Kevtherevagon

[mm289]

you could always lift the short board at the rear of yours and have a reassuring peek........
mm

might need to take a brave pill before attempting that

Back in my kit car days you used to see a lot of probs like this with moulds. Usually where they had spent the time to make up a proper jig/frame to support and brace the mould, so hen after turning out a few tubs/panel the mould would distort.

You then got nice (non intended) shapes in the moulding

MM

[Plasticman]

send me your addy as I have lots a brave pills to dish out...lol
yep moulds...... Ive done some in my past and as you say. to me getting the shape was critical and also the hardest part, the support frame etc was just brute over engineering, shouldnt move if done right, still whats done is done,
be good if other AS owners woulkd post up picks of the corners and fr and rr of theirs for comparison
mm

[mm289]

Damm you Mike - you've made me go look closely at mine and now I've had to add another thing to the list


So this is off a 89 AS Hi-top. No visible damage to the roof anywhere so as far as I can tell this is as factory installed.

N/S/F

O/S/F

Front Top

N/S/R

O/S/R

Rear top


Most sides look pretty straight apart from o/s/r which definately has a kick up on the last 6 inches or so. You can see where the sealant is thicker here and comes down further into the gutter.
This is also where the worst rust is, but these rubber seals are just a rust-fest, trapping moisture in and creating a load of trouble.

Maybe Gunther will fit in my workshop after all, 'cause I can see the roof having to come off for this

Think I will go and make a bed frame for Myrtle so we can sleep in that instead

MM

[trentjim]

So the generic lessons I have taken from this are
to think of rivets as a simple mechnical fixing to hold the roof edge in position (where neccessary) while it is bonded... and resist later movement from breaking the bond
that fitting a hardtop to a purchased tintop, though in some respects tricky, may dodge a bullet in terms of hidden grief
I neednt worry about a homebrew bed/ substructure being inferior to an original...

all really helpful... the one thing that you didn't mention is your method of lifting the top on/off
cheers,
James

[Plasticman]

Well..
where to begin,
Jim first
yes you got it somewhat right,
take a good tintop and cut the required hole for the conversion then pick the right hitop and as you say the rest is easy , you dont need any rivits but its dependant on the roof you choose.
lifting the roof, hah easy, I do them on my own.... well in this case I have clamps that hold a jack in place and just up up up a touch, easy
mm

[Plasticman]

well MM. you got problems in there note that your sides are unlipped so the adhesion is on the sides as opposed to the bottom of the gutter, might be ok behinnd there as there probably arent any rivits holding them,
rear, sorry but as you prob know it will be shot behind there, be about the same as Kevs, front looks about the same too, if you get something like a feeler gauge etc can you slide it under the seals and also does your seam seem to nbe rivited through the seal into the roof
mm

[mark]

hi mike
here's a few pics of the roof if you need better ones ill get it out of the building site/garage. the roof to screen seal is good as ive had a new windscreen fitted and there was no rust present, i couldnt get down the passenger without braking a limb. if you want to pop round and have a look your more than welcome.

buy a sweeping brush












mark

[Plasticman]

You know mark , I just might, am a bit busy just for a week or so then ok,
your front looks fair enough but the rear is unhappy, have looksee at the last picky, see the rust to the left of the ladder and a little just behind and to the right... also note slight swellings in the rubber seal , there is a reason why these swell, not always, not everytime but often , we shall have a lookie later,
but note your and mm's roofs are different to kevs with regards to the lip that runs the length of the gutter, front and rear seals are the same though
mm

[mark]

the rear is unhappy, have looksee at the last picky, see the rust to the left of the ladder and a little just behind and to the right... also note slight swellings in the rubber seal , there is a reason why these swell, not always, not everytime but often , we shall have a lookie later,

yeah i noticed that, ill have a careful look at the weekend . the rest of it seems ok (front and both gutters)

i think i read some where that kev's used to be a pop top? the gutter to roof lip looks about 10mm smaller maybe an improvement to latter ones to stop leaks etc or a cut to remove damage after removal from the donor?

mark

[Plasticman]

Mark, gutter to roof lip??
It dont look like it was a pop top to me....
mm

[mark]

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e308/ ... CF0136.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

on kev's there is a 10mm ish lip where it hits the van roof (i should read what i write before pushing the button and after ive had my tea )

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd5 ... 0_0579.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mine finishes where the crack/line in the sealant is (about 5mm below the red line) and has no lip (1991 reg) and looks the same as mm's.

while i was thinking it was a pop top conversion and making no sense after a hard day with the router .

what i should have wrote is, the roof without the lip ie the newer version is less likely to leak due to there being less area fixed to the roof/gutter line (capilery attraction and all that science jazz)

mark

[Plasticman]

Thats partly true, but I fear most of the ingress !!! is forced in under the front seal, is your seal, sealed to the body or just sat on it.
Once past this its then free to work its way along the length of the roof and the rest is history.

Well had a fair day prepping for painting in a few days time, trimmed the roof join and added a little more fc40 to keep the join neat, just boring stuff but will stick some picks up tommorow,
mm

[penfold118]

Had a chat to Kev at Dub Freeze and he pointed me in the direction of the thread. Great work mickey ( kev said the pic's were "welding porn" ... )

My A/S is going for a full refurb in a couple of weeks, I might change my mind after reading the thread and pretend all is ok

Jez

[Plasticman]

well not much to post as its boring bits ready for going to paint on wednesday.
removed rthe last of the glass(hitop) and fuel filler shroud and all the stuff that you dont want to paint round,
the stickers came off easy but found more clear sanitary sealant like behind the awning rail..

pain to remove but no point painting round stuff as it will always peel away
brushed all the seams and new repaired stuff with seam sealant
NSR

OS

The more the added stickers and stuff come of the better and classier its starting to look
mm

[kevtherev]

oh dear the sealant is my addition... and the stickers have had a good run... bye bye