How Do I fix My Roof

Post by **squire** » 21 Jun 2007, 06:34

2 of the 3 hinges that attach my pop top to the roof of the van have come off. They are still attached to the pop top but not to the roof of the van. The holes where the pop rivets were are all rotten. Any ideas....?

in my infinite wisdom i thought i could nut and bolt the original hinges back to the van, not realising the roof is double skinned...?

i am taking the van to a mate who is a mechanic on Monday, he has told me to find out what needs doing and he wil do it although he has not done it before. So once again any ideas, suggestions or peoples past experiences are all welcome.

Post by **SplendiferousII** » 21 Jun 2007, 09:15

Ummm interesting one.

I am guessing that the Rivets were alloy ones and about 6mm in Diameter? Are the rotten holes really really bad? If you could drill a hole to get back to clean sound metal how large would they need to be?

Or are we talking about cutting out and welding in a new section here? - If that's the case then you might as well weld in a patch with captive nuts welded to the inside.

If the holes could be drilled to say 10mm and be sound. Ask a sheet metal shop (steel fabricator - Stainless Steel would be best) to fit some Nutserts for you.

http://www.zygology.com/products/tier2. ... EAodimrM1w

Hope this helps.

Post by **squire** » 21 Jun 2007, 16:25

cheers mucka, will av to get you a few bevvies next time we are in each others company...

Post by **DiscoDave** » 23 Jun 2007, 07:40

my solution would be to remove the hinges from the roof and then from the van, you should be ablt to shove the roof far enough out of the way to work then!

grind back to good solid metal and wled a plate over so you have a good solid base to work from, don't just plate over the 5 square inches where the hinge goes put as big a plate in as you can, this will give more strength! re-drill and rivet your hinges to the roof! now the important part!! plenty of waxoyl! allover the hinges and the new plates, and anywhere that you can't see hwen the roof is on!

finally pull the roof back and re rivet back on! you may want too put plates on the roof too just to add strength to the fibre glass! if you do you will be better off using stainless steel for this as it won't rust and cause streaks down your van!

hope all goes weell!!

Post by **squire** » 23 Jun 2007, 10:31

cheers Dave, i really appreciate the advice, my friendly neighbourhood spiderman er i mean mechanic is doing the work on monday and although he is more clued up than me he's never done owt like this before. So i will pass on your advice and when i see you next treat you to a few " BISHOPS FINGERS "