Club 80-90 Forums

I need to remove my hi top which was fixed using 'sikaflex' 22 years ago, any suggestions on how to remove without scratching the paintwork? I seem to remember a 'metalmicky ' post but cannot find it.

Hi Andrew,

If you can wait until warmer weather it will help.

I took a high top off a camper six years ago in freezing conditions. An absolute nightmare. Because the van was scrap l used an axe saw blade without concern for its paintwork

Try heating with a hairdryer and easing roof away bit by bit with a plastic or wood spatula. Use 2-3mm thick ply fingers to slot between roof and bodywork to stop it resealing.

If lm free happy to come to you and give you aid.
Regards
Stuart

If it’s held with sikkaflex the only way it to cut it, a very sharp kitchen knife with serrated edge is ideal, you can’t really wash it off

I used a sharp knife or two, and also tried a thin bit of wire (me on the inside, pal on the outside) but I was using bicycle brake cable and I reckon a single strand would work better.

It’s tricky though, going to be hard to preserve the paint as from the inside it’s not easy to see what you are doing.

I have removed a few high tops from vans I have broken , and I found that the best way was I need a serrated knife of sorts , infact one half of a electric carving knife blade which in the end after a bit of experimenting I adapted to fit a replicating saw In place of a saw blade
Flexible enough to bend into place, but not harsh enough to damage the paint ( much) and didn’t damage the roof

Cheese wire works but is very slow and a two man job

cleaning the old sealant off after took an age, stanley bladed scraper worked best .

Father in law suggested that polypropylene packing tape you get on parcels/pallets when I mentioned sikaflex removal to him last week. Not tried it but in theory sounds plausible and save a bit of paintwork.

I removed mine last year...
Tried wire and various blades..
Ended up using an Ikea kitchen knife, flexible enough to bend but sharp and tough enough to cut the sikaflex.
Took an age.
Wasn’t so concerned about the bodywork as was being resprayed.
Hardest job was removing the remaining sealant from the roof!!
Wire brush attachment to a drill worked best...

Many thanks for the replies and thank you Stuart for your offer to help, I have two extra bodies to help lift the roof off and will have to resign myself to get the gutters sprayed to cover any scratches. Ikea here I come.

Good luck.

Please report back with the good, bad and hopefully not ugly news

Funny, I didn’t have any bother with sealant stuck to the roof. Just pulled it off by hand, taking the rust with it.

Hi there
I've a hole at the rear just under the Fibre Glass Autohomes High Roof.
Are there any links on here to walk me through the process of lifting the roof high enough to weld ?
I've searched, but only come up with method of separation using carving knifes !!...
I'm looking for advice on the initial search for screw / bolt fixings....
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dave

I will get back to you later this afternoon, no time at the moment. Might be a help if you PM me your email address in the meantime

Bren , if you send me those pictures I will upload them ?
I’ve searched but in can’t find the post you put up when you did yours - I assume it got culled by photobuckets mess up the other year .
Mocki@club80-90.co.uk

There’s 2 ways to do it( assuming the rot is confined to one area)

You could totally remove the roof, weld where appropriate, the roof is most likely simply bonded and as they are hand built any screws etc if any will be fairly randomly placed , by cutting with the knife you will find any fixings

The other way it to cut a section out of the fibreglass roof sort the rot and put the section back with fibre glass matting etc

I expect if you remove the entire roof you’re likely to find more rot , unless you’re very lucky

Either way it’s a sort of touchy feely job in some respects, they’re generally fitted slightly differently and you need to work out exactly how by methodically removing the interior, bed etc

I did this task a few years ago and completely removed the roof as described above with a kitchen knife.   What I found underneath was horrific and I've never have known the extent of the rust or had been able to repair it properly if I'd not removed it fully.






It required a lot of cutting out and fabricating repair patch panels, but I felt it was worth doing it properly.  It was a pleasing day when it was finally lowered back onto a non crusty roof top:



Much better than attempting a bodge fix without proper access...  I did this to my front wings and 6 years later I'm faced with the task of going back and doing it properly!