Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 19:07:07 -0500
Reply-To: William Wedenoja <waw105f@MAIL.SMSU.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: William Wedenoja <waw105f@MAIL.SMSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Pop Top Seals?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I got the seals from www.busdepot.com (for about $75) and installed them
yesterday. I suppose you could pull the old ones off and snap the new ones
on in about 15 minutes, but I managed to spend the better part of the day on
it. Not that they were difficult to install.
First I pulled off the old pop top seals. Then I unscrewed the luggage rack
and took it off because I could see a lot of crud lurking underneath. Wow,
a compost pile of leaves and twigs up there (and the two former POs said it
had always been garaged!) Probably didn't notice the brown ooozz dribbling
down the side of the van because that's the color of the van. Then I washed
everything. Scrubbed the edges where the seal was, because they were pretty
rough. Not too hard though! Paint comes off. Waxed the top under the
luggage rack. Went to a Boat shop and got some Meguiar's finish restorer
for boats and RVs and some Meguiar's clean and wax for same. At about $9
each. (They worked fine but nothing miraculous.) Cleaned and waxed the pop
top and luggage rack. Pushed the new seals into place. Put the luggage
rack back on (8 screws).
Looks at least 100% better. And I don't plan to do this again for another
10 years! But it was worth it. The seals look a lot better than the nasty
old rusted ones. Although maybe not as nice as the original ones new. They
have a dull finish to them. They look solid. They just push into place and
grip tight. You don't have to crimp or glue. (But you do need to clip the
excess off--about a foot on the pop top seal and about 10" on the luggage
rack.) The hardest part is getting around a tight bend at the back corners,
but they'll go, although you may be tempted to notch the tubing there (they
are notched on the old seals).
Two pieces of advice. First, don't put the pop top seal on backwards. (I
think) the round rubber tubing goes on the inside, not the outside. Second,
cut the luggage rack seal so it ends about 3 inches before the end of the
luggage rack on each side. This is so there won't be a bulge (creating an
air leak) when the poptop overlaps it. (If this doesn't make sense, then
look at how your existing seals overlap.)
Pick a nice day for this job!
Bill Wedenoja
88 westie
-----Original Message-----
From: gabe mar <getmariscal@YAHOO.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Monday, June 21, 1999 4:44 PM
Subject: Pop Top Seals?
>Does anyone know who has a good pop top ang luggage rack seal for my
>Vanagon Westfalia?
>
>Gabe
>
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