If anyone is interested I have a complete roof cut from a 1980 Westy Pop Top & also the bed boards but not the poptop itself.
It has been cut off at the pillars so it is all there ready to unpick & stich onto your van.
E D I T: I had a look at the roof, it is a bit rotten in the front corners so not much use unless you can do a repair.
Fitting a pop top in place of a high top
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Dollytony
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Re: Fitting a pop top in place of a high top
Last edited by Dollytony on 22 Sep 2016, 08:18, edited 1 time in total.
1981 Westfalia Poptop now EJ25 Powered
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Sir Brixalot
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Re: Fitting a pop top in place of a high top
oldandgrumpy wrote:http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/major ... eshow/Roof
Great post thank. Do you know approx how long it took to get the old roof off and the new one on so that I can work out the cost to get someone to do it.Van looks brill BTW
Honorary "Dave"
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bluebus1987
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Re: Fitting a pop top in place of a high top
oldandgrumpy could your roof be a sunroof with the gubbins removed?
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oldandgrumpy
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Re: Fitting a pop top in place of a high top
Yes it,s quite possible the hole was a factory fitted sunroof, possibly a sliding canvas type?
I wasn,t too fussy chopping the old rusty roof off with a disc cutter then grinding the spot welds off,the base lip that the roof sat on was surprisingly solid, then grinding away all the rust and preparing the bare metal with weld through primer and red oxide. Not forgetting tiger seal on the braces as you can,t weld these to the skin, it will distort too easily. Thankfully the replacement roof had been removed very carefully by drilling the spot welds which made it easy to weld all the holes up. The trickiest bit was matching the cuts on the rear pillars and welding that up. I Guess it took a good weekend in all. Once you make a start and get stuck in it,s not as bad as the thought of doing it in the first place.
I wasn,t too fussy chopping the old rusty roof off with a disc cutter then grinding the spot welds off,the base lip that the roof sat on was surprisingly solid, then grinding away all the rust and preparing the bare metal with weld through primer and red oxide. Not forgetting tiger seal on the braces as you can,t weld these to the skin, it will distort too easily. Thankfully the replacement roof had been removed very carefully by drilling the spot welds which made it easy to weld all the holes up. The trickiest bit was matching the cuts on the rear pillars and welding that up. I Guess it took a good weekend in all. Once you make a start and get stuck in it,s not as bad as the thought of doing it in the first place.
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oldandgrumpy
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Re: Fitting a pop top in place of a high top
Getting the hi top roof off was just a matter of cutting the old sealer around the perimeter of the roof from the inside with a very sharp knife. Amazed to find it was held on with sealer only and no brackets or fixings !! You need at least 4 tallish people to lift it off as it is really heavy.
Fitting the elevating roof was a matter of lining up the hinge brackets and carefully measuring everything before fixing it down finally. Again several tall mates are an advantage as you will need to lift it on and off several times to get it right.
Fitting the elevating roof was a matter of lining up the hinge brackets and carefully measuring everything before fixing it down finally. Again several tall mates are an advantage as you will need to lift it on and off several times to get it right.