1962 Ragtop Sedan Up Fixing

[Chickensoup]

the issue is the title
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-'85 c10 5.3 LS, 222 cam, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP
'69 RIP
Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"

[Larmo63]

Okay, I changed the thread title to "1962 Ragtop Sedan Fixing Upping." It has a certain ring to it, methinks.

New Ragtop cover project on deck:

Al Silvas is rebuilding the entire sunroof mechanism to 'as new' and I'm doing a new top, headliner, and all four solid windows out and back in. New seals and chrome trim, obviously.

Sneak peek......

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Lawrence
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‘61 Mango Green Single Cab
'62 Pearl White Ragtop sedan
'66 Ruby Red Cabriolet
'86 Porsche 911 Carrera

[Busstom]

[iowegian]

[pastellgreen]

It's a pitty you aren't located in Germany. Here you would get a real looking ragtop cover, with welded seams (if this is the correct word for it) as original.
But I like your work on this beautiful little car.

Btw, also like your thread and look every day after news.

[Larmo63]

[downsbs1]

[Larmo63]

Ha!

Turns out the set he brought by my house and dropped off while I was at work are later style windows and don't fit my car.

That's okay, I'll move them on. He doesn't want them back.
_________________
Lawrence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘61 Mango Green Single Cab
'62 Pearl White Ragtop sedan
'66 Ruby Red Cabriolet
'86 Porsche 911 Carrera

[Larmo63]

My windows arrived yesterday from Kaefer Nostalgie.

Sunroof is out and getting restored, this is going to be nice.

You can see the scratches on the rear window, probably from an ice scraper?

_________________
Lawrence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘61 Mango Green Single Cab
'62 Pearl White Ragtop sedan
'66 Ruby Red Cabriolet
'86 Porsche 911 Carrera

[sportin-wood]

Coming along nicely!
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

[glutamodo]

[toxicavenger70]

[glutamodo]

Yeah, I should have scrolled up higher, I noticed that later.

I'm not sure if some things can easily be "fixed" on the ragtop mechanism. I've never really needed to change the rollers on any of mine, but I have replaced the rubber seal at the front end under the cover, and done plenty of covers over the years. (now I have Sewfine stayfast canvas colored tops that are the best tops I've ever had) My biggest annoyance of the ragtop mechanism became creaking caused by body flex when the top was closed. I did some various things to fix it, but nothing really worked. So I would have some folded up pieces of cardstock that I would wedge into the works where the top squeezes shut to eliminate these noises. But my sunroof tops got a LOT of use, I put hundreds of thousands of miles on both of my ragtop bugs and would have the top open whenever conditions allowed. I'm sure they were a lot better when everything was brand spanking new.
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Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.

[Larmo63]

It took AL all of 20 minutes to have the whole sunroof pulled off of my car. They are a simple, yet elegant little set up. Everything came apart well with no rust issues apart from the rear corners where the top meets the paint.

I chose pinpoint vinyl from WW made by Acme.
_________________
Lawrence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘61 Mango Green Single Cab
'62 Pearl White Ragtop sedan
'66 Ruby Red Cabriolet
'86 Porsche 911 Carrera

[glutamodo]

Oh yeah, you can remove it quick enough! Done that many times. It's what to do with it it once it's removed!

You seldom see ragtops with the internal sunroof headlining set up properly. Part of of the problem is that, in my experience, aftermarket headliner under-sunroof center sections are just not wide enough. Otherwise they are made OK. But the other part is that people forget to put the steel rods ("bows") into them, because not many know that they exist... previous owners discarded them decades ago and they are not mentioned in the factory service manuals. I had to make my own from welding rods, which I painted to prevent corrosion.

_________________
Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.

[Larmo63]

When my sunroof was disassembled, all parts were accounted for including the stiffening rods. Nothing was bent, no terrible corrosion, and all an easy restoration.

Yesterday, we replaced the clutch kit with new, the old pressure plate had imploded.

_________________
Lawrence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘61 Mango Green Single Cab
'62 Pearl White Ragtop sedan
'66 Ruby Red Cabriolet
'86 Porsche 911 Carrera

[Larmo63]

Trixy had eye surgery today.

I had ordered US version headlight glass from a well respected VW supplier (Florida) and they sent me Bosch style Euro lenses instead. At first I was a bit put out, but I installed them and they are growing on me.

I took the lights completely apart, cleaned and painted the guts. I'm happy with how they turned out.

_________________
Lawrence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘61 Mango Green Single Cab
'62 Pearl White Ragtop sedan
'66 Ruby Red Cabriolet
'86 Porsche 911 Carrera

[Larmo63]

Better headlight shot........

_________________
Lawrence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘61 Mango Green Single Cab
'62 Pearl White Ragtop sedan
'66 Ruby Red Cabriolet
'86 Porsche 911 Carrera

[mukluk]

Your headlight beam pattern is going to be rather poor/scattered if you're using standard US spec sealed beam bulbs with those Euro fluted lenses. Not so much of a problem if you only drive in the daytime, but not good if you want to drive at night.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[glutamodo]

I started to post much the same last night, but thought I'd see how long it would take for someone else to, and how they would word it.

Yes, it is rather counter-productive to "stack" fluted lenses unless it's only for show and not for function. For my 62, I did change to a set of Bosch H4 sealed beam replacement headlight assemblies many years ago now, but I kept the clear cover glass. This was a time when I was still regularly driving that car day and night and I wanted good lighting. That ties into why I have amber turn bulbs under my clear turn lenses in front and amber-top rear tail lights on my car... Those are not an affectation, not only do I want to see better, I want others to see me better as well.

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Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.