Cabriolet roof

[EwenHayton]

Just wondering how much it would cost to repair the roof of my cabriolet when its needed later down the line. As im sure it will!. Currently there are no rips on the inner liner or outer vinyl layer but bits of the filling keep dropping out and im pretty sure the sides could with gluing (what ever they use) back together above the windows!
Any help would be helpful

cheers

basically the same both sides

[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

[gldgti]

contact adhesive for the glueing.... buy it in a tin and brush it on.

I bought a new roof from topsonline.com and fitted it myselft in a weekend. thats a big job but worth it if you can manage because you save youself 5-600 in fitting.

[VdubEd]

Seriously wouldn't bother fixing the old one. Like gldgti said buy a new one and fit it yourself. It will take you a weekend but it's not too hard. Just make sure you've got a 10mm ratchet spanner with a flexible head to do tighten the tension rear cable.

[EwenHayton]

It Just seems a waste as the outer and under layer are in such good condition. I have decided on a game plan anyway for her and im gonna start working on the engine first. Get her running properly.
I Just took her to see a mate who has just moved to Perth and havent seen since i was like six. Turns out he has worked on, no end of Mk1's back in England and it took him about 2 minuets to answer all the questions i had about the engine running **** and whether or not i had ar-con! Parts needed now are

distributor cap
ignition Rotor
all new rubber pipes (just to make sure none a losing air pressure) as a few are
a small plug (bung) on the fuel metering unit
original fitting oil dip stick
and the air-con needs re-gasing

[BonsaiTiger]

and whether or not i had ar-con!

What did he say? Air-con or no? Also what year is yours?

[EwenHayton]

Yeah it had Air-con just wasn't connected up and needs to be re-gassed. She is 1986 just on the change over year b4 the body kit was fitted. "I think".

She has the American bumpers and side indicators that i dont like so i am taking the front bumper off as soon as i get some round indicators to fit the front. I Took the Cruise control unit off today and loads of pointless unused wires too.

[BonsaiTiger]

Ahh sweet. So are you gonna hook the air-con back up and re-gas it or not bother?

Ok so you're gonna run it with no front bumper at all? or get a different one?

Look at this one I saw on VWVortex..




RyanBabros's 82 1.8v from Wolfsburg. It's ratted out but I think that body shape looks ****ing mean!

[EwenHayton]

Yeah I hooked it back up just waiting for a m8 to re-gas it for cheap! Way to hot not to.

And yeah just get rid all together for now, going to put the small round indicators off the back of a Defender on the front, keeping the rear bumper tho as it has so much chrome on it!. Just need a duck bill spoiler with the crossed zip tie's in the middle!

[BonsaiTiger]

Ahh thats good. yeah its fair too hot.

I reckon thats gonna look sweet mate, get some pics up when you get a chance hey? Wouldn't mind seeing the cab with the bumper off too.

[EwenHayton]

Will do mate, my propper thread is "the 2 cent cabby" so I'll put pics up there! Hopefully hear back from the guy with the lights today and have them fitted by tonight!

Tho I am in W.A and nothing happens quickly over here

[BonsaiTiger]

Well I'll head over there now then, me 'ansome!

[chortle]

Hi,

The top looks in good condition.

What tends to happen with cabby's is the interliner cover rots and the rubberised pad falls apart, that's why you find those curly bits of hair in the car.





On a bare frame from the factory,they would be built up in this order.

1) Headliner first
2) Interliner next
3) Rubberised top pad
4) Outer cover or top

The main issue being that a lot of fitters are not sure how to deal with the padding.

I couldn't find a new interliner or pad, so I made my own interliner and found a company to make the pads.

These were over £300.00 GBP sterling when available. They are NLA now.

Took a while to do.





What you could do is if the interliner is still okay underneath, at the cotton base cloth and the 2 black vynil side pieces is to sew 2 new side flaps back onto the 2 side vynil piececs.

Make sure the new fabric is longer than the rest of the cover though as these will be trimmed off at the front and tucked under at the rear.



You would need a good sewing machine strong enough to go through the material.

I use parachute ripstop, I suppose a heavy duty nylon would do. Have a look on E bay.

The pads are a different story though, once these are gone that's it really, you end up with a bumpy lumpy top.

Another way I suppose is to get some thin foam sheet bigger than the pad and glue the rubberised pad on TOP of the foam, maybe 10mm foam would help. The issue of this though is moisture retention and mould growth etc.
The original pads are made to evapouate moisture etc, where as sponge tends to hold it.

I am not sure what costs it would be to ship to Australia the new pads I have had re manufactured, if there was a demand and any Advertisement issue can be sorted with the forum people.