16" Westy?

[sonic23]

it's very time consuming to have to drill all the spot welds out of the donor roof...but if done properly, you can then go around and fill each hole with a weld. Then you've got to grind them back...Maybe 200 odd to do? But I'm very pleased with the end result, and it's nearly how it would have left the factory with a westy roof clip. The strengthening is all there too....which I'm not sure would be if you just cut a hole in the roof.

I got my instructions from a guy on the Samba. Let me know if you need any more info.


cheers,
Rich

[syncropaddy]

Were they ever sold in america or only in europe?
Rob.

AFAIK 16" Syncros were not sold in the States.

[xriss]

i think there were 14 perhaps 15 in total...ill try dig out some pics i know of one in italy a nice cammo colour scheme originally white back in the day.. also a french one i dont know what happend to that and one in germany reputed to be a westfalia show case number...ill post up some pics shrortley..cheers all

[armyphil]

Anyone want to buy a westy so I can go syncro?

[xriss]

there u go three original 16" westfalias for you feast you little peepers on!!!:)

[lloydy]

Nice!
Hows your atlantic coming on?

[..lee..]

The reason I didn't use the westy roof cut is because I personally think messing with the gutter is a bad idea. If you don't seal it 100% then you will have leaks, and leaks in a camper is my worst nightmare. If you're confident that you can seal the gutter long term bearing in mind the syncros 3 wheel when offloading all the time then using the roof cut is the easier option compared to what I did.

[xriss]

just checking the join dates from a few in this post....what weird magnetic force was going on in the mid 2 weeks of october 2005?

[syncropaddy]

Oh yes ......

[Mudlark]

just checking the join dates from a few in this post....what weird magnetic force was going on in the mid 2 weeks of october 2005?

Think that was the date we moved over to phpBB from the old forum...

I like the camo paint job too; ideal livery for discreet wild camping; wonder if his pop-top canvas is camo too

[hotpod]

if you are going the westy high top route, it isn't necessary to do a complete roof transplant, and from my experience, not very desirable as the westy edge on one which you would want to demolish rather than restore and sell for a good price, is likely to be fairly rotten. my donor certainly was.
the other thing, it that the roof was next to impossible to remove from the original due to its extra wide gutter with the clamping strip all round. you would want to remove it i think to do a good roof transplant job and i just don't think it would be worth it even if possible.

you will however be wanting the factory original brackets from the donor roof once you have removed the high top and to make a very careful note of exactly where they came from.
syncronutz were very helpful over the phone when i got stuck. they advised cutting the hightop off just above the clamping strip. ( even if you get it removed with the lip intact, it will be too big for a hard tops gutter).
then i had to cut out the entire receiving van metal roof in line with the inside upright section all round, then 100% weld the roof metal to the inside upright section before fitting the brackets and then all the westfalia steelwork. the roof is then bonded on with enormous amounts of sikaflex.
the only thing i would do differently now is to somehow leave the lip on the front of the westy roof. i am currently working out a nice way to put one back on. they stop the rain/snow etc from constantly running down the roof onto the windscreen.

i personally am a huge fan of the westfalia high top and would definitely do it again if i needed too.