don, some folks have put a "Westy" top on non-camper VW vans.  Sounds like a similar endeavor.  Surely some of those folks will speak up.  Alistair?  mcneely

---- Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   I know there are "adventure wagons" with pretty tall hard-shell tops, and
> that people seem to like these a whole lot.
>
>   Well, I was just trekking about in our field, looking at what needs to be
> done before this winter and I saw my old Dodge Van...a camper van I used
> with pleasure before fuel got really pricey.  So I was thinking about the ad
> I saw..." will remove your junkers and give you $300 for them"  I have that
> in mind for the Dodge.  I've tried to sell it but nobody wants these
> anymore....  Then I looked at the fiberglass aftermarket top on it and began
> measuring stuff.....With some careful scribing, I could put that top over
> onto my 84 tin top van....It would fit.   That thing has lasted for 20yrs so
> far...Why send that to the crusher?
>
> That particular top, it tapers toward the front...it has a low section over
> the driver's area that sticks up maybe 6" (enough for some storage shelves)
> then at about the C-pillar, it takes a turn upwards, has a couple of fixed
> plexiglass windows across the width and then it continues  back to the
> hatch, rising all the while at a gentle slope, where it adds 19" in the
> center of the width of the van. Has a funky little kicker at the
> back...Looks like the "A-Team Van"....  In the Dodge, we had the bed cross
> wise across the back with that extra height above used as storage....The
> 'walk around area' (my van has most of the westie interior...sink stove
> fridge water, etc)  in the Dodge...there was almost full standing headroom
> with this top, and you could see out those windows...
>
>   So if I saw off the top of my GL and simply pop-rivet or screw this thing
> on in it's place....is my van going to turn into a 'slinky-toy' and get all
> flexible because the roof is gone?  Do factory Westies have more body
> structure to make up for no real structural roof?  Ya think if I go for it I
> should have some tubes bent to tie the sides together, cross wise and maybe
> bridge the slider somehow?  I guess I could integrate the plastic roof into
> the structure by bonding it tightly and adding some carbon fiber to carry
> some of the chassis loads....
>
>   just thinking out loud here..anyone want to comment?
>
>   Don Hanson

--
David McNeely