Soooooooooooo hopefully the car will actually be working in time to get me to Leeds, however recently it occured to me.... it's an imp. It's not very big. Last year I filled up a VW Passat moving up to uni!
Now, I know that roofracks are sooooooooooooo past it now, and they were never really cool in the first place etc etc etc. And I knoooooooow that following on from this it just looks like us impers are late to catch on, but I happen to like them. So ner. Whatcha gonna do?! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyways, for some reason, I felt the need for two roofracks. In my defence, one of them did only cost me 99p.
They're both exactly the same, "eversure" model but ones in much better condition than the other. So the "other" was tonight chopped into the shape of a boot rack ;D ;D
Expected luggage capacity: Not very much
Expected rear window visibilty: None whatsoever
Potential to fill an otherwise boring evening: Plenty!!
This is the one staying on the car (not "scene" tat, was heading down the tip!!)
This is the one to be chopped:
It's an easy enough task for most people. I however, have no technical aptitude, skill or patience.
Can't say I've ever done anything slightly DIY before, so thought I'd do a write up!
Tools:
One rusty hack saw dug out from shed.
Power drill- I was far too impatient to wait for the cordless to charge so I went for overkill
Tape measure (not that it got used much)
Pencil (see above)
General "ah stuff it lets just cut and stuff" attitude
Everything unbolts easy enough:
The plan is, to remove the end pieces and chop down each side from the outside in, so that you keep the gutter grabby things.
They're just pop rivetted, so drill em out:
For sh*ts and giggles, I tried an easy out to get the annoying extra uprights someone added. I have no idea what I was trying to achieve, because they were so rusted there wasn't even any thread left on the bolts. They were just a big solid mess. Oh well, kept me busy for 74 seconds:
Now, to chopping down the sides.
This, naturally is the tricky bit for someone like me. It requires basic measuring and basic cutting. Neither of which I managed to master.
Because the imp has a rather short boot, I decided to get a tape measure out, instead of doing it by eye. It's going to have to be pretty small unfortunately, so probably won't even hold very much.
How does it go? Measure twice cut once? Meh, I measured once and ended up cuting about 4 times when I kept getting it wrong
Better to cut off to little than too much though 'ey?
So, once they're cut down, slap the ends back on and redrill!
Wanna get rid of the gay little extra uprights. Think an angle grinder is the only option though, but I don't have one!
Tomorrow, I just need to fix em on- either pop rivet them again or just bolt them (i don't have a pop rivetter!) and drill holes for the cross bars.
Will get some paint to spray it up just so that it looks a bit tidier. If it works I'll eventually get it shot blasted and shiny-ma-fied, along with the roof rack.
I've just ordered a "boot rack fixing kit" complete with two clamps, and four rubber feet. So hopefully it'll give me somewhere to put a few more bits.
jolly pain in the backside........ thinking about it...... this is probably going to ruin the airflow to the fan isn't it? Cr*p
Now, I know that roofracks are sooooooooooooo past it now, and they were never really cool in the first place etc etc etc. And I knoooooooow that following on from this it just looks like us impers are late to catch on, but I happen to like them. So ner. Whatcha gonna do?! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyways, for some reason, I felt the need for two roofracks. In my defence, one of them did only cost me 99p.
They're both exactly the same, "eversure" model but ones in much better condition than the other. So the "other" was tonight chopped into the shape of a boot rack ;D ;D
Expected luggage capacity: Not very much
Expected rear window visibilty: None whatsoever
Potential to fill an otherwise boring evening: Plenty!!
This is the one staying on the car (not "scene" tat, was heading down the tip!!)
This is the one to be chopped:
It's an easy enough task for most people. I however, have no technical aptitude, skill or patience.
Can't say I've ever done anything slightly DIY before, so thought I'd do a write up!
Tools:
One rusty hack saw dug out from shed.
Power drill- I was far too impatient to wait for the cordless to charge so I went for overkill
Tape measure (not that it got used much)
Pencil (see above)
General "ah stuff it lets just cut and stuff" attitude
Everything unbolts easy enough:
The plan is, to remove the end pieces and chop down each side from the outside in, so that you keep the gutter grabby things.
They're just pop rivetted, so drill em out:
For sh*ts and giggles, I tried an easy out to get the annoying extra uprights someone added. I have no idea what I was trying to achieve, because they were so rusted there wasn't even any thread left on the bolts. They were just a big solid mess. Oh well, kept me busy for 74 seconds:
Now, to chopping down the sides.
This, naturally is the tricky bit for someone like me. It requires basic measuring and basic cutting. Neither of which I managed to master.
Because the imp has a rather short boot, I decided to get a tape measure out, instead of doing it by eye. It's going to have to be pretty small unfortunately, so probably won't even hold very much.
How does it go? Measure twice cut once? Meh, I measured once and ended up cuting about 4 times when I kept getting it wrong
Better to cut off to little than too much though 'ey?So, once they're cut down, slap the ends back on and redrill!
Wanna get rid of the gay little extra uprights. Think an angle grinder is the only option though, but I don't have one!
Tomorrow, I just need to fix em on- either pop rivet them again or just bolt them (i don't have a pop rivetter!) and drill holes for the cross bars.
Will get some paint to spray it up just so that it looks a bit tidier. If it works I'll eventually get it shot blasted and shiny-ma-fied, along with the roof rack.
I've just ordered a "boot rack fixing kit" complete with two clamps, and four rubber feet. So hopefully it'll give me somewhere to put a few more bits.
jolly pain in the backside........ thinking about it...... this is probably going to ruin the airflow to the fan isn't it? Cr*p
Not a happy bunny. 
