van roof questions

[dean36014]

Its getting near the time when i'm ready to sort out the roof on my van body. The gutters aren't to bad, but need replacing in places, however some of the inside frame below the gutters, which the roof sits on needs repairing.
I know i can get a fibreglass roof for £285, but would rather repair the steel one. Is it possible to cut the roof of, so i can repair the inner sections, and then using new gutters replace the roof? If I cut the roof using thin cutting discs near the base, would i be able to weld it back to the new gutters?
The actual roof skin is in pretty good nick, and i can afford to buy the gutters, but its alot more dosh buying a plastic roof.

[aupickup]

originally all 3 parts of the roof, that is the sideof the van, the gutters and roof were spot welded
so drill out all the spot welds and the roof will come off

[les]

Look on the lcv site, there is a link to someone who has done this roof removal, don't cut it off, as above remove spot welds.

[bmcecosse]

Are new gutters available for vans ??

[IaininTenbury]

Are new gutters available for vans ??

Yes they are....

[bmcecosse]

Could you point me to them please ?

[IaininTenbury]

Its getting near the time when i'm ready to sort out the roof on my van body. The gutters aren't to bad, but need replacing in places, however some of the inside frame below the gutters, which the roof sits on needs repairing.
I know i can get a fibreglass roof for £285, but would rather repair the steel one. Is it possible to cut the roof of, so i can repair the inner sections, and then using new gutters replace the roof? If I cut the roof using thin cutting discs near the base, would i be able to weld it back to the new gutters?
The actual roof skin is in pretty good nick, and i can afford to buy the gutters, but its alot more dosh buying a plastic roof.

I find the easiest way to do this is to cut through the guttering with a power saw / reciprocating saw, along the edge of the van side at an angle, so the blade goes on the inside of the roof and just cuts along the guttering.
With a sharp blade the roof can be removed in minutes and placed upsidedown on trestles for working on so the remains of the guttering can be unpicked from it, either by drilling out spotwelds, or grinding it off with a flexible sanding disc in an angle grinder. Easier to find the spot welds from the underside...
The edge of the roof is then left pretty much intact and can be repaired in places if it needs it.
The rest of the guttering will still be spotwelded to the tops of the van sides and likewise can be spotweld drilled off, or ground off, so the tops of the van sides can be repaired, or new sections fitted.
I find it easier to spotweld the new guttering to the van sides and then spotweld the roof to the guttering, (if you spotweld the guttering to the roof first its then very difficult to get the spotwelder in to join it to the van sides, though some people have bolted the roof/gutter assembly to the van sides so it can be removed for maintenance in future. Not tried this myself but can see the point).
Other tip is, if spotwelding the roof to the gutters it helps to grind one of the tips of the spotwelder to a wedge shape so it fits in the gutter channel. If it catches the edge of the guttering it easily burns through it.

Of course other folk may have different ways of doing what is one of the more daunting welding jobs on a Minor, but this is just what works for me.
Good luck with it!

[IaininTenbury]

Could you point me to them please ?

Not without a blatent advert for my business, which will no doubt contravene the T&Cs of this board. Frustrating at times when folk ask for help....

[dean36014]

Thanks Iain, thats the answer I needed, a least I can get the roof of and then crack on with some repairs while saving for the other bits.