RP sliding roof detail

[Hugh Barnes]

Thank you Dennis and Colin. Dennis - I hadn't seen your descriptive documents before. They are very useful and, happily, describe pretty much the approach I have taken. I have been offering up the sliding panel at every point in the process to make sure it works ok. The last thing I have to do now is fit the vinyl covering. One last check to make sure it all works ok, then out in the driveway to sit under a spray from my hose to make sure all is watertight. Then, and only then, will I fit the headlining.

I'll have a look at the corners again, just folding them both in as you suggest. I also have to decide the order in which the vinyl is fixed. From your document it seems to suggest tack across the back first, then the front (which is glued into place, of course) then the two sides tacked in (though I may add a glued 'lip' inside the panel past the small wooden fillets that run down the sides. Can you recall if that was your approach?

[Denis Sweeney]

Hugh, I took a look back over my old pics to see if I had anything on the intermediate stages of my fitting the vinyl, unfortunately not.
As noted previously I had no wood in the car whatsoever, including the two thin wooden strips that would have been held in by the four metal clips on the underside on each side on the metal frame of the sliding roof. I looked at many ways of trying to make and fit these but could come up with a suitable solution. It would have meant removing all of the clips then forming the strips and then welding the clips back, the wood was beyond my abilities and so I do not have those strips of wood that the vinyl would tack into.
The vinyl I used was from Woolies and it had no stretch in it at all, which was good.
I ensured all the padding was suitably tacked using stitching to the hessian to ensure it did not go anywhere when fitting the vinyl.
Then tacked and glued the vinyl along the wood on the rear of the rear of the sliding panel ensuring it was flat and smooth.
I then glued the vinyl directly along the underside of the metal frame at the front of the frame again ensuring the vinyl was tight, the overhang at each end were glued together.
Along the sides these were again glued direct to the metal, ensuring the vinyl was taught. The corners sere then turned under and glued.
I did use a metal strip to hold the rubber at the rear end, it is the thin metal strip in the pic of the parts against the sofa!
FYI, I also used self adhesive felt pads on the sliding parts to prevent metal to metal contact on the rails. These are still good.
Hope this helps
Cheers

[Hugh Barnes]

Thanks Denis - that is helpful. I am fortunate in that I have all the wood fillets in place and the one I was missing (the trasverse at the rear) I was able to make with the help of a pal with a table saw. I will bite the bullet and make a start. I had come to the same approach as you as to the way I should tackle the job and in what order. I am also using Woolies non-stretch vinyl that I am happy with. Though when I covered the roof frame, I did do that out in the garden in full sun when we had that warm weather recently just to give it a it of extra flexibility. I think that helped.

I do have the metal strip for the rear but, as I suggested, I may leave it off, opting for an adhesive. I have chatted to a pal who is an experienced (though amateur) vintage car trimmer - he suggests a thin layer of Tiger Seal. I can experiment with off cuts of the vinyl and rubber strip before commiting myself, For the runners, I have used some very dense felt. I'm not sure where it came from - I think it *maybe* a sanding pad used by musical instument makers to make sound boards, but am not sure. I was able to 'carve' feet using a razor blade and stuck them on with my trusty EvoStik having first primed the surfaces with a mix of the adhesive and matching cleaner/solvent as suggested by their tech department some years ago. The sliding system seems to work well and the felt is not going anywhere...