I have an early devon pop top and want to fit it to my westfalia continental roof. Any idea on what is the best and cheapest seal to use and any brackets I might need to use. Am not going to cut the roof and wont need to use the bunks. All help good or bad is useful I think lol.
have you got any pics of the roof as I think there were a few slight variations of the Devon roof mine was made of 2 parts - a base and the bit that raises up. The base fixed to the cut out on the van which had been formed by bending part of the roof upwards to make a 'lip' all the way around the opening, this is what the roof fixes to and stops the water being driven under the poptop and into the van.....the top is sealed with the standard set of seal. I believe later styled Devons were made of one piece. there are quite a few pics on my resto thread of my roof, and the van roof when I took mine off to refurbish it all
Thanks, it is the 2 peace one I have. I seen the bus it came of and it had a lip all around the opening. My roof is only cut out for a sun roof so I need to just work out how to fit it with out cutting the roof. Do l use a sealant for the wooden frame to stick it on my roof and make some brackets to attach the frame to my roof. Do I need anything to hold down the pop while driving. Many questions and I will look at you thread to see what's what.
I happen to have a bus with the same roof popped up and the bottom of the canvas detatched in t' workshop. I'll take you some pics of how it goes together.
the wood frame probably wont make contact with the roof TBH, the wood on the original Devon attached through the 'lip' with screws to hold the base part down.....with some sealent between the lip and wood for added strength. You could probably re make a new wood frame so that it does make contact with the roof & pop top, you would need to seal it very well to stop water driving in under the pop top and ending up in the van ....if your doing this I'd also think about either making some metal brackets or screwing through the roof into the wood for added strength to stop it going anywhere! Water will be driven under the base of the pop top when driving so make sure you treat the wood to preserve it or it will rot out in a few years .....and water will end up in the van the top part of the pop top is held down with clips, these would have screwed to small strengthener plates Devon put into the corners of the roof cut out, they cliped to the brackets on the roof at the end of the spring loaded lifting mech ....so you might need to make some sort of bracket for them to fix to
Would be worth checking the rivits fixing the main section of the roof to the aluminium frame underneath the headlining if you haven't already. These rivets work loose over time and can cause leaks. There's quite a few threads on re-builds on here and VZi, do a search and you should find what you need. Give us a shout if you need more pics.
Thank you, I just don't have a clue how to fix it to my westfalia roof opening lol. So any pictures showing the roof and the fixing point would help. and what holds the top part of the roof closed. I have 4 brackets that came with the roof and that's it. I brought this of ebay but not the bus showing in the pics.
What have you got on the opening part of your roof? The Devon literally was a cut out and the metal folded up to create the lip shown above. The base section has wooden pieces, which I replaced with oak, that run along the inside so secured by screws through the lip. The top pop part is held down by the brackets and crude clips. These attach to the ends of the pop up mechanism. I'll draw something and hopefully it'll give you a better idea? I was thinking of going the other way, Devon to westfalia, what's your westy roof like? Is it knackered?
here's pics of my roof for reference... I've just dumped the whole lot on photobucket, some may be useful, others...not so much. http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/Will_Passey/slideshow/Devon Roof repair
Now that is a great job you have done. These pictures will help thank you for sharing. Just need to wait for spring to come around and find a dry place to take it apart to work on it. Also think about cutting the roof. Do you have measurements of the roof opening.
How have they done your roof?? They may have folded the excess metal inwards instead of outwards?? Problem is if you don't have any of the upright metal you're gonna have problems fixing the base onto the roof. Either that or you'll have to fabricate something to attach it to?? That's all I can think of mate
Before you go cutting the roof hole, I'd be double sure the Devon roof is saveable, it looks like it needs a complete refurb.
Does this make sense, crap drawing, sorry Wooden shaped battens which are fibreglassed/ fixed on underside of pop top base, goes on top of opening and then you screw from inside the lip on the roof through into the wooden battens to fix it on?? Hopefully makes sense lol!
Useful thread Just about to swap my Devon roof for a shinier less completely knackered one. I’d like to paint the struts but the bolts holding the brackets to the roof are fibreglassed over (which is not a bad thing) so I can’t undo the nut. In your pic I see that the struts have been removed at the pivot point from the bracket. Just wondering how you did that? Cheers Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That looks like a lash up with fibreglass mat laid over the Devon roof to avoid the need to seal it. So it will be a bit heavier than original. Simply get a sharp Stanley knife and cut round the bolt heads, the fibreglass mat will come off easily. Then sand off the paint around the holes and glass over with a bit more mat if you want to.
