Replacing the rubber trim round a Super Viking roof

[VWMAK]

I was pulling down my Super Viking Roof last week, and the rubber trim came off in my hand. (I could push it back on but not ideal long term)

Whats the best solution to replacing this trim, obviously its slightly rotten....recently purchased the van so relatively new to this.

On a side note does anyone know how easy it is to fit a cigarette lighter (For TOM TOM), wire the immobiliser car alarm so it works (I have the fobs previous owner said its a case of connecting the wires, I haven't checked as yet but doubt its that easy), fix the front blowers to blow hot air, and wire in some rear speakers.

[CJH]

Lots of questions here! I'm only answering because I've replaced the trim on my Viking roof too.

I was pulling down my Super Viking Roof last week, and the rubber trim came off in my hand. (I could push it back on but not ideal long term)

Whats the best solution to replacing this trim, obviously its slightly rotten....recently purchased the van so relatively new to this.

I bought a new seal from "the Camper shop" (aka "poptop-parts"), but their web page doesn't seem to have any details at the moment. Worth a call I think - he was a helpful chap.
A few things to note:
1) It's only a cushion, to stop the fibreglass scratching the roof paint. It doesn't need to seal, since any water that gets past it only reaches the outside of the poptop canvas.
2) The cross-section of the seal is like a 'U' sitting on top of an 'O'. The 'O' part sits in the gutter on the hinge side and clogs it up, and water tends to sit there as a result. It causes a rusty gutter. The gutter needs to be kept clean and clear. When I did mine I used a piece of 'U' section along that side between the hinges - it looks the same, and doesn't clog the gutter.
3) The remaining length - one side, two ends, and round the corners to meet the hinges - is somewhat shorter than the default length that most places will sell you. Measure it and try to buy only what you need.

On a side note does anyone know how easy it is to fit a cigarette lighter (For TOM TOM)

I do, yes
That's not what you wanted to know though is it.
Decide whether you want it powered all the time, or only with the ignition on, find a corresponding feed in the fusebox, run a wire (10A or more) from the unfused side of that feed, via an inline fuse (smaller than the rating of your wire, and close to the fusebox), to the lighter socket, and run another wire to an earth point.

...wire the immobiliser car alarm so it works (I have the fobs previous owner said its a case of connecting the wires, I haven't checked as yet but doubt its that easy)

No idea - depends on the model. Maybe start by googling the model and downloading the fitting instructions.

...fix the front blowers to blow hot air

That's potentially a bigger problem than it sounds, if you don't have coolant circulating in the heater matrix. What are the levels like in your two coolant bottles? Or do you mean that the blower fan doesn't work?

...and wire in some rear speakers.

A simple job, electrically speaking, but the main problem in my experience is routing the cables. If in the roof then you're looking at feeding cables behind the headlining. My speakers were already installed in the kick panel in the rock'n'roll bed, so when I replaced the floor I made sure the cables were routed underneath that, out of the way.

[greatwindowsss]

I'm also new here and I'm looking forward to learn from you guys

I'm planning to paint my van next week and before I do it I'd like to repair some large, shallow dents in the roof since water pools up in the and has wrecked the current paint. I can push most of them out my hand but they pop back in after a while. I was thinking I could possibly pull the headliner and weld a bit of metal to support these areas and keep the dents from popping back in. Does anyone have any ideas or experience doing this? I'd also like to swap headliners between my parts van and mine while I'm doing this. Is this possible, and if so, how do I remove and reinstall without destroying it?

[silverbullet]

Search ebay for "car edge seal" and take your pick. I bought from the supplier of this stuff 221183362201

Dents in the roof are suprisingly common and the only cure is shrinking, this technique means use of an oxyacetylene torch and great experience iirc

Regarding headliner removal...work in hot weather so the fabric and glue is supple and be very very patient!

[Oldiebut goodie]

Talking to spammers again?
Makes a change from the room that you cook in ones.

[VWMAK]

Thanks a lot of help here.

Any other views please let me know

[VWMAK]

...fix the front blowers to blow hot air

That's potentially a bigger problem than it sounds, if you don't have coolant circulating in the heater matrix. What are the levels like in your two coolant bottles? Or do you mean that the blower fan doesn't work?

The blowers work plenty of cold air, coming into the season it doesnt really matter, but be nice to fix if possible, just no hot air coming out, will have to check the coolant levels to confirm.

...and wire in some rear speakers.

A simple job, electrically speaking, but the main problem in my experience is routing the cables. If in the roof then you're looking at feeding cables behind the headlining. My speakers were already installed in the kick panel in the rock'n'roll bed, so when I replaced the floor I made sure the cables were routed underneath that, out of the way.[/quote]

Thanks for this, what are the routing options that you've seen? Yeah make sense behind the headlining or under the floor. Hopefully youtube may have some tutorials on how to set this up.