Even before I completed the restoration of my Volkswagen bus, I knew I was going to get myself one of those beautiful Westfalia roof-racks. Not just because it looks awesome, but mainly because I needed a way to transport my surf gear to the beach. Luckily it is not very hard to find a descent replica Westfalia roof-rack on the internet. A couple of search queries on ebay helped me to find a nice Empi roof-rack for a nice 395 Euros.
Although I know that a standard roof-rack like this will satisfy most of you, I got pretty bothered by the fact that, after 3 months, my brand new Empi roof rack looked like cr*p. The wood slates started to rot and the screws and frame were starting to show the first signs of rust. I figured that this could be done much better so I took the whole thing apart and modified the following parts:
Got rid of the cheap wooden slats and installed oiled hardwood slats.
Welded nuts into the framework to get rid of the hassle of loose bolts and nuts to install the clamps.
Replaced all bolts and nuts with stainless steal ones.
Sandblasted the painted frame to have it powder coated.
Polished the aluminium frame.
Glued rubber around the clamps to prevent them from scratching the paintwork.
The whole procedure costed 75 Euros, but it has proven to be worth effort; my roof-rack has been in use for the past two years, it only came off ones to re-oil the hardwood slats.
The rubber which I glued around the clamps can easily be obtained by cutting used inner tubes in little pieces which fold around the clamps; cheap and efficient!
