TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Jul 29, 2014 6:48 pm

Figured I would share my latest project which is adding a pop top to my tin top Syncro. I plan on doing the whole roof section swap but decided to just bolt on the top for now, instant gratification.
Here's the donor

I love my sawzall

Gotta get it home

Dry fit. Interlux paint is amazing!

New headliner.

Still need to cut the main hole and locate holes for rear hinges and luggage rack. Also have to staple in the new Bus Depot canvas. A lot to do but getting closer to popping the top.

Matt

Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:00 pm

Looks great Matt, nice redo on the roof "fuzz". Since you got the poptop metal too, your syncro deserves for it to be done 'right' with the roof cut out and donor welded in.

Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:04 pm

Dave,
You are absolutely right but I want to stand straight up, not hunched over, right now. Roof section will be a winter project.

Matt

Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:38 pm

There is plenty of ways to do it... There is this one... Hint hint...

My westfalia poptop transplant to a vanagon passenger van
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=598979&highlight=

Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:08 am

Looks Great, Matt.

Where did you get the headliner material and is it less 'fuzzy' than the original?

Cheers,

John

Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:46 am

Headliner material is from a local upholstery shop. It's a 1/4" foam back headliner and less fuzzy than the orginal flocking material. I used 3M trim adhesive to glue it to the top. I purchased the adhesive from a local auto body paint supplier. Required 4 cans of adhesive and about 3 yards of headliner material. Total cost was around $116.00, 36 for headliner and 80 for the adhesive.

Matt

Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:54 am

BookMarked. I have read all the conversion information I could find. It really makes it difficult to decide how to proceed. I expect to have my top off and on a few times during the process and won't bother to finish it till the rest of the project is completed.

Wed Jul 30, 2014 7:03 am

msewalson wrote: Headliner material is from a local upholstery shop. It's a 1/4" foam back headliner and less fuzzy than the orginal flocking material. I used 3M trim adhesive to glue it to the top. I purchased the adhesive from a local auto body paint supplier. Required 4 cans of adhesive and about 3 yards of headliner material. Total cost was around $116.00, 36 for headliner and 80 for the adhesive.

Matt

Thanks Matt.

much appreciated and looking forward to your progress.

John

Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:58 pm

Finally got it done!!

First cut made into headliner.

Template I made to locate luggage carrier mounts.

Mount bolted up.

Sealant I used.

A look underneath at mount.

Hinge mounted up. I made a backing plate out of steel for mounting to roof, copied crazyvwvanman. I also made a template for locating the holes to be drilled. I had my wife do her own method for locating the holes, basically double check my work. We ended up being within a 1/16" of each other. Location of holes ended up being dead on and the hinges bolted up with no problems.

Location used to slide backing plate into place. To access it I pulled the weather stripping off at rear hatch. This exposes the headliner material which was easily pulled away from van. The thin gap in the top corner, above tension rod holding up headliner, is where the backing plate is slid into place. Definitely wouldn't want to drop it before getting a bolt started.

Layout for hole.

No turning back now.

How about a little rain while your cutting a hole in the roof of your van.

I'm thankful it passed by quickly and I was able to finish

Cut outs for support arm, again copied crazyvwvanman.

Support arm mounting, just used a piece of aluminum angle.

The tab on support arm was bottoming out on tin top roof section and preventing top from fully closing.

Easy fix, just hack it off.

Finished project. I didn't snap any photos during the canvas install. I scrapped the plastic tack strip & staples and replaced it with aluminum strip and screws. I laid out the bottom track by taping it to the roof so I could pre drill the holes for the mounting screws. I initially used plain sheet metal screws but had a hard time getting them to line up with the pre drilled holes. Ended up using some self tapping screws instead.

Canvas from Bus Depot. I'm pleased with it and will say the fit is tight. Pop top seal kit and interior trim lock was purchased from Go Westy. Stainless hardware was purchased from Frank Condelli.

I need to swap out the latch screws with shorter ones, poking into headliner. I used contact cement to glue the headliner to the top edge of the cut out. Finished with the trim lock.

In the end I would say the most time consuming thing was painting the top. Dry time for Interlux is 12+ hours. The most difficult part of the install was screwing down the bottom canvas to the roof using the track. Corners are tough and a flexible driver for a drill is needed. Having the roof section on site made locating all hole to be drilled easy, definitely measure twice, and then a third and a fourth maybe even a fifth before drilling any holes.

Next on the list is a level platform up top.

Matt

Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:33 pm

Looks very nice! :)

I hope someone is saving the camper interior and cabinetry from the donor before it rots away! :(

Great job on the top!

Tue Aug 12, 2014 10:47 pm

Great job.. Exactly how I did mine except half the roof hole.
Cheers.

Tue Aug 12, 2014 11:13 pm

I thought a roof section had to be grafted... way cool!

Wed Aug 13, 2014 8:39 am

Looks great! This is motivating me to go to the local VW pick-n-pull to see if there are any poptop donors.

Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:03 am

Hello, thank you for sharing your work. I have a question about your hinge attachment. I believe the camper roof has flats that the hinges sit on. In your one picture it looks like the roof is slightly deformed behind the hinge attachment.

Did you just flat bolt the hinges to the tin top roof or did you massage the area of the roof where the hinge sets?

I am looking at my options as well. I need the upper berth so will need to do a little more surgery than you, but could simplify the project if I do the hinges the way you did. Thank you.

Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:24 am

I just bolted the hinges up as is with no mods to the sheet metal. I think you're
seeing scratches in the paint that occurred during the install.

Also, I still have my templates if anyone would like to use them.

Matt

Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:37 am

msewalson wrote: I just bolted the hinges up as is with no mods to the sheet metal. I think you're
seeing scratches in the paint that occurred during the install.

Also, I still have my templates if anyone would like to use them.

Matt

That's good to know.. I did flattened mine a bit to make the rear
Poptop sit right and flushed with the roof.
are you going to make the bed section too?
Cheers,
Ogi

Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:59 am

I'm planning on making a bed platform. Plan is to have a section of it flip over to cover a majority of the opening. I did reinforce the sides of the opening with angle aluminum to support the section that will fold over.

Matt

Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:07 am

Kombi///M3 wrote: msewalson wrote: I just bolted the hinges up as is with no mods to the sheet metal. I think you're
seeing scratches in the paint that occurred during the install.

Also, I still have my templates if anyone would like to use them.

Matt

That's good to know.. I did flattened mine a bit to make the rear
Poptop sit right and flushed with the roof.
are you going to make the bed section too?
Cheers,
Ogi

Ogi, do you have any pictures of how you massaged that area? My assumption is on these older hinges, perhaps having them sitting square to the poptop is not as important as it was when they originally rolled out of the factory. If the hinges were bolted without the top, my guess would be if you measured between the hinges extended you'd find that the distance is greater compared to a actual camper chassis. Probably the wear in the hinges and the give in the fiberglass allow it to work. Thank you.

Matt, it is not the scratches, but probably a shadow I see. Thank you again for sharing.

Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:30 am

msewalson wrote: I'm planning on making a bed platform. Plan is to have a section of it flip over to cover a majority of the opening. I did reinforce the sides of the opening with angle aluminum to support the section that will fold over.

Matt

Nice.. Just an idea, how about instead of folding bed, make it sliding.
So no other mechanism involve. Just make 2 halves of the bed one
half sit on top when not needed then just slide over for the full bed.
Secure it with metal latch so they don't come apart on you while sleeping.
just an idea. Good luck.

As for rsxsr, I don't have pics but I did it by using 2x4 wood piece placed on
About 2" section and hammered the wood just enought to flattened the edge
Top where the hinges sits on.. Trace the hinges first before doing it, gives you
An idea where to flattened it. Hope I made sense;) I wrapped the wood with electrical tape to prevent scratching. But beware of paint flaking when the edge
Bend.. Tap it one at the time hard but gradual.
Good luck.
Ogi

Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:37 am

rsxsr,
Honestly I wouldn't worry about flattening out the hinge section. Just measure, drill, bolt and go.

Matt