Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

[tristessa]

Just came inside a few minutes ago .. what a job, thank god for friends like Kirk, Bob, Kubler and Justin because I literally couldn't have done it by myself.

It's an early style (year unknown) Adventure Campers/AdventureWagen top I picked up on Craigslist back in the spring for $40, now mounted to my '75 Westy. Weeks of cleaning, sanding, fiberglass repair, more sanding then painting to get to this point. I also had to replace the rotten wooden framework at the window openings, re-wood the enlarged roof vent opening (now RV-standard 14x14) and rebuild both of the Hehr awning-style crank-out windows with new seals and handles from Vintage Trailer Supply.

Here's a couple semi-crappy cellphone pictures; Bob brought a camera and took pics during install but I don't have those yet.



The panel adhesive (Evercoat Maxim 813) will be all set up by morning, so tomorrow I'll be taking the straps & 2x4s off, installing the windows and running beads of polyurethane adhesive/sealant (Sikaflex 221) around the edge on the outside and as much of the inside edge as I can reach. The original installation was apparently done with some kind of failure-prone mastic and about eleventy brazillion self-tapping screws that promote rust...

[Amskeptic]

It's an early style (year unknown) Adventure Campers/AdventureWagen top

running beads of polyurethane adhesive/sealant (Sikaflex 221) around the edge on the outside

Looks good.
Colin =D>

[tristessa]

All day yesterday, Bob kept commenting "What would Colin think? Would he be offended?", which is the only reason I put "don't look!" in the thread title.

Put the windows in this morning:




Need a few more screws to go across the top of the driver-side window, ran out of #8x5/8" SS screws that don't have paint on them .. fortunately I work at a hardware store, and I'm driving the Bus today. They're installed the same way as original, putty tape across the top and (reproduction) gasket on the sides/bottom. I

I don't think this thing is going anywhere, even without the added adhesion of the Sikaflex sealant/adhesive -- I pushed up on the bar at the rear of the luggage rack and the whole rear of the Bus moved upwards, partially unloaded the suspension. And now my shoulders are a bit sore.. :twisted:

[Westy78]

That looks good! Man, I'm out of the loop. Didn't even know you had the thing. So how much headroom does that give you?

[Kubelwagen]

Max Headroom!!!

I'll be here all week....

I can stand up, but I'm pretty short. Main advantage over the Westy is all the storage space available that doesn't have to be shifted around to camp.

[hambone]

It really does look nice...
I'll get some pix to you this week. Haven't even looked yet!

[tristessa]

Jasan! Where've you been?

There's not quite enough headroom for me to stand fully upright, even without shoes.

I picked up the top back in February, it came up on Craigslist just after the Nehalem campout. $40 for the top plus $20 to Mike Boell for fuel to haul it to my place -- it turned out to be just a mile or two down the road from his place .. been working on it off-and-on since then. It actually sat untouched for a couple months over the summer before I got re-motivated to work on it .. and I've kinda been quiet posting about the whole thing.

[JLT]

I seem to remember, from a friend who had an Adventurewagon, that they used to install stiffer sway bars on the rear to compensate for the higher "wind profile." It might not be a bad idea for you to go and do likewise. It's not a hard thing to do, although it does involve some drilling.

[Amskeptic]

I seem to remember, from a friend who had an Adventurewagon, that they used to install stiffer sway bars on the rear to compensate for the higher "wind profile." It might not be a bad idea for you to go and do likewise. It's not a hard thing to do, although it does involve some drilling.

Do NOT install rear "sway bars" on the rear to compensate for errant thinking.
Colin

[tristessa]

I drove it to/from work today and it doesn't really seem to handle any differently than it did with the Westy top. We'll see how it does with some crosswinds...

[asiab3]

I drove it to/from work today and it doesn't really seem to handle any differently than it did with the Westy top. We'll see how it does with some crosswinds...

So it was a Westy from the factory? I was going to ask if it had the thicker rear torsion bars, since the sliding windows made me think it could have been a station wagon.

So does it have the thicker rear torsion bars?

Robbie

[JLT]

I seem to remember, from a friend who had an Adventurewagon, that they used to install stiffer sway bars on the rear to compensate for the higher "wind profile." It might not be a bad idea for you to go and do likewise. It's not a hard thing to do, although it does involve some drilling.

Do NOT install rear "sway bars" on the rear to compensate for errant thinking.
Colin

Maybe it was thicker torsion bars, not sway bars. (I had this conversation with my friend over thirty years ago). Whatever it was, there's probably some sort of interweb resource for Adventurewagon owners who have the straight dope on it. I distinctly remember that there was a difference between AW and stock suspensions, and that my friend seemed to think that the difference was important.

[tristessa]

Yeah, factory Westy. I've been through the whole suspension at this point too...

[yondermtn]

Lookin' good.

So, what's the inside look like? No more bed up there or does the mattress slide out instead of flip?

[tristessa]

Right now the top is bare fiberglass inside -- hand laid cloth and mat, no chopper gun -- with 1x2 cedar framework around the roof vent & window openings. Next up is insulation, paneling, bulkheads to close off the front & rear storage areas, lights...

No more bed up top. The only thing we ever used it for was stowing stuff once we set up camp, so it's no big loss. I suppose I could build a slide-out mattress from the front if we really needed it, but...