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Replacing your Vinyl Roof

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:25 pm
by JT7196
Hi Chaps, the following artical applies not only to Lanchesters, but also some Daimler Models
, I used black Vinyl supplied by Paul Beck to recover the roof on my "Eleven" This material has almost a silk finnish to it.
When I got around to stripping the old material off, which had been over coated at some time with a matt finnish paint of some sort ,I was ammazed to find that areas that had been unpainted were actually of a patent finish!! I actually prefer the finish of the new material.
The roof as you may have already found out ,consists of three layers,the first being made of expanded metal,the second consists of a wool type wadding ,and of course the third was Rexine ,(Now replaced by Vinyl)
I will try and put some more pictures of the roof of my Lanchester during this restoration process ,Some of which are not very pretty!!!
I should add that I that any rusty metal and rotten wood were replaced during this process ,the expanded metal was painted firstly with Finnigans NO 1 rust killing paint which was then overcoated with black enamel.
As an underlay for the new Vinyl covering ,I used Jaguar head lining material .This material has a thin layer of sponge on one side and is excellent as I did not want the roof to appear to be too "Puffy" as some of the early Rileys appear to be (Sorry to any Riley owners out there!!)
The main thing to remember is :-
1 Take lots of photo's before you start and during stripping.

2 Keep the roof covering as intact as possibe when stripping it off
as you will need it for patterns for the new material.

3 Removal of the sun roof is quite straight forward if you follow this process.

First remove the wood trims around the opening inside the car.

Slide roof as far forward as it will go and remove all the screws in the rear "Well" that hold the sliding frame in position.
Then slide the roof back and remove all of the other accessible screws that you can see.
Slide roof back again at the same time gently tilting the back end upwards and continue to slide the roof back until the "Hidden" screws are exposed.
Once these screws are removed the sliding roof can then be lifted off.
Removal of the roofing material can the proceed.
This is the way it was done, and remember I did this nearly 20 years ago ,so if I have missed anything please forgive me!!

1, Start of by removing the interal drains located in the sunshine roof corners.
2 Remove side gutters and drain covers .
3 Carefully remove trim beading from around the rear of the car (Be careful lots of sharp nails!!)
4 Note distance from top of rear window to beading above then remove it.
5 Remove inside trim from around rear window.
It's then a case of carefully removing all of those darn tin tacks the hold the covering on!!!
Once all have been removed you can then start to remove the old roof covering, by starting at the front and gently peeling backwards (This is really at least a two man/woman operation)
Try not to disturb the wadding too much if possible,once the Rexine covering has been removed, store carefully !!
Take note of how much wadding is in certain areas and again gently remove.
This will then expose the last layer which of course is the expanded metal,which as previously stated will have to refurbished as required.
Also take a good look at the wood work and replace any rotten areas ,I then first soaked all the exposed wood with Cuprinal ,it was then primed and then overcoated with silk finnish enamel .
The old roof covering was very carefully taken appart and the various sections used as patterns. I covered Aluminium trim extrusions with Vinyl hand stitched on the under side (Very time consuming!!)
When refitting the new roof material ,start from the back and work forwards ensuring that the roofing material is always kept central kept taut and lightly tacked in position as you go.
Well thats enough from me ,any further queation ,just ask.


Best wishes ,Big BAD A'l

Ps , will try and post some pictures after I have returned to the UK

Re: Replacing your Vynal Roof

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:40 pm
by John-B
You've been busy this morning - must be raining where you are or cold in your workshop. Keep it up.

Re: Replacing your Vinyl Roof

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 11:23 pm
by JT7196
Hi John, no it's pretty warm down here in Perth WA, I had a bit of spare time so I thought that I would transfer some of the articles that I wrote some time ago from the old web site to this one
, in case they were lost if and when the old site is shut down. I do have a couple more to put on here, but that will have to wait until I get back from my holiday in OZ .

Best wishes, A'l

Re: Replacing your Vinyl Roof

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 5:33 am
by ghudson621
Great article. Perfectly detailed too.

Re: Replacing your Vinyl Roof

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 7:38 pm
by JT7196
Hi , here are some pictures that were taken during the restoration of both the interior and the Roof of my Lanchester.
Sorry about the quality of the first batch, but at least they will give you an idea of what you may encounter!

https://picasaweb.google.com/1163253623 ... directlink

Here are some better quality ones

https://picasaweb.google.com/1163253623 ... directlink


Hope these help , A'l