This has been talked about a million times in the past.

What if someone cut off the roof of a coupe, hollowed it out to make it lightweight, and added clips to attach it to the top of the windshield, in the same place the soft top attaches to? And the soft top would be retracted, as well as the convertible windows, that way the coupe rear windows would fit.

Has anyone actually tried anything like that?

I've heard of people debating on the coupe roof, but ruled it out as too heavy. Just like the soft top, the hardtop can potentially have no structural support too.

Thoughts?

You'd have to add some sort of clips/clamps/attachments to the rear as well. Just clamping it at the front isn't good enough.
You'd also probably have a pretty tough time making it water tight.

People have started it, never seen anyone finish.

PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:You'd have to add some sort of clips/clamps/attachments to the rear as well. Just clamping it at the front isn't good enough.
You'd also probably have a pretty tough time making it water tight.

I'd make something that clips to the back of the bezel by the top. or maybe the sides... it's just a thought.

luckily, the coupe, convertible and hatch all have identical windows, so I'm not too worried about watertight. There'd be rubber strips all along the bottom where it meets the convertible body.

I wish I had the money to do this.. lol

A member on here had made a fiberglass roof. It's probably in the old posts somewhere. I believe he needed a top for whatever curcuit he was in for racing.

I saw that, he wanted to race his convertible in autoX and the course requirement was hardtop I believe.

My idea is to create a modified version of the coupe roof, to be attached while the convertible top is down. It would clip to the windshield mounts the same way the rag top does. The back would utilize clamps, in order to create a good seal.

The donor roof would be right off a salvage coupe. the convertible and coupe have the same door shape, same glass, and essentially the same seals. it would be easy for the right amount of time and money at least lol... maybe a custom back window though :/

Someone got an sl500 hardtop to fit w/ minimal modifications. Of course, those hardtops are much heavier (in the neighborhood of 100+ lbs), but they are also snazzier. It was posted on this forum sometime last year?

AutoX doesn't require a hardtop; depending on the class, it may require a roll bar, but that's it. Road racing/rally-x rules might require a hardtop depending on the organization/class.

rhd donor car




Coupe top fitment issues...








Had roll cage done...

Well, that settles that!

Wow someone is finally doing it. KEEP POSTING PICS!

It would come along much faster if I could find a vert parts car or someone to sell me the part of the top skeleton frame with latches. I had a parts car lined up but it was still very fixable.... So I let a friend of mine buy it to restore it and bring it back to life. It fits over the cage without an issue. Don't think I have posted any pictures with it on the car since the cage was done.

THIS IS AWESOME I FEEL LIKE I LET EVERYONE DOWN I STILL HAVE MY HARDTOP VERT TOO IT HAS A SL500 TOP ON IT!...I RAN OUTTA FUNDS TO FUND THE PROJECT...YOU SIR KEEP GOING MAN! Maybe I might bring mine back from the dead when the funds are there but Even with the sl500 top on the vert there are still minor fitment issues...Excellent idea with the roll cage exactly what i was thinking..i must say tho..that top looks like you are going to have little...or no problems rolling the windows up!..mine leaks...only down side -_- my thread is still out there! between

Sorry about the caps too! =)

Here's the first top I tried to do. Fund's weren't there to continue so I sold it to a friend of mine and this is the progress on his. He doesn't have a roll cage in it tho and his is converted to a roadster, No convertible soft top.





Love how his car is turning out! Not sure how he is gonna be able to mount it but The anticipation of the 2 of them together..................

This looks cool... wish you had pics of the whole car on...

Moody just came by and showed me pics. It is completed, minus paint. I think he will post pics soon of his crazy RHD swapped caged hardtop vert...

Here it is! Still retained the factory soft top and power folding/raise still functions rhd quite happy how it has turned out so far. Just got pricing on the lexan for the rear window & rear quarters....

So does it clamp down from the inside? Front and back?

The answer to your question is yes.... Found a junkyard 240 vert chopped the front half of the frame off it and welded the sides to the hard top and the back has an l shaped bracket that seats the back underneith the rear most trim under the rear window support bars I welded in. factory hinges latch in place just like they are suppose to and the rear C pillar has a custom made J hook design welded in place and the bottoms of the c pillar were capped with a solid piece of metal








you can see the factory latch in this picture


and the rear j hook here


And the new bash bar for the front


going to work on getting the trim pieces to line up properly...

wow, i think its looking very good. makes me want to give it a go when i get some extra funds. very good job man.