

| Subject: | Re: Q on converting bus to a camper |
| Date: | Fri, 20 Jan 95 10:43:16 gmt |
I've fitted a Westy roof to a non-sunroof bus before. I bought the roof off a crashed westy and cut out the sunroof section with a huge disc cutter (great fun). I cut a hole in the bus's roof (its easy) and gradually enlarged it so that the sunroof section would sit inside. The sunroof section was trimmed until it overlapped the roof by a couple of inches all round. To avoid cutting through one of the cross members in the roof, I cut and shut the sunroof section by about 6 inches, then spot welded it all round. The original roof is double skinned so I made some plates that were riveted between the sunroof surround and the rail around the roof to stiffen things up. Once the headliner is in and the pop-top is on, you can't see the joins. When you remove the pop-top, make accurate measurements of the mounting holes and get the plates that are riveted inside the roof, under the hinges. If I was to do it again I wouldn't bother using the sunroof section and just stiffen up the edges of the hole with some tubing. This is the way all the other pop-top conversions are done, only the westy uses the sunroof as a basis. As long as you leave both the cross members in the roof it is solid enough to sit on anyway, and if you use a solid bed there is no problem, but if you are using the folding cot things you will need some strong mounting points. Andy E. A.C.Erskine@lut.ac.uk
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