Replacing the roof tent.

Technical questions and answers about the Mazda Bongo

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Rhod
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Location: Argyll

Replacing the roof tent.

Post by Rhod » Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:36 pm

Having replaced my damaged roof tent with a S/H one from Bellhill yesterday, I thought a few pointers might help anyone else who has to do the same. I forgot to get any photos of the process I'm afraid :oops:

1) For ease of carriage, Bellhill had removed the metal frames at the top/bottom of the tent. this does make it rather more difficult to fit so,if you have the option of collecting your replacement tent, it would be worth doing this & installing the complete unit.
2) The tent has a piping along the edge, which slides into a channel on the edge of the frame. The top frame is easy enough, but the bottom one is a lot more tricky - especially the front section, which has to slide around the "corner" of the tent perimeter. I found that the metal tends to take shavings of rubber off the seal. Copius applications of silicon lubricant help. The bottom frame is pop-riveted together at the corners, so you need to drill the rivets out & then re-rivet after assembly.
3) The "screws" holding the bottom frame to the van roof are plastic & easy enough to undo. Screw out, push back in.
4) As reported elsewhere, by others before me, the top screws are loctited in & can be VERY tight. The screwdriver needs to be a perfect fit (posidrive No3 - I think). I used molegrips on a couple to break the "seal".
5) Space is tight on the top corner screws. I rightangled screwdriver was very useful for replacing them.

The whole job took about 4 hours.
96' Green AFT 4WD / BMW R100GSPD
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westonwarrior
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Re: Replacing the roof tent.

Post by westonwarrior » Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:43 pm

Good job done then


and any one else in need of doing it can do so with confidence that they are not the first
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You've Been Bongod
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Re: Replacing the roof tent.

Post by You've Been Bongod » Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:46 pm

should have come to me as i put on here not long ago i had spare roof tent in end let it go for bargain price of £40 not £230 like ebay prices
I NOW HAVE AN ASTRA JUST THE BONGO TO FIND A NEW HOME THEN I AM OUT OF HERE
Rhod
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Location: Argyll

Re: Replacing the roof tent.

Post by Rhod » Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:23 pm

You've Been Bongod wrote:should have come to me as i put on here not long ago i had spare roof tent in end let it go for bargain price of £40 not £230 like ebay prices
Unfortunately my need was rather urgent as we're away in the Cairngorms next weekend, so had to source tent & get it fitted last weekend. Getting anything shipped over to the outer reaches of the known world tends to take twice as long as the usual delivery estimates :evil: I knew that Bellhill had one & they're not that common on ebay, so really had to go with grabbing what was there at the time!
96' Green AFT 4WD / BMW R100GSPD
JamesnAl
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Re: Replacing the roof tent.

Post by JamesnAl » Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:38 pm

Hello. Could someone tell me the size of those rivets? And will any hand riveter do the job? Such as a Halfords one? What size drill bit to remove the rivet?
Thanks!
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