Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:31:31 -0700
Reply-To: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: How easy is it to put a poptop into a standard vanagon?
In-Reply-To: <7959ab2e0707271547t5ba3005ei94584139b1136645@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
to all considering this conversion
i did this with my 69 type 2 ...
the pop top i found was reversed to the sort we see on most and the luggage
rack portion went to the rear
cutting the hole was east and provided a large piece of 20+ gauge metal to
fix a host of other maladies ...
i made one severe error in judgment though...
i should have placed a spark arrest sheet in front of the glass ...
because i cut the roof open with a hand held grinder with a cutting wheel
attached and found after i had done all that the inside of the glass was
badly pitted from being assualted with the fragments shot at high speed off
the edge of the grinding wheel... this provided me with futuristic fractal
starburst displays with each passing car ...
a vexation beyond compare ... the other thing that resulted from this
conversion was the way the pop top fit to the roof at high speed ... meaning
anything over 40mph ... the roof would lift up in the vortex... so i had to
put a strap around the roof and through the open doors ... a strap i could
easily tighten and loosen to allow the opening of the pop top ...
now regarding space gained ... seeing as there was only ever the two of us
... we never realized the difference...
but it did give the 69 type 2 the full westie look as i had been scavenging
the interior parts for the years proceeding the conversion...
the conversion itself .. the installation of the parts was no more
complicated than fastening the corset of ones beautiful woman ...
good luck ....
yours
On 7/27/07, Lee Peterson <iridewheelies@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've done all the archive searching I could handle since I wrote that post
> last week. I've decided to go for way #1, small hole in the roof. Maybe
> go
> with big hole later. I still haven't seen the custom upper bunk Chris
> spoke
> about. I have a pretty good idea how I'll do it, worst case is that I
> have
> to remove half or all of the upper bed when I put the top down. I can
> live
> with that, I still get the headroom and ventilation without a bed up
> there.
>
> I'm not good at welding and I hate body work so ways 3 and 4 are out.
>
> Now I just have to find a donor in the South Puget Sound area...........
>
> anyone got one for me?
>
> Lee
> 89' hardtop Syncro
>
>
> On 7/27/07, John C... <Trvlr2001@comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> > Way 4 just sez 'more' room for bunk?
> > JC...
> >
> > -------------- Original message --------------
> > From: JordanVw@AOL.COM
> >
> > > In a message dated 7/20/07 9:39:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> > > iridewheelies@GMAIL.COM writes:
> > >
> > >
> > > > > I've been thinking about doing a swap like this for years. That
> was
> > a
> > > > > great link Chris but it's only worth it to me if the bed is fully
> > > > > functional. All the welding involved in doing it right seems like
> > too
> > > > much
> > > > > risk for me. About five years ago I found a wrecked van in a junk
> > yard
> > > > with
> > > > > the CHC top on it. Unfortunatly, it wasn't in my buget at the time
> > so I
> > > > had
> > > > > to let it go. It seems like finding a CHC or ASI top to transplant
> > would
> > > > be
> > > > > much easier because they are designed to go on a regular vanagon
> > roof, not
> > > > > the westy roof with bed rails. I suspect there would be less road
> > noise
> > > > and
> > > > > body flex with the smaller hole in the roof as well. I would love
> to
> > hear
> > > > > from someone who has transplanted one of the non-westy tops.
> Lately,
> > I've
> > > > > been on a search for an ASI top. I like the full length look a
> > little
> > > > > better than the 3/4 length CHC top.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > My search would intensify if I could hear some positive feedback
> about
> > the
> > > > transplant process. I'd love to hear some thoughts about the ASI top
> > too.
> > > > I'm not planning on installing any of the camping gear, I have a
> carat
> > > > interior that suits me just fine.
> > > >
> > > > Lee '89 syncro hardtop
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > ummm you can put a bed up there too.. who said you couldnt? search the
> > > archives . we bitch about this topic at least once every 2 months
> > >
> > > chris
> > >
> > >
> > > **************************************
> > > Get a sneak peek of the all-new
> > > AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
> >
>
--
roger w
There are two kinds of jobs in the world:
Picking up garbage and telling people things.
Successful people do both, with the same good attitude. (riw)
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