The VOLTSWAGON

[pocolow]

Cripes Mike.. ..There was a Dehler at Tatton Park last week at it had rust issues under the roof.. Probably as bad as this under all that plastic ...Eeeek

Mark

[Cableguy]

Sounds like there's an issue with Dehlers in general then.
Can't see how its got that bad, some of the areas look well sealed and swimming in sealant, but are totally shot
Unless the water gets in under that metal folded section where the lip of the roof sits. Only needs a few tiny gaps to capillary in.
Does look really scary though
Not too happy about the screen though, that was dealt with when it was resprayed 2 years ago.
I only recently noticed that he re used the screen seal rather than fitting a new one.

[Plasticman]

No, i think the water comes in from on high and then down,as it would..... i will post up a pick of the mass of sealant (original) from say the nsf corner the sealnt was intact to the fibreglass roof, trust me.... but you can see how there are rust marks under it , so the way i see it, the metal has rusted and to do this it had to start from inside as the roof was correctly bonded here,then as it slowly rotted a void appeared,all hidden under the gloop,then it made its way to the upper screen corners (lowest point) collected here and then rotted the screen surround out, same both sides , will get better picks today,
so you had this done 2 years ago ehh ? well i will put my neck out as i tend to do and suggest that the rot in these upper corners was present then, maybe not 'quite'as bad but it must have been holed cos the screen seal shows signs of the hole and was cut on the ns top by the cord used for fitting , 25 yr old rubber looses its suppleness (real word ?) mad to refit it but thats history.
having a ponder this morning on how and what
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[Plasticman]

yes mark, see syncropats, he says hes found the same so it would seem to be a common issue with these, very worrying and not easy/quick to sort
mm

[AdrianC]

Is it Dehler-roof specific, or is it more of a generic hightop problem?

[Plasticman]

well as you know many of the hi tops have issues, but in the case of the dehlers, they have the huge roof light and the opening side windows and then the roofs are a double skin, both very thin and by virtue of the design you will have difficulty seeing water passing a rooflight seal and traveling inbetween the 2 skins and exiting on the last 3" of the outershell and onto the metal body and you cant really see this till you strip stuff out, often then too late.
given what we are finding out then it may be it would be an assumption that all dehlers are like this??
i think the gutter rot started from inside and worked its way out (just as the body seams do) then when visible externally sealant is applied over and whilst this may prevent or slow water ingress here, it does not deal with the issue of coming in from the the roof lights/drilled fittings etc.
doint know to what extent general living and condensation plays a part, little i reckon cos ray did say it got soaking in there and i have smelt it a good whiler ago and it was rank.
at least now its dry and wholesome smelling, so can only get better
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[Plasticman]

well day sorting odds and sods, gutters were tricky as the brake only runs to 2.5mtr so were having to do them in 2 and join but it wont show, i have been offered some velle ones but these are quite short so will not do, the tricky bit is adding a very slight curve to the vertical face, its only 3/4" but would look crap flat.
have used the bit i cut off for setting the bars up to fold it
nnext are the long side closure plates, these originaly were all part of the gutter but it wouldf need to be very critical marking to achieve this so this is why we make and fit a gutter and then this top closure piece fits on top of that, im leaving this part a bit shy of the gutter edge so the open end will be under the sealant bonding the roof back down,

10' of the one on the left to close and the other is for the very rear, i will of course add the holes
all this is being made in finest 1.5mm steel so well up to the job
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[pictonroad]

Ray. You're nuts.

Hope it all works out in the end..

[Aidan]

Mike have you checked to see if any of the internal gutters etc are still available from classic ?
The front windscreen top panel with the lip for hightop fitting was still listed last time I looked seriously as Beaker had the same panel (factory hitop) and that rot in the lip seems to be a common issue with factory hi tops, and also available was the rear top riveted panel for westies and hi tops or does the Dehler have a van/velle one fitted ?

[Plasticman]

no gutters
as for the screen front/top area, its far easier for me to make the specific parts , the majority is fine, just manky at the ends
no popped bits at the rear, the centre is good, just the ends that are goosed, so easy enough to make to fit
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[Plasticman]

this is the sealant that was applied to all the corners, in this pick,the nsf corner

and the other side shows the water marks....

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[Plasticman]

well i was holding off chopping the last rot out as it would then be make or break and i really like an option and to reduce the odds a touch in my favour, so very happy after much ado to have these in my possesion

all in 1.5mm,the gutters are as near as dammit the same profile, so i made up 2 sets so if anyone else is contemplating doing this i have a set,
also nice new inner profiles so all in all no problems left
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[scottbott]

saw a very tidy looking profi parked up in westside motors in woodford,dark silver,E reg,could not help but think I wonder what is it like under the top after looking at these horrific photo's

[Plasticman]

tidy eh !
right the plot thickened a touch , well lets say i didnt need a chisel just a good pull

i have a bit off and the paint has broken away from the gutter and you can see fierce grinding marks followed by filler and then paints .....

so this kleads to the next small problem

the side mouldings
i have cut a bit of the sealant away and i need to weld down through the new gutters and have seen that the sealant/adhesive goes right under

so going to have a cut and probe tomoz
so on to the front area,gutter here needed a little help to come off

now this is looking down on the nsf corner where the gutter joins the part that traverses the screen top and locates the hitop

now this shows the problem at this end

so i have cut away a layer to get down to the base frame

the gutter here has no way to let collected water out as it turns up to the front lip, im going to have to make the gutter taper towards the front and also curve inwards to the screen as in the pick, tricky but will be a nice way to
make it right..also filler cant and i dont suppose will be used, its all a case of working it out as new stuff is foun d.... very interesting it is
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[Cableguy]

Bloody hell, it's like peeling an onion
Incidentally, the sealant between the mouldings and the gutters was added by the chap who painted the bottom half. He thought it looked nice. No one else did
Was going to scrape it out.