A long story short, over the last two months, I transplanted the entire roof top from an '82 Westy to my '87 Syncro, pop top hinge nutplate supports and all. (Drilled the spot welds at the gutters, cut the posts at the brazing etc. etc.and mig-welded all back on). It turned out well I think, but I promise I won't do it again. When I originally removed the fiberglass Westy luggage rack from the '82, the seal was mostly gone, and it was difficult for me to determine what it originally looked like. I removed the mounting brackets from the roof as well at the time, but failed to note how closely the fiberglass edge fit the skin. I have now reinstalled the luggage rack using the original brackets (same roof, remember), using a non-bulbed seal from one of the vendors. I see that the seal does not contact large areas of the roof skin, but I understand that this type of seal does allow for water drainage. My question: was the original seal bulbed, or do I need to "adjust" (bend) the brackets for a closer fit? I have attempted to shift the brackets as much as possible. Over the windshield area, there is a gap between the seal and roof skin of approximately 1/16", which seems way too much to me. One other thing that I noticed when I took the luggage rack off; some brackets had a large rubber washer glued over the attachment hole for the roof rack, and some did not, one long bracket and one short bracket each. When I reinstalled it, I put a rubber washer at each hole; perhaps I shouldn't have? Of course, all of the rear attacment bolts had a rubber washer. Any ideas? Thanks, Dave Milo |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.