

| Subject: | Re: Passenger van to westy pop top conversion? |
| From: | Chuck Hill |
| Date: | Wed, 3 Dec 2003 08:25:52 -0600 |
The Book that you have referred to is part of the "Jezt hilfe ich mir selbst" or "now I help myself" series published in Germany, only in German, by the way. I have looked through the book, and while it does have a few pages on roof conversion, it deals with high-top roofs mostly, not what you have in mind, that is, moving a roof from a Westy to a conventional van body. The book has pictures and plans for using cabinetry from German manufacturers, mostly a firm called REIMO. In short, this book probably won't be much help to you. Body shop experts usually look at the best way to do this job as being to cut the support posts somewhere in the middle and move the whole roof assembly over. This is the way they deal with damaged car roofs generally. I have considered having this done, and have been quoted $1000 for the labor & materials in Iowa. I did a poptop conversion on a Syncro van myself for someone a couple of years ago. It wasn't that hard, and turned out well, and the owner has been satisfied with the vehicle, which now also has a Subaru 2.5 engine. I just cut the center section of the roof out with my plasma cutter and mounted the Westy roof on top. I made a wooden platform above the roof at the rear to give a flat sleeping surface. It cuts the clearance so that the front pad for the upper bunk has to be carried below. I trimmed the cutout area with the same gasket strip that is used on the front section of the poptop, or luggage carrier. You end up with a fake Westy with a conventional headliner, which is nice looking, & a bit warmer and quieter than the real thing. You can keep a full width lower bed, which I prefer personally, and add as much or as little other cabinetry & fittings as you want. Chuck Hill
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