Build thread: Aussie Westfalia Conversion

[OzzieJo]

[OzzieJo]

Started putting the glass back in the van over the weekend. First up was the LHS, it was really satisfying to finally see glass back in this panel after so long.

[OzzieJo]

Hope all you folks had a very Happy Christmas and are enjoying the festive season. Quick question for you all, when I installed my drivers side quarter glass I just cannot get the top of the frame forward enough to allow the retaining screw to go in ... it is about 2-3 mm out. I’m sure that I have pushed the frame as far forward as it can go .. could it be the new rubber seal ?

Cheers

[rogertj]

OzzieJoe great build thread hope to have my Vanagon looking like this in the future!!!!
_________________
Roger
Had a Carbureted ABA after engoing the heck out of it now going for ABA 2.0 Jetta EFI ill put a garrett in to the tin can later or maybe go electric?
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[OzzieJo]

Could someone please take a look at their Westy and let me know how long the “J channel” is that holds up the sides of the headliner and some reference measurements that will help me understand where to fix it above the doors.
Many thanks

[OzzieJo]

Quick question for y’all. I want to install some gutter mounts on the side of my pop top, but I also want to install the GW heavy duty pop top lift assist kit.

Can the placement of the gutter mounts interfere with the lift assist arms , or is this not an issue and I can place the gutter mounts wherever I like ?

Cheers

[jimf909]

I'm not certain if gutter mounts bolted to the West pop-top interfere with the GW lift assists but it is documented that they can interfere with the Jack Bombay mounts depending on placement (so I'm guessing they could also interfere with GW lifts).

Maybe someone will chime in with GW specific insights. FWIW, the Jack Bombay mounts worked exceptionally well for me. They appear to be easier to install and look a bit cleaner. I'm not sure how shipping would work for you though.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=659863

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9350794
_________________
- Jim

[OzzieJo]

[OzzieJo]

Unfortunately when I wound my drivers side window up after installing the scrapers and upper felt channel I discovered that while installing the interior scraper I had inadvertently scratched off some of the newly applied tint. The scratched off area was located right at eye level and was really noticeable so I decided to remove the window and take it back to the place that originally did the tinting, have them remove the tint and replace.

That was all done before Christmas so the purpose of this post is to document how I installed the windows again ... this time without scratching off anymore tint.

While the vent windows were out they were cleaned up and re-sprayed, I then installed some new rubbers with the help of some Vaseline, which came in very handy for the subsequent step of installing the vent window into the door. Before I inserted the vent window back into the door I removed the forward clips that hole the inner and outer scrapers in place, this makes it really easy to slide the vent window forward and into position.

I placed a rag up under the clips so that if I dropped one it would not fall into the abyss resulting in lost time searching for it with a headlamp and magnetic pick up tool (I speak from experience on this point).

With the clips out of the way I angled the window rearward so that I could locate the top of the vent window in the upper part of the door channel, I then rotated the whole frame approx. 45 deg so that the lower retaining bolt bracket on the window frame would fit through the lower part of the door channel.

With the vent window in this position I just used my thumb and forefinger to slightly separate the lower door channel and the vent window slid in nicely.

Now with the window in the position below I applied a good smear of Vaseline to both the rubber surrounding the vent window and the door frame. Next I rotated the frame so that the bottom and top parts of the seal were correctly engaged with the door, then pushed the whole assembly forward into the final position, and screwed in the upper/lower anchor points.

This method worked out pretty well, although I did find that the very top of the seal on the inside was really tough to get in, but I did eventually get there with the help of a plastic scraper.

OK on to the wind up windows. First I needed to figure out where to correctly locate the lower support bracket on the window. To do this I installed (finger tight) the bracket onto the winder mechanism, and installed the felt channel into the back of the vent glass frame. I then wound the bracket up about three quarters and sat an aluminium straight edge in the bracket and pushed it forward until the end was sitting nicely in the felt channel, I marked the other end with a sharpie, and then used the straight edge to transfer this mark onto the lower part of the window, then fitted the bracket back on the window such that the back edge was in line with the mark.

Before inserting the window into the door panel I covered all of the scraper clips with duct tape so that they wouldn’t cause any scratches (oh and don’t forget to re-install the forward clips after the vent window has been installed).

I can’t really remember the technique that I employed to get the window back into the door, but I’m fairly confident that you need to come at it from the outside and insert the forward edge into the felt channel first, then you just work the back edge in, it doesn’t need to be forced, it just “flops in” somehow. Once the window was in and the bolts had been installed into the lift bracket I wound the window all the way down and removed the duct tape from the clips (oh and at this stage if you realise that you have failed to re-install the forward clips … I feel your pain). Now with the window wound down I placed some masking tape on the inside of the window, adjacent to where clips are, I then wound the window up a slightly and added a thin (approx1mm) piece of aluminium sheet over this area as well and then held that in place with a further piece of masking tape.

With that all done I inserted the inner scraper first and carefully pushed/banged it down and into the clips, I then did the same for the outer scraper. Once both scrapers were in, I wound the window up and removed the masking tape. Voila .. no scratches on the tint...

[Yellow Rabbit]

This is one of my favorite builds right now. It’s going to look amazing when it’s all together.

[OzzieJo]

[OzzieJo]

[OzzieJo]

Next up was re-assembly of the sliders that I pulled apart to get the frames painted (I chose to go the spray paint route rather than powder coat), glass tinted, and replace all of the felts. I pretty much followed the process as outlined by fellow samba member GreggK.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=744590

Summary as follows:
It is so much simpler to install both panes together and then press everything together, process as follows;
1. Install slider locking bar in main frame, then install new felt in channel
2. Install aluminium bar the goes on forward part of fixed pane, then install new felt in channel.
3. Install aluminium bar that goes on bottom of slider pane, make sure that it is flush with rear edge.
4. Install main felt channel.
5. Rest slider pane on bottom channel toward rear of main frame and then slightly pull frame apart to enable slider pane to slip into main felt channel, then push slider all the way forward.
6. Apply small bead of silicon in area where the fixed pane will rest.
7. Slide bottom rear of fixed pane into channel and then push the forward lower edge down until it is resting in channel just aft of slider locking plate.
8. Use clamps to squeeze top and bottom of frame together, reposition clamps as required to apply even pressure.
9. Use another set of clamps to squeeze the ends of the fixed frame together until the split in the rear edge is aligned.
10. Install plastic runners in lower slider aluminium bar.
11. Install slider lock assy

[GreggK]

Hey OzzieJo,
The carpet material inside the pop top looks good. How thick is it and any interference issues with the latch? I'm currently having a poptop installed on my tin top and looking for some ideas. So how did the window reassembly go. Sounds like you figured it out. Nice work!
_________________
'86 2wd Poptop transplant
FAS TDi engine swap. Peloquin LSD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=692188&highlight=slow+but+steady

[OzzieJo]

[OzzieJo]

I pushed through the heat today and installed some gutter mounts on the Pop Top. I chose these ones from Rhino Rack, they seemed pretty sturdy with three mounting bolts and a nice heavy backing plate.

I plan on getting a roof box so I placed the rear mounts so that the box would not hang over the back of the Pop Top. For the past couple of years the Pop Top has been hanging from my shed roof in a frame so I decided to use that frame as the height reference point for all of the mounts. I used a square to measure up to the desired height from where the bottom of the Pop Top was sitting on the frame.

Here you can see my measurements for placing the rear mounts, 115mm up from the frame and 375mm forward from the leading edge of the upper forward pop top hinge mounting bolt to the top rear corner of the gutter mount.

I then used the rear mount as reference for the middle mount, 115mm up from the bottom of the pop top, and then 586mm forward from the rear gutter mount. This gave me a centre to centre distance from these two mounts of about 750mm.

The forward mount was then placed 575mm forward of the middle mount. I had to reduce this distance slightly to allow the backing plate to fit flush with the inside.

All done

With this task out of the way I’m hoping that I can start getting the tent ready to put in. Unfortunately my top did not come with the original Aluminium strips that hold the tent in so I’m going to cut some 18mm wide Al strips to the desired length and then drill the required holes. If anyone knows what the lengths of these pieces are supposed to be then please let me know. Thankfully, I have the original strips that go onto the roof.

[GreggK]

Here are the measurements for those strips. My went back to the start of your thread and saw your roof swap. Lots of credit to you for doing that all on your own. I sat on a roof section for about 5 years. When it finally came time to do the swap I sent it up to Insyncro Restorations to have it done. I just didn't have the confidence I could pull it off, but in the process I did get to drill out two donor sections. Nice work!

_________________
'86 2wd Poptop transplant
FAS TDi engine swap. Peloquin LSD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=692188&highlight=slow+but+steady

[OzzieJo]

[OzzieJo]

I wanted to start attaching the tent to the pop top roof today but I don’t have the aluminium profile/strip shown above. I thought I might be able to get away with just using a piece of flat aluminium strip but upon seeing a few video clips on the subject I now understand the importance of the channel in keeping the bead on the canvas in place. I’m trying to source some of the correct profile in Aus but not too sure if I will be successful. If I am not successful has anyone tried using a flat piece of aluminium strip instead, and if so can you offer any advice.

[OzzieJo]

I installed the tent onto po top over the weekend. I couldn’t find anything in Aus that resembled the OEM strip used to hold down the tent so I resorted to using some flat aluminium strips that were 16mm wide and 2.5mm think. The tent is the OEM style cotton purchased from Bus Depot. Based on the info I could find on installing this style of tent, which included a really good you tube clip by Kris Knight, I inserted the screws just on the inside of the bead which runs around the outside of the tent (on top) and then screwed the aluminium strips down tightly .... ie the bead sits under the aluminium strip and not to the outside as in some installations.

After the strip had been screwed down I gave all sides of the tent a firm “pull” and everything remained nicely in place, so hopefully that will be the case when I finally finish off the installation and pop the top for the first time.

I also managed to make up a couple of lengths of “J-channel” to hold up the headliner. I didn’t get these sections with my donor van because it had been in a collision up front and they were damaged. I used one of the sections from down the back as a template to make up my own for the headliner. OEM part on the right, my attempt at re-production on the left.

If all goes well I should have the pop top on by the end of the week.

This will be the first time that the top has been on the van so I don’t have any marks to guide me on locating the pop top hinges, lift bar attachments, or pop top latch. Can anyone advise of the correct process to follow to install/align the top.....I would like to get this all done before I start securing down the tent onto the roof of the van.