Tight Topside

In my last post, I mentioned troubles with getting the top to settle-down properly.  I'll post on how that resolved, and touch on some other random pop-top related things today.

Westy strap holding Riviera Top

Great Pair
So, I've mentioned that the hole for the Riviera top is larger and more square than the sunroof hole.  This lead to some interesting challenges for getting the inner wood framing to fit.  Included in this was a need to change how the front section will fit.  This forces a change to both the font hold-downs and the bow that holds the front bellows to the roof of the bus.  For the hold-downs, I pulled the 2 side hold-downs from the old westy top.  They fit well, and seem up to the task.  Like the original Riviera, there are 4 hold-downs, 1 of the originals on each side and 2 westy ones along the front.

note original hole
(black spot above screw head)

For the front bow, I re-used the original, but had to cut short sections of the ends to fit it.  To avoid putting too much stress on the bellows, I didn't reuse the original holes, but created new ones closer to the edge.  This way, the bellows are not stretched at all when the top is fully open.  Hopefully, this will extend its life a little bit.


Pointing Straight Ahead
After that last post, I realized that I didn't even try to align the feet front-to-back.  Dummy.  A quick measurement showed that the driver-side was a full inch further forward than the passenger side.  This would explain why it didn't close, and why it was diagonally pointing off to the passenger side at the front.  I matched the rear feet, screwed in one screw each at the front and back and verified the movement.  Perfect.


Nice Rack

Screw holding front p-side

With the top settled down, and the front of the bellows tightened down, that left installing the luggage rack.  I lowered the top down and pushed the luggage rack as far into the top as  I could get it, and shook it a little bit.  The top is held down by 4 long washered Phillips-head screws.  I marked the holes with a ball-point pen, and drilled the holes with a 7/64 bit.  Out of concern for water tracking under the rear of the rack back into the bus, I layered "rope" insulation along the rear edge just like I used around the edge of the bellows.  Once the top was screwed in place, I forced my hand under the inner edge and sealed the malleable stuff against the   top and the roof of the bus.  I tested it with light, but I still need to test it with water.

completed. tight seam.

That's it for today.  The boys helped some, but they've kinda lost interest in the work part of this project and are ready for the test-drive part.  I can't say I blame them.  I'm ready for the test driving part too.  I have one last thing I want to do first: install a radiator fan over-ride switch.  I hope to tackle that on Monday so I can take a few test flights this week.  Its very very close now, my friends.  My plan to take the boys camping in mid-August may actually come to fruition.