Pop Top Restore Questions:

« **on:** July 11, 2006, 08:21:47 PM »

Okay,

My Pop Top is looking pretty rough... It has set by a railroad track for about 5 years and it sure looks like it.

I ran down to advance and bought some cleaner last night and got started (I will post some before and afters soon). Anyway... I know these were sealed with some type of evercoat..., but mine is clearly gone...

In the spots I have cleaned, it is very rough and no smooth surface remains (not pitted, just pourous (sp)). What is anm easy way to protect the clean top (once I get it there)?

Thanks...

Ret.Bugtech · « **Reply #1 on:** July 12, 2006, 08:19:57 AM »

Come on Westy guys, help him out here.
My Allison buggy has the same problem,but much worse. I'm just filling ,sanding, priming like it were a Corvette.
You might just sand ,prime and paint it, but there might be a different and better way to do this job. I see these tops all nice and clean, but I haven't stopped long enough to find out what the owners did to get them that way unless they just painted them. :?

VWGirl · « **Reply #2 on:** July 12, 2006, 09:25:00 AM »

Quote from: "Ret.Bugtech"

Come on Westy guys, help him out here.
My Allison buggy has the same problem,but much worse. I'm just filling ,sanding, priming like it were a Corvette.
You might just sand ,prime and paint it, but there might be a different and better way to do this job. I see these tops all nice and clean, but I haven't stopped long enough to find out what the owners did to get them that way unless they just painted them. :?

the nice clean ones you speak of are all painted... i'm curious to see if there is another way as well... mine is just like this... but i just keep cleaning it in a futile effort to keep it white...

« **Reply #3 on:** July 12, 2006, 05:34:54 PM »

Here are some pics of the beginning stages of cleaning the years away from the Pop Top!

« **Reply #4 on:** July 12, 2006, 10:26:35 PM »

Purple power worked really well on ours. CLR should take care of the rust stains. We replaced the rusty bolts on the back hinge with stainless ones bought at our local hardware store. Hope this helps.

Gobusgo · « **Reply #5 on:** July 12, 2006, 11:33:20 PM »

Quote

Come on Westy guys, help him out here.

Gimme time, gimme time!

I did a search on the Full Moon Bus Club's website and the general consensus there is the CLR or Oxyclean. I cleaned mine years ago with Simple Green diluted a bit. It cleaned it good enough for me at the time.

It is also said that the same diluted chemicals mentioned above will do a decent job on the inside of the pop-top too.

Ret.Bugtech · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2006, 08:23:59 AM »

OK Travis , Times up !
I have been curious about Oxyclean and this Kaboom stuff that the"Snake Oil" salesman has been shouting about on TV.
I have used Simple Green and Grease Lightning full strength and they worked pretty good.
AND THE WINNER IS

?

VWGirl · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2006, 09:42:23 AM »

i used simple green back when my top was black like that and a couple times since and it worked pretty well... i used oxy clean when I was in st louis last month and it cleaned up a little, but the top is still off white... i have never used CLR... but my top has to be cleaned at least every couple of months or it will become black again... and definitley clean the WHOLE thing at once otherwise the effort is wasted as it will get black again much quicker... the only way to really prevent it from coming back is to actually paint it and maintain the painted top from what i can tell... but seeing how my canvas is new... i dont forsee me taking it out to get the top painted!

Zen · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2006, 05:45:57 PM »

When I bought Homer the Superbus, the front part of the headliner was black . . . and I think it was some life form, not just dirt. Oxy-clean made into a paste and with just a little elbow grease behind it got it back to some-what near the original off-white color. I had already tried several multi-purpose cleaners . . . none of them worked like oxy-clean! Don't know what it would do on a top, but if you ever need to clean a headliner . . .

Anthony · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2006, 04:40:45 PM »

I've used the purple stuff (pick your brand), and Westley's Bleache-white (like for cleaning whitewalls) and both worked well, also. The '76 has a coat of paint, which is a much more permanent solution!

vwherb · « **Reply #10 on:** July 21, 2006, 01:45:02 PM »

Well, here's my 2 cents. My most favorite cleaner is by far Greased Lightning. Buy the original that is sold in grocery stores and stay away from the higher priced stuff they sell at the auto parts store. I think all they did was change the fragance cause it don't clean any better and costs more. I've probably tried all of them and the Greased Lightning does a better job than the others. One warning though, if you have sensitive skin, wear rubber gloves. This stuff is strong and don't dilute it.

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Some pics of the cleaning... YUCK

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