Replacing hood and frame

Hey there guys. Need to replace my hood on my mk1 cabriolet but everywhere is charging a fortune to buy and fit it.

Its cheaper to buy it myself and just pay someone to fit it but was just wondering whether I should replace the frame as well while I'm at it or will it be alright. I won't really know what condition the frame is in until it gets taken off the car and by then it's a bit late to be ordering a new frame. Was just wondering if anyone had any experiences when they removed there hood. 

Cheers guys. 

Have a chat with Carl chortle  - he's your man for hood fitting  

It's not the hood frame that is usually the problem it's the back window metal frame that's the problem with rust, you can see any problems before starting by just looking and feeling around the frame inside the car if you are lucky it's just surface rust and can be cleaned, treated and repainted but if it's to far gone then they are expensive for a metal frame with a bit of plastic stuck to it, I think they are £150 ish..

If the roof skin is in bad condition and been left for years with holes etc then you may have a problem with the frame but you can see some bit's of it before starting but you are not going to see the main part until you start to remove the old hood.

Then you can also have problems with the horse hair layer between the roof skin and headliner but again you don't know untill the old skin is off, I had some thin plastic mesh to cover mine as the material had roted away.

New vinyl roof is £140 £150, a straight forward job to replace yourself over a weekend no problem, there is a guide on here.
Approx £300 ish for a new one fitted.

Mohair roof's are twice the price of vinyl roof.

If you do buy a new/2nd hand roof frame I think there is 3 different types, electric, manual and a change of design sometime, you can tell by the different side tension cables.
You will also need to fit new side and rear tension cables £25 ish for a set.

My roof after removing the old roof so you can see the roof frame

I bought a hood from BAS recently, blue mohair and the quality was top notch - http://www.car-hood.co.uk/golf-mk12-h1102

You'll need new foam gaskets too to go under the rubber seals, not too expensive but mad not to do them

Nice one. Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm planning on buying all the parts myself and then taking them to a guy in Swansea to fit it for me and don't wanna give it to him to do and then find out I need more parts and have to spend ages tracking em down. Would rather have everything I need before I start. 

Good suggestion though about fitting it myself thanks mark1gls. May look into that and save myself a few quid. Thanks again everyone! 

Hi I spoke to jack smith today I am going to get mine done soon I have used him before for a few different things. I rang to ask him what I needed. I asked if he wanted me get a padding kit he said he never changed it but someone else
Told when changing hood you should change the padding kit really also some gaskets which he was unsure about

I forgot about the foam strips…. I bought a load from ebay and you just cut it to lengh, it is the stuff they use on double glazed house window, I'll try and find the size and link.

VW do sell the foam strip as well.

Link to a guide on replacing hood.
http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/index.php?page=cedi&type=misc&id=31

 

Is the padding kit and the foam strip for the bar that goes the width of the car and holds the frame of the hood? 

The pad is the insulating layer of hourse hair between the roof skin and inside head liner.
Its about £150 to buy.