My plywood ceiling panels have arrived today for my splitscreen.

Any tips on fitting would be appreciated!

Thanks Again Dave

which type you got ie 2 big panels that join on the roof bows and 2 for the airbox or the long ones that join with a strip down the middle

pay someone else lol





two handed job or make up a length of wood the length of teh hieght of the floor to ceiling in the van then use this as a prop to pin the ply to the ceiling

sorry to come in on the thread, would be interested to know what you have and where you got them as i am looking for some myself

If you have the ones that meet on the roof bows and span the whole width of the van then you might need a second pair of hands to help you position them. When you have the panel in roughly the correct place with one side into the trough behind the rail that runs around the bottom of the roof then you need to bend the other side upwards to get it onto the rail then push the bend you have created upwards until the panel snaps into place. It can be awkward and the panel may need trimming a few times to get it right but if it is fitted well it should almost support itself like an arch.

Once you have them fitting correctly take them back out and varnish or paint them before putting them back in for a final fit

I made my own panels using 1.5mm birch ply that is very easy to bend and cut using a strong pair of scissors. Instead of drilling into the roof bows to screw the panels on I used some "no more nails" tape from B&Q to stick the panels to the roof bows. This has been very effective and doesn't damage the vehicle.

To cover the joints where the panels meet I got some 1 inch aluminium strips cut at my local metal supermarket (look in yellow pages) and cut them so they were slightly longer than the length of the roof arch. When put in place over the joints and carefully bent into shape they completely conceal the joint and look neat. Because they are slightly long they also support the roof panels.

I think wooden roof panels look great and can easily be removed if ever you want to change them, re-finish them or whatever. Hope this helps. Good luck.

X595 wrote:I made my own panels using 1.5mm birch ply that is very easy to bend and cut using a strong pair of scissors. Instead of drilling into the roof bows to screw the panels on I used some "no more nails" tape from B&Q to stick the panels to the roof bows. This has been very effective and doesn't damage the vehicle.

To cover the joints where the panels meet I got some 1 inch aluminium strips cut at my local metal supermarket (look in yellow pages) and cut them so they were slightly longer than the length of the roof arch. When put in place over the joints and carefully bent into shape they completely conceal the joint and look neat. Because they are slightly long they also support the roof panels.

sounds good fella..................any photo's?

I made my own with 1.5mm birch ply too.

Also made some extra strengthener pieces by laminating strips of ply together...........put them in one strip at a time glueing them together as I went.



Also used some 50mm strips to cover joints instead of metal................. haven't got any pictures of it finished, this was one nearly there.

[quote="vwadnad"]I made my own with 1.5mm birch ply too.

Also made some extra strengthener pieces by laminating strips of ply together...........put them in one strip at a time glueing them together as I went.

quote]

I had done mine a couple of years ago pretty similar to this and had the problem that the 1.5mm ply sagged a bit over the longer stretch between roof bows. I also made a strenghtener/extra roof bow but used some really thick ply cut and shaped to roof then liquid nailed on to roof, was never that happy with this though and worried that the ply may warp and pull roof out of shape with it. Lasted two years with out causing any problems mind. So thinking of using this method again

When you say you ".....put them in one strip at a time glueing them together as I went" did you build this up using the 1.5mm ply or something thicker? Also was the first layer glued to roof? Only curious as this seems a better, easier an neater way of doing it than I had done, wish I'd thought of doing it this way first time round.

I used 4mm ply cut into 50mm strips, cut them so they were a really tight fit (angled cut on each end), used wood glue between each strip and small amount of seam sealer on the first strip. Also made the main panel a tight fit so it popped into place and curved round to the shape of the bows (had tried previously making main panels with 4mm but wouldn't give the right curve without splitting)

bit closer view of bows..................



The extra bows also helped the 1.5mm ply to sit right down in the metal roof channel.
(cab area I made a few years back from 4mm birch ply)