The painted pop top ...years later

[Miche11e]

Hello everyone. My mom gave my husband and I a 1987 white Westfalia Vanagon (The Little Beep Beep) which had been sitting in her driveway since 2011. The van was working when she parked it. She was frustrated at the lack reliability and more importantly..no ac so she bought a new Prius. It was towed to our house and has been here for a year. Now we're ready to get it going.

While dh is working on mechanical, I'm working on cleaning. We have a new Bus Depot canvas in grey and have the pop top off with old canvas removed. Originally I just thought we'd clean it and stick the new canvas on and be done. But as, I read the tons of threads here, you tube and general google, I'm starting to lean towards painting the top. Also we discovered a cracked corner hiding under the years of grime. Also, not that they are not that noticable, but I still can't get the black spots off the top.

So my question is, how has the Interlux paint jobs held up? And which white or light color looks best with the L40D paint color? I'm assuming that if we paint it, we would not need to wax the top which was original plan. Also, I have been reading a ton about fixing the fiberglass. Any recommendations for products or procedures would be great.

Off to clean the luggage rack.


And yes....we have new fuel lines ready to go in

[Ronzo_volvo_guy]

Michelle;

Welcome to this forum!

I'm not a regular here, I just stop by from the vintage Volvo world, to help with electrical issues...and I guess now maybe fiberglass issues...in the first pic, previous repair "stitches" across the crack indicate it has been "repaired" before, but apparently inadequately for the stresses there...it would be best to show the backside of both corners to better know what was there in terms of the repair (or are both crack pix front and back?...I don't see stitches in second pic), so that recommendations could be made for further glass repairs bridging the cracks...but very doable...and if done right (stop-drilling and proper prep so good uniting of base to repair), and strongly enough, it will be permanent!

I'll leave it to others to make recommendations for paint/finishes on the glass parts.

Cheers from Connecticut!

[thatbaldwinlife]

That crack is definitely repairable. There are a lot of Youtube videos on how to fix fiberglass but I you don't feel comfortable, take the top to a boat shop and they can fix it.
Our Interlux paint is less than a year old but we are still happy. One thing I need to get used to is that it scuffs like paint versus the white gel coat that was on there before. Just a bit more upkeep that OEM.

We have a video series on Youtube documenting our top refinishing and tent install
nate
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1987 Westy
Insta: @Thatbaldwinlife
Vanagon Adventure and DIY videos:
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[Miche11e]

Ronzo...thanks for the welcome. That picture is front and back. There is only one crack. The repair will be my husband's/ son's department if we don't farm it out. I think they are comfortable doing it, but I am the detail person who likes to research before doing.

Nate..I watched your videos on redoing your top and installing your canvas. They are very well detailed and explained. That's partly what gave me the push to take it on. Now that I see the our top in the daytime, I think the regular white is the way to go if we paint. I'm not 100% sure I want to, but it will never be easier than now with canvas, vent, and seals off.

Also, I don't know who had this van before my mom, but there is silicone bead all the way around where the seals used to be including a half inch thick bead around the luggage rack. Good grief.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[bobbyblack]

Just a tangent question: what color is your Vanagon? I can't seem to find mention of L40D. I have a guess you mean it is white, but this is what I have come up with for the white Vanagons.


From this thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=527875

White
Alpine White (L90E) [9018]
Arctic White (LY9D) [?]
Candy White (LB9A) [F8]
Damuso White (LH9D) [P6]
Pastel White (L90D) [R1]

Just popped into my head, since I now have a L90D / R1 bus and am going to get some white paint for the top. I am actually going to use a special paint meant for heat reflection, doing one of my white pop tops with the special paint, and getting a side by side comparison of heat saturation inside.
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[84Cabby82Westy]

I painted my top with white Interlux primer and topcoat in 2001 and it still looks like I just did it. Every year or so I use 3M marine cleaner wax on it and it has held up great.

My top was worse than yours - the 1st owner thought bathroom cleanser and a heavy duty wire brush was the best way to prepare the top for sitting under a sappy pine tree for 14 Oregon winters. It was a black, fuzzy mess and after a weekend's work, it looked great. I recommend using the primer and sanding it between the 2 coats to prepare for the top coat. I used a small low-nap roller and a 1 inch brush. It was painted with the top on it, parked at the curb and it still wasn't too bad a job. It will be even easier with the top off (after you repair the corner). Good luck!

[Steve M.]

As been said, "the crack is easily repairable".
I personally would drill a hole right at the end of the crack. In metal working where you have a crack if you drill a hole at the end of a crack it prevents the crack from getting longer by stopping the splitting. It has carried over into abs plastics and similar materials, i.e. fiberglass.
The old manufacture of the top used "polyester" in the resin mix. Nowadays epoxy resins are the normal resins people use, but I would go with polyester because that is what is there. Epoxy would probably work just as well.
Any boat chandler shop would have what you need to fix that.
"West Systems" kits have calibrated pumps that disperse the exact amount of resin and the hardener for the resin so it's really easy to not screw it up by too little or too much.

The thing here is that the corner is now not the same size as it was originally. It is wider because of the splitting in the crack.
You will need to clean it up and possibly make a frame to squeeze it closer together so the edges of the crack meet as they originally did. Something like picture frame clamps.

Strip the paint on the outside, sandpaper it. Maybe cut a "v-groove" down the length of the crack so you can place a layer of glass matt over it and tuck a layer of glass matt into the groove followed by a thin length in the groove to bring it level with the surface.

Most of your repair strength will be on the inside where you add layers of glass matt the re-enforce the corner.

It's not hard. Buy a pack of disposabke gloves and some plastic paint containers for the resin. After the resin cures it will pop out of the containers leaving you with "new" containers as the resin will not stick to the plastic.

Have fun!
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This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[space]

I went with an off the shelf product (name escapes me)
Has held up well
Def need to ruff the surface after power wash the dirt

_________________
82 westy
w:
2.5 JDM Subie
Rear discs

[Miche11e]

Bobbyblack - I meant L90D Pastel White is the van color.

Skills- we got a new skylight since the old one was all busted. Here's hoping it don't leak. We didn't call it the little beep beep for nothing. My mom also had a 70s Vanagon when I was a teen that caused so much disappointment and embarrassment that I didn't care if I ever saw one again.

Steve - Thanks for the encouragement for the crack fix. I will show your information to my guys.

[vwwestyman]

I Interlux-ed the top on my '78 Westy back in 2016 and it still looks great.

I also had a crack in a corner that I fixed up with a fiberglass repair kit I got at Wal-Mart or somesuch. Just put a few layers of the fiberglass on the backside and some of the resin in the crack, and sand it down. I do not believe I chose to put any fiberglass on the outside of the crack. Didn't want to deal with smoothing that out, and so far, so good.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[thatbaldwinlife]

[Merian]

prep and flex agent in the paint are the keys...
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....

[campism]

Following this. I have a similar, but less severe, crack in my poptop that will require the same attention when we replace the canvas.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[Miche11e]

So I know this has morphed more into questions about the crack fix. When sanding in prep for the glass, I understand the front maybe should have a v groove but it might challenging because it looks like someone tried to fix it before with zipper like drilling and filling. Not sure if we should v those too. Also, how far do you drill through to stop the crack? And does the back still need to be sanded down into a groove too, or can it just be roughed up and then fabric or mat added for strength? We won't be able to get a grinder in that inside corner, maybe a Dremel but I don't think that will be visible after the canvas is back on anyways.

My husband did load the top on our truck and take it to a boat repair shop for a quote. They thought it was plastic and wouldn't touch it.

[DuncanS]

Drilling a hole is not going to fix the failure. You need to do some serious grinding and fiberglass repair with epoxy resin. At the bottom of page 2 of Poptop Lift Bar Went Through Roof! https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=755614&highlight=
I give a lengthy post of a correct way to make a long lasting permeant repair.

[Abscate]

Hello Fingerlakes ! How far are you from 14886?

The crack stopping hole is important but first you have to find the end of the crack, which can be a lot longer than it looks. You drill through the entire thickness of the material in a hole something like 3-4 mm diameter (1/8 inch drill or a bit bigger )
West system Epoxy will plug that. You could also try MarineTex but that’s not really the way to go.

If you catch me on my upstate NY rotations I can stop by with some good cheer and advice too.
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.ssS!

[DuncanS]

Crack stopping will NOT solve the problem, nor wil Marine Tex, which is a good product for when its application makes sense, which is not in this case. The fiberglass all around the area has fatigued, the resin has broken down and can not be repaired with just applying some favorite goo over the crack. You MUST grind the area back to good material and then rebuild. Anything short of this won't last the summer.

Cracks indicate stress as a result of concentrated forces. Concentrated forces need reinforcing. Don't waste your time with anything less than the correct repair.

Sorry to sound like a Dutch Uncle. Having spent many, many years around fiberglass, I feel these thoughts bear some weight, but decide what's best for you. Drill a hole and put white gorilla tape over the crack and go camping if that's the main point for owning the car.

It's all about priorities. Here's what I did just last week. Made a bunch of roof cuts which need welding, grinding, fairing, priming and painting. But I want to go camping, so hence the white Gorilla tape. Black works well too, but looks terrible. All of the steps to restore the roof to like new will happen in the late fall when the camping season is over--or maybe not even until early spring before the season starts. It's a daily driver and I need to use it, not have it off the road for the perfect repair and use "someday".

Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

Duncan

[djkeev]

Wow!

You had a HEAVY snow load or someone was playing VanLife and dancing half naked on the roof!

I kept a small space heater going all winter in my Weekender.
Kept the mold at bay and melted the roof snow load.

The roof came with one crack that I fixed, I wasn't anxious to do it yet again.

Dave
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[Miche11e]

So the employee at West Marine pointed me to a fiberglass kit by Evercoat. It is way more than we need but it is a handy sized kit. Yesterday my guy sanded ( I made him get a respirator mask) out past the two sides of crack on both the inside (where the canvas goes) and outside into a shallow V. He ended up grabbing a cylindrical drill sander attachment to sand that inside corner and it seemed to work well. I believe he also used my orbital sander on the outside corner with the crack. He also drilled a hole at the terminus of the cracks on both sides. Then he wiped it down with denatured alcohol, and applied the first coat of the resin soaked cloth to the back side and smoothed it out.

The temperature was a little low for doing this (59 degrees) so I hope it hardened ok. The kit did have a table which told how much hardener to use according to the ambient temperature. 60 was the lowest.

Abscate - we are about an hour west of you. The cosmetic fixes we are doing now may be the easy part. Next we are moving into the engine. She can crank but we haven't started her yet as we are trying to finish getting the fuel lines changed. I think he ran out of clamps. Also our clutch is non existent so that will be our next hurdle. I think it would be great to connect with other vanagon owners in our area.