The Cal-look Lounge

Guys,

I plan to weld in a ragtop roof section onmy 60 beetle and
I wouldlike to collect as much experience and feed-back about his operation.

Any advise welcome on the methods, errors, where and how to cut and weld

any pics or links also welcome

Thanks a lot in advance ;D ;D ;D

Regards

Christofe

What are your welding skills and what kind of welder do you have?  My old room mate( Long hair john) did a artical in hot vws mag about 10 years ago, If that helps.

My personnal welding skills are basics, but I would probably let the work be done by a professional.

My worries is that every persons I have discuss thsi witgh tells me to use a different method.

1/cut out the roof at the "limit" ?
2/ cut futher away ?
3/ cut at the window sills ?
4/ remove and replace the complete roof outer sheet

....

Anywone have a scan of that article ?

I personally would but weld it in about 1/2 inch around rag top section. Make sure the people that do the work know how to weld and have them do sample of there welding. Look into more of a fab shop or restoration shop to do the work , Instead of a body and fender repair shop. And if they can ( TIG weld ) and not mig weld it is a better sign that they can do the proper install . Were are you located ?

Belgium,

no worries to have about the skill of Laurent Dejaive !

He did the restojob of Roland Lebrun's big bumper

He specialized in oldtimers

Regards

If I'm not mistaken, there was a 2 issue article on welding in a ragtop in Ultra-VW last year, I have the issues at home somewhere, hidden ;-) so no chance to give you the month. Maybe Keith can help?

In the article they also cut the ragtop aproximately 2 inches around the hole. If I remember well, they did work the edges of the gap to create a ridge for the new steel to lay down in, then but welded all around. They also showed how to get the reinforements out of the old roof and into the new.

If you really can't find the issue, I could search for it, but like said it is probably hiding very well in between the other magazines.

Ciao,
Tim

If you want it exactly like Volkswagen did it you need to install the reinforcement before you lay the roof skin on. A friend did it that way, that came out so nice, he cut the outer skin of the roof in the window pillars.
Danny has a big point in having someone doing it with a TIG!

Yep there was a article in ultra vw! My mate and I did it on my 58 ragtop!  ;D

If you check out my resto thread, theres some good pictures on how we did it, or feel free to PM your email and i can send you some more pictures as well as a detailed write up of how it was done. :)

But in short we pretty much did it as danny suggests. :)

Dude  8)

Cool  ;D i'll PM you my mail adress

Stolen from my resto thread. :)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop003Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop029Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop034Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop041Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop051Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop054Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop084Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop100Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop105Small.jpg)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/roofchop113Small.jpg)

Dude  8)

He Dude,

Been reading here and there to find out what would the best solution be,

but my biggest worries is that I really would like to have the corner and central reinforcement placed, did you do it ?

Regards

Christofe

 
The reinforcements are the most difficult bit of the conversion.

If you want to do it as I did, by letting only the roof section in, it is almost impossible to use the original reinforcement panels, as they are sandwiched between the roof outer skin and inner support section. You could fit the complete ragtop roof section by welding it on at the A and B post, but there are issues with making sure the window apertures are the perfect size so the seals don’t leak.

Anyway, what I did was I choose to make my own reinforcement sections. I made them out of triangulated plates of steel which should be as strong as the originals, but would also not interfere with the fitment of the headliner. They can be seen in the below picture. :)


Hope this helps, and sorry for the delay in responding, but i have been away with work in China!

Dude  8)

(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/deanodynosaurs/58%20Resto/RagtopResto13.jpg)