DIY roof rail's!

[dsgrnmcm]

Hi team has anyone put on there own roof rails, aka off another car on to there t2 pref swb.

My pics are from thread 108 here:

http://www.nissan4x4ownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5043&page=8

Any help with removing the lining and water proofing the roof holes would be great,

and the arm rest also.

ta

 

[Terranosaurus]

I had skoda felicia estate on my old one and have Astra Estate on my current one.

Roof lining is pretty easy and obvious wen you start to look at it tbh I can't remember precisely but in essence, pull the door seals off and work from there.

Rest is easy - if you have all the fittings including the original rubber seals off the donnor car you shouldn't have any problems with water. For a real belt and braces use some RTV silicon sealant - must be RTV silicon ordinary bathroom silicon Gives off ammonia as it cures and it will corrode - remember all those 80's aftermarket sunroofs that rusted clean through?????

 

[Deleted account DD]

remember all those 80's aftermarket sunroofs that rusted clean through?????

Yup , had corrosion big time around my 1984 Astra GTEs britax roof...............I never considered it could be that :naughty

Do you think its too late to claim

 

[dsgrnmcm]

So basic's

off door trip, down roof lining, drill holes in roof, seal and bolt up in to bars up roof lining job done.

any pics going of previous jobs

 

[Terranosaurus]

Only pics I have are the finished job and even then not close up.

Have a good look at a set already on another T2. Work out where they go. They don't run parrallel to the roof swage lines for instance. If you go to far outboard you end up in a twin skinned area and it makes the job a lot harder.

Old adage - measure twice cut (well drill) once. You'll be drilling from above so be careful not to follow through and drill through the lining. Use a bit of masking tape on the paint to stop the drill sliding around and an auto centre punch to get you somewhere to start. Use the rubbers as guides. Put the bars inplace with the rubber. When you are happy, remove bars but leave rubbers so you can mark where to drill - that bit is probably obvious but could be worth saying for some.

 

[jims-terrano]

Originals are fitted with some kind of a rivet with a captive nut, they are fitted from above and as you tighten the bolt in the nut it kind of crushes up to the roof and holds in place. Also I used "sicaflex" sealant which is an automotive black sealant to reseal my roof bar mountings. My sunroof also leaked, the water got between the rubber seal and the glass so the sicaflex sealed that too. That sealant costs a lot for a tube but is in my view cracking stuff.
There was a member who used Kia Sportage Roof Rails for his SWB T2, I'm pretty sure most roof rails can be slightly modded to fit most vehicles. I guess the mian thing is the length and the profile of the mounting feet.

If you mess with the roof lining be careful not to crease it and keep washing your hands cos you'll easily finger mark it.

Jim T

 

[Adz]

Just an idea whilst reading these...:augie

Mk3 Vauxhall Cavaliers have pre drilled holes hidden behind the doors,door rubber.

So...

Would it be possible to do the same if people dont want to attack there roofs.

I personally arent going to bother with roof bars as not required...yet...:nenau :lol

 

[dsgrnmcm]

Cheers fellas

Will give it a bash this week at work.

 

[ronypony]

Adz I won a pair of universal roof bars (not rails) on flebay for the cost of postage (£10)....of course they are originally sold to fit a LWB Terrano/Maverick...and I have a SWB.....therefore I fitted the front bar...its a clamping arrangement which fits to the roof kinnda inside the door.

Now having only one bar fitted is as useful as a chocolate tea pot (unless its for mounting spots or the like) so I was trying to figure out a way to fit a rear bar (I also had a pair of old Ford Granada bars in the garage...these have a simple fitting design...a single bolt that the Granny had a pre-drilled threaded hole under the door seal rubber to accept.

I decided (having had some good advice from other forum members) to invest in some
Rivnuts and a fixing tool...fantastic invention....drilled an 8mm hole either side of the 'side roof' towards the rear of the car to accept the rivnuts....fixed them using the special tool/clamp..voila...two threaded holes to accept my old Granny roof rack....I hasten to add that I measured everything up carefully before drilling the holes in the roof..will post a pic when I lay my hands on the digital camera...I know its around here somewhere.

So I have the universal clamp type at front and my bolted Granny type at rear and it don't look too bad at all and does the job perfectly.

 

[Adz]

:thumbs

 

[ronypony]

Here are some pics I hope

This is the front 'Universal' clamping type fixing...hope its obvious how it fixes to the roof

 

[ronypony]

This is the rear fixing...the rivnut holds the bolt circled with yellow

 

[ronypony]

Both bars from above....don't look too bad...I reckon....and the important thing is as I said they do the job of holding my roof box, ladders, B&Q purchases......whatever really.

No removing of roof lining ect required...lol

 

[Adz]

Good idea of mine :augie

Can ya wake up more pics or a photobucket link pls :thumbs

Think i might do it now :clap

What is your 'new' estimated price & '2nd hand' estimated price (ebay :lol)

 

[ronypony]

Great minds think alike mate....or is that fools seldom differ lol

What other pics would be helpful to you...and I will try to oblidge..

I won the pair of Universal bars for 99p plus a tenner postage...couldn't believe no one else
made a bid (specially since they were designed for a Terrano/Mavrick LWB)...just make sure that any bars you go for are wide enough to stretch the width of the roof .....The Granada bar is set at its absolute maximum to fit...

The Rivnuts are cheap on fleabay...but the fixing tool is quite expensive...you could easily make your own fixing tool....just google ' DIY rivnut fixing tool'

I used 8mm steel Rivnuts and even with a proper fixing tool they were a struggle to get clamped to the roof.I eneded up using a nylon chord wrapped around the handles of the fixing tool ...and used a screwdriver to twist the chord giving enough pressure to fix the rivnut in the 8mm hole I had drilled...you also need a good quality 8mm metal drill bit...you drill through a double skin of the roof.

So costs for me were £11 for universal bars...nowt for Granny bars...£4.00 for 20 nuts....£13 for fixing tool (but easy to make your own....I could also have drilled two more holes at front of roof and fitted the other Granny bar.

My totals then were £28...however if I hadn't bought the universal bars and just used my Granny ones and made my own tool...the cost would have been £4.00 (for the rivnuts)...cos I already had the bars lol

 

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

shameless plug,

ive got a pair of lwb rails in classified for anyone else thinking hmm what if...

 

[Adz]

Couple of shots of the fixing points :thumbs

 

[ronypony]

Will do m8...but it will have to be tomorrow

 

[Adz]

:thumbs

 

[ronypony]

Adz...as promised a few pics of fixings for bars...starting with a 'rivnut'