T3 Westfalia Hightop Conversion - Hochdach

[SyncroGhia]

Thanks for the comments

Yes I put blocks between the roof skin and frame.

It's written up in the Limey thread as I figured that it wasn't part of the roof conversion.

Follow the link in my signature.

MG
_________________
T3 Syncro 16 S6 Westfalia Limey SOLD
T3 Syncro 6x6 SOLD
T3 RS6 Bluestar
T3 Tristar Syncro 16 SOLD
T3 Tristar Syncro RHD SOLD

[cptgreenvalley]

Thanks, will have a look
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1979 T2 Camper 2.0FI - Sportsman Conversion ( US import)

1987 T3 Syncro Vanagon 1.9TD ( Decoupler, Double Diffs, Westfalia conversion)

1991 Golf MK2 Country Syncro 1.8

2010 BMW 330xd & 320xd

[SyncroGhia]

Well it's taken a while but finally I booked Limey in to have the roof painted.

It's looking a little different!

The paint is not perfect though but I expected that as I just asked the painter to change the colour, not repair imperfections.

I had the roof stored on top of my Bluestar on a roofrack and we had a storm. The roof ended up blowing off and getting wedged inbetween the Bluestar and the house. Not good.

It didn't break but there are now plenty of cracks in the gel-coat. I understand that the only way to fix these is to grind out each one and repair it. NOT FUN!

You live and learn.

This repair work will have to be carried out before the van gets a new paint job.

For the moment, it's white (VW White R902 if anyone wants to know) which is not a blinding white, in fact the Fiamma canopy is a whiter white which is what I wanted.

The interior liner that goes between the bottom of the upper window and the interior is a mess. I'm going to have to look for more material to replace it with in the future.

MG
_________________
T3 Syncro 16 S6 Westfalia Limey SOLD
T3 Syncro 6x6 SOLD
T3 RS6 Bluestar
T3 Tristar Syncro 16 SOLD
T3 Tristar Syncro RHD SOLD

[cptgreenvalley]

Great job!

Will glue my high roof any day now, based on your informative thread!
_________________
1979 T2 Camper 2.0FI - Sportsman Conversion ( US import)

1987 T3 Syncro Vanagon 1.9TD ( Decoupler, Double Diffs, Westfalia conversion)

1991 Golf MK2 Country Syncro 1.8

2010 BMW 330xd & 320xd

[SyncroGhia]

[t3t3t3]

I am in the middle of a similar conversion. Your thread has been very helpful and encouraging.

I have a bit of trouble putting the cupboard in position. Do the front corners rest on the roof frame? The front edge does not in my understanding. It rests on the little 90° angle screwed onto the inner side of the frame, correct?
My cupboard is not as wide as the roof frame, so it would be held only by the angle at the front, the front corners and screwed to the 'safety bow'.

Thanks!

[SyncroGhia]

[SyncroGhia]

Update as I'm finally getting onto the roof rack design and fit.

I bought a bulk load of 25mm 3mm wall thickness aluminium tube a while back (something like 18 meters!) and then some 180° curves to cut up.

I've been buying tooling to be able to curve and cut the pipework while finalising the design.

The supported needed turning down and having a small lathe made this easy if not a little time consuming.

Once I had all ten supports cut to the right length and machined to fit inside the nylon liners (the tubes that are bolted / bonded onto the roof are stainless steel and the rack is aluminium... not a great combination for galvanic corrosion but nobody makes the supports in aluminium).

[img]when I find the photo![/img]

Front angled supports...

Vertical supports...

Then onto curving the bars in the rollers.

Little by little...

Now onto fitting the vertical supports into the bases.

And offering up the front bar.

And then having the front sections welded up to trial fit the front section...

And playing around with positions of it.

I prefer it sitting further back I think.

Now I need to go and cut up the 180° section into angles of 34° and 38° to match the roof angles... now where's that protractor??

MG
_________________
T3 Syncro 16 S6 Westfalia Limey SOLD
T3 Syncro 6x6 SOLD
T3 RS6 Bluestar
T3 Tristar Syncro 16 SOLD
T3 Tristar Syncro RHD SOLD

[SyncroGhia]

Following on from all of previous work, I took a couple of days off work to finish off the roof design and booked in with a local welder to weld it all up on the van.

One day for me to finish the design work and the other day for it to be welded on.

I'll let the pics do the talking.

So as you can see by the light on the last pics, I worked late and got it done.

The next morning the local welder was suddenly 'unavailable' and cancelled on me by 10:30am. I was furious.

I put out a shout on FB and a fellow T3 enthusiast put up his hand and said that he would take on the job. The T3 scene has some great people in it and David is one of them.

Take a bow David Cooksey!

So... move on a few weeks and try again.

This time... it was actually going to happen!

With scaffolding on both sides of the van, it was a lot easier to build the cage back up and start welding.

The rear ladder got finished off too

After 12 hours of welding, it's finally done.

I am having some supports turned up at the local machine shop (I know my limits!) for the rear luggage rack and I've bought a fiamma rack from ebay for under a tenner to see if I can modify it and use that as the flip down part with hinges etc.

Thank you again David!

MG
_________________
T3 Syncro 16 S6 Westfalia Limey SOLD
T3 Syncro 6x6 SOLD
T3 RS6 Bluestar
T3 Tristar Syncro 16 SOLD
T3 Tristar Syncro RHD SOLD

[dobryan]

Looks great!
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[Floyd1966]

Lovely welding!

[Multiman mv]

Great write up and photos. Very well done!

[Scurry]

I just read the entire thread this evening. Great work. Keep her if you can. Youve inspired many people with this project.

[JackWesty]

Apologies for reviving this thread if necessary.
It’s been incredibly helpful to me as I took the roof off our Westy hightop, fixed the rust, and I’m now putting it back on. So huge thanks!
Like you I’m wondering whether to reinstate the metal strips that originally held the fibreglass lip in the gutter.
I think you skipped this and just glued them in with the Silkaflex 252.
If you were doing it all over again would you make the same choice?
This would be my preference as it complicates things I think.
Perhaps other members have an opinion? If so I’d be grateful for those thoughts.
Also I’m thinking if using Silkaflex 552. Does any one have any experience of that? Like the 252 it’s a structural adhesive but a polymer rather than polyurethane. It can still be used at 5 degrees centigrade unlike the 252 which requires 10 degrees minimum is why I’m thinking of using it in November in England.
Thanks again!

[SyncroGhia]

[JackWesty]

Thanks, that’s really helpful once again.
I’m going to check with Sika but if the 552 is ok instead of the 252 it supposedly doesn’t need the primers just the cleaners and also it’s UV tolerant.