Bassoctopus

My roof is starting to get torn at the sides quite badly now

So I fancied a project this winter, while the car is garaged, to get hold of a used frame and put a new Tops roof fabric on it before fitting to the car.

Then I happened upon a roof which is good condition, with frame but with a split rear plastic screen.

My current roof has a perfectly good rear plastic window, so...

Is it possible to take my good window, unzip it, and fit it fairly easily to the new roof. Or is there more to it than that?

Any comments or pearls of wisdom appreciated

tomkbucks

is it really worth it ? im sure its a very hard job to do a swap and for

Jel

Nope, that's it! I had a good poke around when I took my old roof off.

IIRC there are rivets which hold the two layers of vinyl together onto the plastic weatherstrip, so these will need to be removed and replaced, or glued etc

Jel

Tom's right though, it's a mammoth task to remove/replace the roof, simple yet time consuming - whatever you do dont start it on a sunday afternoon!

Bassoctopus

I was thinking about doing it over the winter while the car is garaged and not being used.

And the roof I'm looking at comes with frame, which should make it a bit easier? Or not?!

j8mie

Sounds like the voice of experience talking here

Have to agree with what's already been said. If I was you I'd get hold of a new roof with a glass rear screen.

Jel

With frame will make life A LOT easier. Not stripping/replacing the vinyl on same frame will cut the time threefold - plus it'll look a dog if you dont get it right.

Go glass though, it's night and day difference.

To do the swap really needs to be done outside. You'll need 360' access with doors at full extension, if you get any change from 8 hours SOLID work you're doing well - you'd be amazed how many bolts you need to remove (especially dealing with the roll hoops - dont split 'em!)

Bassoctopus

My dad's got a massive shed which used to house a vintage bus, so no problem with garage space.

Still mulling this over, but the possibility of doing it in 2-3 days for under

eSeM

Not that much easier.

IIRC you still need to remove half the hood from the frame to fit the new plastic window.

The plastic window is bonded to the hood so I doubt that you would be able to remove the window from your old hood and put it onto the new one.

Glass is the way forward.

Jel

You can, there are two zips which meet in the middle. The plastic screen is bonded to the vinyl fabric, but the zips are hidden behind the 'double layers' each side.

The person I sold my old roof/frame to bought a plastic screen from Honda and switched them over with my instructions. PMs and emails long gone though - not sure they posted here, just lurked.

It's very hard to visualise with out it actually being infront of you, obviously!