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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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Ryan Keating Samba Member
Joined: March 04, 2004 Posts: 217
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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WOW that looks great. What did you use. |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:30 am Post subject: |
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Ryan Keating wrote: |
WOW that looks great. What did you use. |
2 cotes of Interlux Pre-Kote and 2 coats of Interlux Brightside polyurethane per other samba members recommendations. This paint is top notch, but it takes a LOT of time, effort and patience. _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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shorepig Samba Member
Joined: November 30, 2005 Posts: 516 Location: Vancouver, B.C.
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Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:07 am Post subject: |
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Looks good! I just finished painting my roof too. Same process as yours and same products too. The roof I painted was off an 80' and I put it on my 85' and had a miserable time getting it to fit....still doesn't fit properly. I had to loosen the four bolts that hold the roof to the rear hinges, and make some adjustment to where the hinges mount to the fibre glass. All my bolts got moved about and it cracked all the paint around the bolt heads on the painted side of the roof. BE CAREFUL, and I hope your roof install goes smoother than mine! |
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Sir Sam Samba Member
Joined: July 19, 2009 Posts: 1684 Location: Fort Collins Colorado!
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Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:39 am Post subject: |
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shorepig wrote: |
Looks good! I just finished painting my roof too. Same process as yours and same products too. The roof I painted was off an 80' and I put it on my 85' and had a miserable time getting it to fit....still doesn't fit properly. I had to loosen the four bolts that hold the roof to the rear hinges, and make some adjustment to where the hinges mount to the fibre glass. All my bolts got moved about and it cracked all the paint around the bolt heads on the painted side of the roof. BE CAREFUL, and I hope your roof install goes smoother than mine! |
Man thats too bad, I didn't even have that much trouble on my conversion, I was figuring I would be fighting the thing because I put on the new roof skin and welded the rear hinge mounts in place.
I find it odd you had that much trouble switching a factory roof for a factory roof. Hope you get it sorted out! _________________ '91 Carat Westy
87' Syncro + '87 Westy conversion coming soon |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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well i did the unthinkable tonight. I started cutting off the syncro roof.
I got it about half done then started taking apart the dash to do some heater box maintenance.
it goes a lot faster when you have the experience and confidence of having done it before.... and its a lot less work cutting out the passenger roof as opposed to the westy roof. I should have it off with another day of work. _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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worked all day on this.
I had the roof off just before noon.
drilling spot welds:
cut the rear higher up so i can overlap the donor roof:
the pillars are easy when you know where to cut, three are three layers of metal at the brazing point... if you can cut just the outer skin above the brazing you can attack it much easier.
the solid roof is a lot heavier than the westy roof:
sunroof van:
after the roof was off i had to remote the rear cross beam, the westy one iis different, flat to accommodate the bed.
_________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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ftp2leta Samba Member
Joined: October 11, 2004 Posts: 3271 Location: Montreal
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Mofus Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2008 Posts: 369 Location: San Diego
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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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What's that white stuff on the ground outside?
Can't wait to get started on mine. I'd like to be done by March...
Thanks for the pictures. Keep 'em coming. Looks awesome. _________________ '87 Syncro passenger w/ 2.2L Subaru
'10 Passat Wagon (keeps Mrs. Mofus away from my van) |
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Sir Sam Samba Member
Joined: July 19, 2009 Posts: 1684 Location: Fort Collins Colorado!
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Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:32 am Post subject: |
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ftp2leta wrote: |
I feel you pain...
I did once, only once and never again.
Ben |
Man I did it once an I can't wait to do it
again the ROI is huge! _________________ '91 Carat Westy
87' Syncro + '87 Westy conversion coming soon |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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yes, this is quite a bit of work.
Today I ground off all of the spot welds, trimmed/grinded the donor roof and sprayed both with copper weld through paint.
I test fitted the roof and did some more trimming and grinding... I then did some re-routing of the wires... they work a little differently in a westy than a passenger van. man, am i glad i took lots of pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/eddiegood/85Westy?feat=directlink
I still have some very minor adjustments to make before i tack it on.
I also managed to set a bedsheet on fire from grinding sparks
...never had that happen before... good thing i was working outside... in the 19 degree weather.
I would definitely do this job again in the distant future, although its lots of work it gets exponentially easier with experience and confidence. It took me a few weeks to cut the donor roof off in the summer and it only took me about 6 hours to get the syncro roof off... although there are far fewer welds on the passenger van. _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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Vanagon Nut Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2008 Posts: 10367 Location: Sunshine Coast B.C.
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Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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That's boss man!
Way to take pics. Lot's of useful details there. And though I scanned pretty quick through your pics, it seems you put the Westy and Syncro roof cutting pics in the same order. All that stuff is obviously mostly for you, but I"m sure it'll be helpful for the next guy. Wow. What labour intensive stuff.
Though it's only "half" the story, this says it all for me
_________________ 1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA
1988 West DIY 50º ABA
VE7TBN |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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Yesterday I got all the trimming and fitting done... and literally the minute right before i stuck my first arc to weld the roof on it started snowing...... so i had to put the van back into the garage.
so... in the meanwhile I pulled the entire dash out. Replaced the heater fan, tested the heater core... it was ok... looks to have been replaced once.
I replaced all the windshield washer nozzles and lines... there was about 3" or crud clogging up the lines.
I cleaned everything...man was it nasty in there. I think I spent more time cleaning than working.
I relocated the fan resistor outside the heater box and made a nifty harness for the whole thing that plugs into the harness that came on the fan.
I am so glad that I pulled out all the dash wiring on the donor van. all of those harnesses and plugs have come in handy so many times.
I painted the donor dash black and all the trim to go with it.
I also used some relays to hook up the ignition key-in / radio mod found in another thread.
I gotta get that roof welded on in order to make it drivable...theres more snow in the forecast. _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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the f'n snow hasn't stopped and its not supposed to stop until monday... which leaves me roofless.
In the meanwhile I'm stripping the interior. I'm gonna install some b-quiet sound deadener all throughout.
I'm considering having the van painted before I put it all back together.
its funny how one thing leads to another with these vws.... _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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mickeyflorio Samba Member
Joined: July 05, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: Denver
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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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Great work and thanks for all the detailed pics. Now I'm getting inspired.
All I want to do is swap the roof on my van, not the full westy conversion. My interior is just as I like it (2 jumpseats, table and BIG bed) but I would love to add a pop-top.
Do any of you know where to look for a Westy roof? Are there any vanagon junkyards around? I don't need a complete donor van, just the roof, canvas and pop-top. Any ideas? |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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started welding the westy roof on the syncro today.
got about a quarter of the way around the van before I ran out of shielding gas. ... i didn't think I'd make it that far with the little bit of gas i had left.
on the home stretch now. _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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r39o Samba Polizei
Joined: May 18, 2005 Posts: 9800 Location: San Diego
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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edgood1 wrote: |
I relocated the fan resistor outside the heater box and made a nifty harness for the whole thing that plugs into the harness that came on the fan. |
The resistor is there so it gets cooled by the air flow.
The better thing is to grab a resistor out of a US built VW and stick it in the box in an easy to replace spot. Actually, I bet this style of resistor from a US built VW is a standard US car part, but I don't know about those.
I dd this when I built my last hot rod VW and added US factory AC. I will do this when I add the front AC to my Westy, too. Too many projects...... _________________ "Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!
1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....
Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently) |
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edgood1 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 2049 Location: Plymouth, MA
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morymob Samba Member
Joined: November 09, 2007 Posts: 4683 Location: east-tn
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:27 am Post subject: |
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edgood1 wrote: |
r39o wrote: |
The resistor is there so it gets cooled by the air flow.
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blowing hot air over the resistor cools it? |
"reverse engineering" |
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