2 pack, its actually Dupont "elite" traffic which is a commercial coach paint and covers most things,
it was brush painted before with what looked like a mix of acrylic and celulose and with coach paint thier is less risk of a reaction with the old paint.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm doing the same thing to my 72 Deluxe. Couple of silly questions:


* There is an 'S' looking metal piece that snaps the front of the snug shut, that attaches to the top of the roof and it's associated reinforcement mounts underneath the roof skin. Helps keep the wind from lifting the top on the motorway. Did you use this?

* There are two (left & right) hinge reinforcements that mounts below the roof skin. Did you use these?

* There are rubber buffers that screw in the roof along the edges of the poptop - to help soften closing the top - did you use those?

* How did you mount the canvas to the tintop? Does it screw on?

* Did you take any measurements? Mind sharing the info

* I'm buying a sunroof graft for 100 quid delivered. Sound reasonable? Can I just save the $$ by getting a trace of the hole in relation to the rest of the top?


Thanks buddy! This is great stuff!! :mrgreen:

 

[ant]

waste of a good tintop.........

lol .............. nice work though dude, i love the westy roof but i would never ever ever cut a hole for one in my tintop. But like i said nice work

 

[chippi]

Vanagonman, thats a lot of questions fella, right here goes :msn4:

I didnt use the roof hook on the front as my donor bus was missing it , if it sits snug up front then you wont need it.

I did use the reinforcements.

Cant remember using rubber buffers,again perhaps the donor didnt have them :?:

The canvas is held in by the ally rail which is screwed down to the roof ( you can see it in pics ) and theres a lot of screws.

I used the roof skin as a template but i would suggest getting measurements from a sunroof bus if you dont have a template, the cutout is between the two roof reinforcements above the a and b pillars and TBH unless you are gonna stick a sunroof back in the cut out doesnt have to be too precise.

hope that helps you put

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Chippi!

Found out the rubber buffers are only used for the child cots, so they're not *needed* :mrgreen:

Did the ally rail that holds the canvas to the roof ship with the new canvas? Can't seem to find it on my donor westy roof. Are there a total of 4 ally rails - one for each side?

Do you still got that "template" kicking around? Would love to borrow it Otherwise, would appreciate if you can take measurements.

Can you take a pic from inside looking at the frame reinforcements with the poptop up? Thanks!

That should be it. Many thanks for all this