Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 15:32:15 -0800
Reply-To: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: Passenger van to westy pop top conversion?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
That site does not show the easy way by any means. All that cutting and
welding is not needed. The elevating roof, canvas, and luggage rack can
be mounted with little more than some holes drilled and a proper sized
opening cut to stand up in. If you want the separate upper bed to work
and store like the stock Westy one then there is more to it. On my first
conversion I cut my opening about 42" square and did not involve the
primary roof arch support as I didn't use a factory style upper bed. I
installed the full upper bed on my second one so I learned the gotchas
that go with doing it that way. Not that big of a deal really but you
then need to remove a major body structure (steel arch support) and
fabricate a replacement of the right shape (steel flat support) and
mount it at the right height so the bed will close and the top will
lower and latch without hitting the bed first.
Mounting the top need have nothing to do with the bed so I will talk
about mounting the top only for now.
The key is to have accurate measurements of where the various bolt holes
must be positioned. Having the donor van nearby after the parts are
removed helps so you can go back and forth between the vans to verify
hole positions before drilling but the first time I did it only from
notes I made when I took the parts off the donor far from home. Where 2
or more holes are near each other I traced them onto a sheet of paper so
that the spacing would be just right and then I punched holes down
through the paper. Then I mark the new holes on the keeper van and used
clear packing tape to tape the tracing paper down into correct position
over the marks visible through the punched holes.
elevating roof - 14 bolt holes
luggage rack - 12 bolt holes
I start it all by laying the aluminum tent hold down strips into
position and taping them in place. They will only want go in the right
position as they are contoured for the features of the roof but measure
to be sure they are centered properly side to side. Then I mark all the
other bolt holes for the roof and rack. Once these marks are in place
you can be confident that the large opening will be properly placed so
as not to interfere with critical mounting points. There are a bunch of
tiny screws that hold down the aluminum strips and I drill these holes
and put all the screws in once without the canvas. Then take them out
and put them back in with the canvas as a last step after the top is
fully mounted
I cut the headliner opening smaller than the intended metal opening by
several inches so the extra can be used to fold over the metal edges for
a finished look. Then I cut the sheet metal opening. After this, you can
reach in between the ceiling metal and headliner to install the bolts
that hold the brackets for the front luggage rack. Use self locking nuts
and leave them just barely snug so the brackets can shift slightly as
you install the 4 screws through the fiberglass of the rack into the 4
brackets. Only after everything else is done should you drill and
install the 4 bolts and nuts that hold the rear end of the rack piece to
the roof.
Mark
Alistair Bell wrote:
>
> on 10/12/03 5:35 am, Tony Polson wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Hi Mark,
> >
> > I have just purchased a Westfalia elevating roof and will
> > soon be mounting it on my '85 Vanagon.
> >
> > I was interested in your comment about it being "fairly
> > easy". Can you explain what you meant, or point me towards
> > any web resource that might help me figure exactly how to do
> > it?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Tony
> > '85 Transporter
>
> Pictures on this site:
>
> http://members.shaw.ca/stuartblack/vwprojec.htm
>
> Alistair
>
> --
> '82 Westy -> diesel converted to gas in '94
> albell@uvic.ca
> http://members.shaw.ca/albell
