Hi guys yes the photo is my sons van , the DVD player is a full 15 inch one I mounted the base plate to the roof cross member . The cross brace is very strong so no other reinforcing is needed .The sound deadener is called automotive underlay felt 900gsm 10mls thick its a very dense interwoven shredded wool blend 1.83 wide and can be bought by the metre from Nolans UDA at Yatala in Qld . I have used this product for over 40 years and by far the best result , all of our current and past vans have had the treatment and what a difference on the road . The best result is to glue it to all metal outer surfaces roof sides and floors etc check out these two conversions I have done ,our latest van New T5 Project . And a friends one My weekend project on my mates T5, MADE IT QUIET .
It's a tar paper sort of stuff a very simple way for VW to cut down on roof vibrations and cuts down the tinny sound NVH it works but its a pretty piss poor amount , they also use it along the side walls as well .
Finally built up the courage to cut a hole in the roof of my T4 to put in a Fiamma Turbo 28 vent!
With this type of vent no drilling through the roof is necessary to attach it as it works on a sandwich type system whereby the outside upper frame and inside lower frame are screwed together from below thus pulling the roof and headlining together.
My question is whether or not I should add a timber support around the edge of the cutout between the roof and headlining so that as I tighten the screws it doesn't just keep pulling the two surfaces together too far to get a good seal?
On the other hand there is nothing in the installation instructions about having to do this so I'm thinking maybe it's because it is better to allow the roof to still be able to flex a bit around this area?
DO not install this the way they are telling you to !!! it will not work as the gap between the roof lining and the roof metal is not solid and it will leak like a ba%^&d . Okay you are right make up some timber spacers cut them as close to the distance between the two vent frames when they are screwed together . I would suggest assembling the two parts and then measure and cut the appropriate sizes you can glue them into place with some liquid nails . You have to get the right tension so that there is a constant clamping effect , I would suggest you use neutral cure silicone or urethane sealant DO NOT use ordinary silicone it has acid in it neutral cure is for metal roof and gutters . I fit sunroofs as you may know so the sort of job you are doing is very familiar to me , I would not allow the vent to be loose as you describe as that small a hole cut between the braces will be very solid . The only down side of a square hole is that the corners are the weak point if there was any flex in the roof the corners will be the first thing to start splitting that's why sunroofs have rounded corners it removes the risk . If you are needing any more info feel free to give me a call I,m the only sunroof fitter on the Google search for QLD
Thanks Sunny, I was hoping to hear from you knowing that you cut holes in car roofs on a daily basis.
I probably should have posted this ask earlier but luckily today I went with my gut instincts and put in the timber spacers and all looks good!
The sealant that the manufacturer suggested isn't available in Australia so I went with the closest that I could find which is a butyl mastic that reportedly sets with a tough skin but underneath remains soft. I thought though, in the worst case scenario, at least it would be easier to redo than if I had to rather than having used silicon.
The only thing that I didn't do that you suggested was to round the corners. At the time I wondered about this because the channel that the sealant went into was rounded but I went ahead and followed their instructions. Luckily though I added some extra mastic in these areas so I'm hoping that it will be well sealed.
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