My Clipper.

Taken last summer.



I've owned this car for 3 years now and intend to carry on with the restoration as well as driving it in the summer months.

Jobs done.
Brakes.
All struts etc.
Radiator / hoses.
Clutch.
Timing belt.
General service items.
Wheels and tyres changed for 5 spoke alloys.

Jobs for this year.
New roof to be fitted. (this weekend depending on the weather)
New fuel filler pipe.
To have the original radio/cass serviced/repaired.

Car looks great.

Not to sure the weather will hold for this weekend up north but good look.
If you can take some snaps of replacing the roof and post up some comments.

I also have a cabrio and done bits on the roof like replace the side tension cables but not ventured as far as replacing roof.

goof luck

Weather was just crap so I had to leave the roof today  
Changed the fuel filler instead

Removed  seats.
Removed winders (easy when you've found the hidden screw) to allow rear door cards to move slightly.



Removed plastic trim to gain access to cables and main bracket fixing points.



Unclipped head lining in boot area.
Released rear window brackets.
Unfastened the 2 metal brackets at each corner of the boot 3x10mm bolts.
Disconnected wires to HRW


These brackets were the main fixing points with 4 bolts per bracket.

Just behind is the tension cable which requires the 10mm nuts removing
to allow the hood cover to be pulled out of the groove at the rear of the car. I also removed the damper.




Two man job to lift the whole roof completely off the car and then just remove any dust and gunge etc.



Refitting the roof is straight forward enough.
And I kept referring to the hood replacement guide by Ross (top guide)
in the latter stages regarding cables /cover clips/linings etc etc.



Strangely in all the above photos its sunny 8O

Would you believe just after we lifted the roof off it Hailstoned for 20 minutes :roll:

Tidy job. sods law with the hail :wink:

typical warrington weather then bud. sunny till you walk out of the door then it pee's it down.

good job though.

if you ever see a bike flashing it's lights at you wave back it'll be me.

Good work mate! How long did it take you to get the roof off and on?

Did you atempt the window yet? :wink:

novocaine said

if you ever see a bike flashing it's lights at you wave back it'll be me.

No problem    

Just in case you forget to flash your lights I'll wave at every biker I see :roll:

jonnymk1 said

Good work mate! How long did it take you to get the roof off and on?

7hrs from start to finish including a stop whilst it hailstoned for 20 mins :cry:

would prob knock a couple of hours off this time now I know how to get it all un bolted.
Best thing would be to start to remove the fixings in  the boot and move forwards.

jonnymk1 said

Did you atempt the window yet? :wink:

 ops: Worked out it was easier to have the new roof window etched than to swop them over. :roll:

Robbo said

jonnymk1 said

Did you atempt the window yet? :wink:

 ops: Worked out it was easier to have the new roof window etched than to swop them over. :roll:

Good thinking!!  :wink:

The old fuel filler (well past its sell buy date)




I used a tin top pipe and just cut it down and bent it slightly to suit.



The new pipe in situ.



RH side body kit and rear bumper removed.



LH body kit removed (the worst side)




This was really the only rust that I encountered and was quite minimal

It's been a while since my last update  so I've posted up the latest photo's











Grandads little helper !!!!!









































Dave the recovery driver taking the Clipper to the spray shop  

mine's being picked up this week for it's respray, will be good to follow this thread. see who finishes first ;-)

Gareth83 said

mine's being picked up this week for it's respray, will be good to follow this thread. see who finishes first ;-)

You'll have to finish first Gareth then I can ask how you replaced the window screen  :dontknow:

I've got a new rubber seal do I put that in with mastic then put the glass in using silicone spray  :dontknow:

Suggestions very very welcome ops:

looks like you have been buisy.  what have you used to clean the arches? they look 1000% better for it and it will be looking sweet once the fresh paint is on

keep up the good work.

Used white spirit and a paint brush to get most of the gunge off the wheel arches it even worked on the old Wax oil. 8O

I then used a wallpaper stripper with a small nozel to steam the surface really clean of grease etc.

P.S  It works better on the car than it does on wallpaper

Took about 1 hr per arch.

Just back from the body shop I'd forgotten what the body looked like with shiny paintwork.


Not too sure if I can remember where all the bits and pieces go but I've taken a few photos so fingers crossed.



The rebuild starts this weekend  :mrgreen:

Ps if there's any bits left in the shed afterwards I'll put them on Ebay :roll:  :roll:

Can't make my mind up about the grill !!
Its made of white plastic which has then been sprayed Black!!
So I would presume that originally it would  have been white



Surely VW would have used black plastic if it was meant to be black.

Anyway I've sprayed it white and placed it against the car to get an idea what it looks like.


What do you guys think :dontknow:

To make the puzzle worse on inspecting the wiper arms they are white originally and over painted in black

some cars did come with white grilles.

personally I would just get a balck one, but im boring…

looking good though robbo, may need your help removing the roof!