Project BFR (1973 Mimosa Sprint)

[Mad Mart]

The vinyl roof was sitting on my desk when I got to work this morning. Opened it up tonight and it looks the dogs danglies. Seams in exactly the right place. I'll probably leave it 'til Saturday before fitting it & I'll take pics as we go.



....and I found the clutch slave bracket.

[oldred]

Just to recap mart, the whole vynal roof thing....the seams are they only on early sprints? I thought I remember my old 79' sprint with seams. I want to buy ( a vynal roof not your car....well i may do who knows, good work BTW). So where does one have to go to buy said roof and how much?....Oh and one last thing, How close is it to the original? .....One for the purists there!

oldred.

[oldred]

Vinyl not vynal......Vinyl not vynal thought it did'nt look right.

[Mad Mart]

oldred - http://www.martrim.co.uk the website is a bit out of date me thinks.

Yes, the early Sprints had seams upto around '76 I think (feel free to correct me anyone).

Material is Leyland EV (as close to original as you will find) £15 plus vat per metre (you need 2 metres, well approx. 1.6 metres but they only sell it in metre lengths) it's 54" wide so this gives you 1½"-2" either side to play with. Martin (the boss of Martim) charged me £20 plus vat for putting the seams in, and £10 p&p. £70.50 all in.

[Mad Mart]

I made a start on the vinyl roof tonight...I put the centre line on the back of the material. I didn't need to go all the way from end to end, but I did.





Also bought some Evostick spray contact adhesive.


Edit: Thinking about it, I need the centre line all the way down so that I know where to spray the adhesive for the initial fitting.

[tinganting]

does spray adhesive work mart.. i was told it lifts after a while..?

[Mad Mart]

does spray adhesive work mart.. i was told it lifts after a while..?

I assume it works, don't see why it wouldn't.

[sprint95m]

As long as you have decent surfaces to apply the contact adhesive to, I have not had any trouble with it myself.

Years ago I read it doesn't work well with cellulose paint. On my Dolomite the vinyl rear panels have lifted a bit. I removed one to find that the paint was perfect underneath but the adhesive was only stuck to the vinyl in places. However my car is 36 years old now.
The only weakness is it losing adhesion in hot conditions, clearly less of a consideration for us here in the UK than for our Antipodean friends!


When I have fitted a vinyl roof it won't lie flat at first, but appears to have lot of bubbles that refuse to budge. However leaving it overnight you return to a flat surface . I would choose to fit it on a hot day/ in a heated garage so the material is as plyable as possible.


Good luck, it is quite nerve racking!

[tinganting]

i only mentioned it as i have had new one put on mine and was told by the trimmer that my old one was lifting as it had been stuck back down with spray adhesive and he would not recommend spray stuff but suggested contact stuff it has superior adhestion(?) qualities...

[mahony]

i was reccomended this by a trimmer,they also do a spray adhesive thats good up to 70c.
http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/pc-1263-3 ... esive.aspx

cars looking great by the way,keep up the good work.

[bifold]

i only mentioned it as i have had new one put on mine and was told by the trimmer that my old one was lifting as it had been stuck back down with spray adhesive and he would not recommend spray stuff but suggested contact stuff it has superior adhestion(?) qualities...

Ah but but the trimmer is only a tradesman,Hold on so am I,Spray adhesive wont give as good a bond as out of a can with a brush,they will both be contact adhesive,Mart since hes fitting glass out should have no problems as long as he is heavy on the spray.
Spray Adhesive comes in a standard type stick everything,and another for vinyl obtained from flooring type companys used to fit vinyl floor covering,both work as topping and hooding have a fine cotten backing.
the cars with flapping roofs,I have found have been fitted with windscreen in,and stuckdown just under the windscreen rubber and a light splater of adhesive,most people who resorted to this method often do little or no prep,and loose paint and rust wont help.

Just over 3 months ago,I contacted everflex with the view of buying wholesale, making roofs and piller vinyl covers,selling kits inc glue,this project is on hold,IF you guys have any input on vinyl roofs please comment.

[sprint95m]

Just over 3 months ago,I contacted everflex with the view of buying wholesale, making roofs and piller vinyl covers,selling kits inc glue,this project is on hold,IF you guys have any input on vinyl roofs please comment.

Is the adhesive as strong as it used to be, if it is different at all?

I know that some other spray adhesives (made by 3M) for attaching photographs or artwork to boards are not as strong (or effective) as they once were. This, I am led to believe, is due to Health and Safety legislation outlawing some of the poisonous chemicals that were once used. (In the case of photographs, there is a far superior attachment process called dry mounting which uses heat and is free of fumes.)

[Mad Mart]

Today Mary & I fitted the vinyl roof...

I marked centre lines on the Sprint's roof.





...then we layed the vinyl to one side of the roof & sprayed the adhesive down the centre of the roof & vinyl (approx. 3-4 inches wide). We then had to get one of us on either end of the vinyl and line up the centre lines of the roof & vinyl, front and back. This was probably the hardest bit of all & where a third person would definitely have come in handy. In the end though it went quite well...




...then I sprayed the roof & vinyl as far as the seams and, working from the centre out towrds the corners, smoothed the vinyl on to the roof. We did the same for the other side...




...next we glued up to the roof swage line on either side...





...once that had had time to dry for 20 mins. or so we pushed the vinyl into the gutter (dry at this point) so we could mark the vinyl for trimming...




...then we turned our attention to the front & rear. Clothes pegs came in handy...






...just turned 2-3 mm. under for the bit at the top of the 'A' post...




There are a few air bubbles so I'm hoping that by the morning they will have gone. [-o<

Many thanks again to Mary for helping me with the fitting. It took us most of the day but we both think it went really well & looks great. Neither of us has done this before so next time???? may be a bit quicker...





...JOB DONE.

[sprint1976]

welldone to you both certainly looks a tricky job ,take it you didnt get any washing dried today lol im sure the bubbles will have disapeared by morning

[newguy]

Looks Good mart

Dunno if id let myself do that on that sexy paint youve got on there though