Cabrio Roof

Just bought a new Cabrio roof, lining and frame  Its all put together, but how easy is it to actually put on the car?

Mostly fairly easy - the bit that will have you swearing profusely is the rear tensioning cable - access to the nuts on the ends of this cable is extremely restricted, and you have to grip the cable as you tighten the nuts, otherwise the cable will twist and snap.

Find a friend who's a keyhole surgeon…..

So Alicabrio have you changed the changed your's yourself?

You could be the first on the site to do so! If so have you got any tips?

Cheers,

Ross

Hiya Ross

haven't changed it yet - but I've got the roof, the side tensioning cables, the staple gun, and a variety of glues for sticking the thing on  

Also printed off the guide you sent me the link to a couple of months ago

Just waiting for a nice warm sunny weekend to do it.

I will report on how it goes.

I'm pretty certain that the rear tensioning cable is going to be a pig because it's devilishly hard just to catch a glimpse of the nuts on the end of the cable, let alone to get a spanner/socket on the end to undo them.

I have also invested in a tarpaulin so that if the roof replacement operation is interrupted halfway through, the car wont be left completely at the mercy of the elements.

preparation…preparation…preparation

 :roll:

Cool, good luck with it.

I did post another couple of guides up a month or so ago too. do a search and I expect you'll find them. I've still not done mine yet. I think at the moment i'll try and wait it out till the spring. I read somewhere you shouldn't change them when its too cold.

I now have a hood now and side cables. I'm going to try and reuse the rear cable. You can get a the nuts a lot better once you detach the headliner at the rear. half open the hood and you can detach the headliner without bending the metal spiked that hold it on.

I'm gonna find out the prices of the gasket stuff that goes between the outer skin and the side seal brackets. Need a spaple but too!

The main think thats stopping me is the rust thats under the lip at the rear. There isn't much but it needs to be sorted first which means the cars got to come off the road and its my daily driver. It hit 150k today!!!
The sportline should be on the road soon hopefully so I can take the other off!   

I have nightnares about what's going to appear once the roof's off. I  don't have a garage to work in, hence the need for a whole clear weekend - just in case I need to sort out rust patches (holes?  8O )

There is a decent bodyshop just down the road, so they may be getting some business……

Which glue are you going to get? I've got Copydex, some black silicon sealant, eopxy and some water-based high-tack stuff. The new roof is vinyl so most solvent-based glues are out  :roll:  i.e. impact adhesive - which is exactly the stuff you'd want….

Ali

Once you detach the rear of the headliner you can see the inside of the lip to see if its rusty on that side of it. Hope its not too nasty. Mines just surface.

The guides I have recommend using contact adhesive that can withstand high temps. One specifies a certain Dunlop one. The back of the vinal is fabric so it should be ok. I think its what VW must have used.

I'll use some clear silicone to seal the back window as my roof isn't black. I'll be masking off the hood around the screen when I apply it to make sure it doesn't get where it shouldn't anyway.

Hi guys,
    On the questions of the hood removal I'm at a bit of a loose end with mine. Wonder if either of you two can help? I've cut the tention cable to the rear as it's rusty and needs replacing. Now I need to know the easiest way to remove the roof so I can attack the rust at the back of the car. I've got the Haynes manuals and they're not very informative on how to remove the hood. Any help would be most welcomed.

On the note of you worrying about keeping the roof off for more than the weekend, I've got a car cover from Argos for ?25.00 that is elasticated around the bottom and can be put on or taken off in less than 1 minute. Might be worth having a look at if you're worried what you might find under the hood!

thanks,
Jord

Thanks for the info - I'm really running out of excuses for not doing it now….  

Jordster - I don't think that the roof is attached to the lip at the rear of the body, other than by the cable.

It is stapled to the window frame (which is wood inside a steel outer shell), and glued/screwed to the folding frame.

If you've cut the cable, it should be possible to just pull the hood out of the channel the cable pulled it into. t least that's what I'm hoping!


Ali

We'll see - I'm going to have a go this weekend on the roof removal as I want to sort all of the body work out before I attempt to play with the interior and engine etc. I'm worried about damaging the hood thats all as I can't afford to replace it and it's only got a couple of minor rips over the drivers/passengers windows to fix which I will do myself. I will try and do photos when I remove mine and post them up afterwards. Hopefully we will both be successful in our hood removal. Let me know how yours goes and I will do the same.
Happy restoring!!
Jordster

Hi guys - finally just got the roof off - only took 30mins.
Ali - if you're car is your daily driver take care upon removing the hood if you haven't allready - there's a few hidden nasties that add a little complication. Firstly remove the cable for the heated window and any others that you see. You will then have to undo all of the screws just under the window that attach the inner lining to the car (fairly easy). Then undo all of the nuts etc with the hood on as normal. Once you've done them all open the hood slightly to provide a little slack on the back to under the hood from the lip at the rear - this is fairly difficult as there is the tention cable as well as mastic or glue. I used a screw driver and edged it out bit by bit - but be careful not to tug too hard as you may rip the hood. At the end you may need someone to help you lift it off depending on your size as the thing is pretty damn heavy and will require a fair bit of strength. Mine may need replacing having just taken it off, but I will see if I can tidy it up myself before forking out for a new one! Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Jordster

Just to let you guys know - i took mine off, and changed it over took me and a friend about three hours to do the full job ( and about 2 hours of that was putting the tension cable back on).
Id be glad to answer any questions…

punkassmofo said

Just to let you guys know - i took mine off, and changed it over took me and a friend about three hours to do the full job ( and about 2 hours of that was putting the tension cable back on).
Id be glad to answer any questions…

 :clap:  :clap: Well done.
Did you write down what you did and how….any pics?? This could be a uesefull little write-up.

This link will help everyone for removing hood frame and covers. Details and pictures  

News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com