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Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:44 am

okay, so i had a busy weekend with the syncro. a few months ago i ordered a ragtop sunroof from streetbeat customs. it finally arrived last week and i dropped it in this weekend.

it was scary as hell cutting a 40x40 inch hole in my roof, but thankfully it all worked out perfectly!

here's the ragtop on the shop floor...

first i had removed the padding under the roof, my headliner was already removed so that made things a little easier. i just scraped this stuff off with a large paint scraper...

next i taped up the roof so i could protect the paint and draw my cut lines...

i used a paper stencil at first, but i realized right before i was going to cut that the stencil i made was bad so i had to start over (which is why i measured, re-measured, and measured again before i cut). the second time i made a cardboard stencil and it worked better, but was a little too stiff. i got tired of walking around the van 30 times so eventually i cut out a hole in the roof just big enough for me to stand in so i could mark everything from the center. that made it much easier and cutting the hole in the thick cardboard stencil made it easier to bend to the roof's contour.

one thing i was worried about was the hole placement and the center support. the problem is the ragtops only come in 1" increment sizes, and if you cut a hole just large enough to remove the center portion of the support, it's like 40 1/2 inches or so. it is possible i could have gotten the top 1" wider, but at that point there is a possibility that the outer portion of the ragtop would get some interference with the outer portions of the center support, but it might be fine. talking with their reps, we decided on the smaller end, then just cut the hole slightly larger where the center support was. we felt there was enough overlap of the ragtop's frame to still cover the hole...thankfully we were right :) here's a detail of the cut line...

since i was home alone, i had no action shots of the cutting. if you do this remove your center seat and tarp you ENTIRE interior. mine was already gutted so i didn't bother, but it gets metal shavings EVERYWHERE so tarp everything.

after the cut i said a few prayers and chants, then dropped the frame in to see how it fits...

one corner needed a little trimming, but overall everything was a-ok. after that it was just a matter of caulking the lip and drilling the holes for the mounts.

after all was said and done, it turned out pretty killer...

in the end, i'm really happy with the outcome. if anyone wishes to do the same the specs for the top is 44" wide, 43" long, giving you a 40x40" cutting hole. it cost me $600 shipped to my door.

the kit is fairly well built, but the instructions sucked and apparently it doesn't come with a handle??? they have custom billet handles, but i figured it came with a plain jane one, and no one told me i needed one, which is lame. so i need to call them to get one.

if i were to do it again, i would have found a better template material. something thick and heavy, but flexible. maybe like a really thick vinyl? the perfect material would be a large sheet magnet, but i'm not sure where you could buy it from, or if it would be too spendy.

otherwise, i love it!

Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:52 am

Cool! Im' curious to hear if there is any wind noise either from under the edges of simply from the wind going over the top. Also curious how well is keeps the water out. It's wet up here!

Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:57 am

Nice work ! Post pictures when you get the headliner back in and all trimmed out. I have AC that doesnt work, so I was concidering ripping it all out and welding in a factory sun roof panel from a doner bus someday.

Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:09 am

loogy wrote: Cool! Im' curious to hear if there is any wind noise either from under the edges of simply from the wind going over the top. Also curious how well is keeps the water out. It's wet up here!

thanks, yeah i'm going test with my sound meter to see how much noise it adds.

i had a busted AC as well and i -hated- that duct in middle of the van, this opens everything up nicely. now i can't wait to finish my interior and go cruising!

Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:40 am

well done...you're gonna love this. my bay window has factory sunroof (hardtop) and it makes may vanagon incredibly jealous. I'm not sure how the ragtop slider works, but I've found with the hardtop that if I have it cracked an inch or two it makes for pretty quiet highway driving, great circulation, and reduces the force of the air blowing in the front windows.

Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:03 pm

yeah i had a 71 factory sunroof i loved. i just love the openness and extra light you get. it's a good contrast to my pick up that is like a dark cave with it's dark tint windows.

i called streetbeat and they forgot the handle and are sending me one now, so that was kinda lame, but not the end of the world.

Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:17 pm

$600 geez... my whole syncro with factory metal sunroof only cost me $500!

but i thought of doing the same thing to my 72 westy... but the cost is prohibitive :(

nice work though!

Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:02 pm

loogy wrote: Cool! Im' curious to hear if there is any wind noise either from under the edges of simply from the wind going over the top. Also curious how well is keeps the water out. It's wet up here!

hey loogy,

i just sound tested the top, and posted results to my sound deadening thread...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=254839&start=20

when it was closed i couldn't hear anything noticeable from the top, the front door noise was still louder. the db meter showed no change before and after the top in my 60 sec drag to ~70mph and cruise test. i was actually surprised by that. in a way i wonder if the front support offers a little wind damn for the top. the top really isn't much taller than the support hump so it may be possible. it didn't seem to flap around at all.

as for rain, i dunno. i would think like in a crazy storm with lots of sideways winds you may get something. who knows. i think the most rains it would be fine though. since unlike a stock sunroof you don't have to worry about draining water out and getting that plugged up. every other cross bar for the top isn't attached to the rails it just sits on top, which seems wrong. i'm a bit tempted to try epoxying a small rare earth magnet to those pieces so they will stay down in a nasty wind.

i will experiment and post results here. but so far, so good. i was really shocked it didn't make a noticeable difference...at least from the drivers seat, or to the db meter.

Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:05 pm

Any more info or experiences with the top? It looks great and I am VERY tempted to do the same. Please let us know how it has worked out thus far.

Thanks!

Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:40 pm

it's been nice to have, but i do have a few complaints.

for one the handle they give you totally sucks. they sell nicer looking ones, but i can't say if they actually perform any better than the useless piece of garbage they give you. i fabricated one myself, but it ended up breaking and i haven't had time to fix it.

the other downer is that the seal they supplied would not stay stuck on. out of annoyance i removed it and as a result it will leak at highway speeds in a really bad rain. i still need to replace.

lastly it's just not as smooth as i'd like. it takes some muscle to open and close.

all that said, it's pretty nice when it's open. if i can ever sell my friggin house, i'm going to move to hawaii where i plan on having it open all the time :)