so we cut the top off my friends gold coupe last weekend... (pics on pg 2)

[jrsink]

this guy knows i'm not full of ****! LOL

he's seen it

nice to meet u too mike!good lookin vert
Modified by jrsink at 7:29 PM 1/21/2007

[jrsink]

I could do them for $600 each or so, but at that price I wouldn't be making any money selling them and it wouldn't be worth the effor to make the mold unless I could sell at least a dozen or so of them.

The real problems that I see with making a hardtop for the vert:1) rear window. A plastic rear window would be much lighter and is what many miata hardtops use. It could be curved to improve the massive blindspot verts have with the top up. This would have to be molded. I don't have the equipment to do that. Outsourcing would be expensive. Also, plastic scratches a lot easier than glass. What could be much cheaper/easier is to identify a vehicle with rear glass that is capable of working and that is common enough in the junkyard to secure a second hand supply. For thos in the snowbelt this option could even provide a power defroster in the rear. Pimp. It would also make the top a lot heavier though, and probably limit the top to a smaller squarish rear window approximately the same size as the rear one. one option I have eyed in several junkyards is the RX7 convertibles. They used a folding top with a hard roof section over the occupants, and the rear window is heated glass approximately the same size and shape as the vert rear window. Only thing is, the yards here want at least $100 per for the rear glass, and I have a feeling rx7 verts are rare enough that I would only be able to get a handful of the rear glass units.

2) fitment. How would the top fit? Would it fit OVER the stock top (with the stock top folded down). This would be less than ideal for a few reasons (stock top gets moldy etc when folded down, hard top would have to be especially bulky to flare out over the folded top, and the folded top eats up extra trunk space).Would people want a hardtop if they had to remove their soft top to install it? I think this would limit its appeal....Furthermore, If I was selling things for the vert I would also want to produce a hard boot cover and a hard tonneau cover. The hardtop could be much smaller and more lightweight if it was designed to be used in conjunction with the hard tonneau cover, but would those of you with children etc be willing to purchase it if it didn't allow the use of the rear seats while isntalled?

3) attachment. No where on the stock car is there any convenient fitting to mount the top to. I dont know what to do about this except include acceptable hardware with the hardtop designed for permanent attachment. Would people be willing to accept this solution?

What about attaching it to the windshield frame at the front and sealing it around the doors? For the top of the window seals you could use regular weather stripping, but because of the stock hook system in the front the easiest solution would be to use a 240sx convertible header bar as the front of the hard top. There probably just aren't enough header bars in the junkyards to make this option available to everyone that might want one, and making a custom front header bar would increase the cost.

4) costwould people really want one if I completed it and it ended up costing $600? $800? $1000?I really won't know how much the parts and labor will run until I do the first one, so i couldn't set a price. I probably wouldn't want to start a mold until I had pre orders but I'm not sure what the price would be.

5)compatibility with aftermarket upgradesThis is a huge area of concern for me. My car, which would presumably be the model I would use to design the top, has no rear seat, coupe doors, and I am planning on removing the stock top. There is no way I could assure that the hard top would fit other cars without having other models to test fit during the design process. In addition, a roll bar that clears the stock soft top would probably not clear a small top designed to work with a tonneau cover. A full size hard top that allowed rear seat access MIGHT work with some roll bars but probably not all.

As you can see, these are many important issues that hinder the development of such a product. There are far fewer hard tops for 2+2 convertibles than for 2 seaters because of these reasons. The easiest, lightest, cheapest, and most convenient top would be a hard tonneau and a small "2 seater" top that covers the 2 front seats.

1.rear window and side windows will be recieving the plexiglass treatment.2. and 3.top would latch down in the fron utilizing stock attacmnet hard bolted onto the hard top; hood pins or some miata similar latches down onto the trunk in the back.gaskets in between the hard top and body all the way around. top will sit ontop of stock body line where it was originally cut from the factory. unit will be detachable. takes 2 people to lift it and set it on the car now with all its glass.4 well, after the top was cut off the coupe and towed to the scarp yard they paid me about $45 for the metal.so i guess= $0well, 25 bucks worth of saw zaw blades, one damaged saw zaw, one stolen grinder, countless grinder wheel, some black rustoleum.not too much. fiberglass mold would be bad as hell though.5 my soft top assembly and pump, rear seat bracket, back seat, vert doors, and complete interior (minus one seat) have all been removed already. oh, i i got a non spoiler trunk lid lolTHE **** IS LIGHT NOW!

XAT (xatracing.com) is drawing up the full cage this week...

sidewayz soon ; )

[ishkabibble]

Who is saying you're full of ****?

[slownslurious]

my list were the things I'm thinking about as I work on my fiberglass one.

the coupe one is an interesting idea, I wouldn't consider it viable for myself (cough cough buy a coupe with a sunroof cough lol) but I look with curiousity to see the final pics

[DeXteR]

Dexter, you're almost a Canadian, eh?

ish, no, you bastard. geographically, there are parts of canada that are further south than saginaw, but to call me "almost canadian"... no.

no hard feelings.

smart guy! first intelligent comment...

hey, the rest of us BSers are just killing time waiting for pictures. if you don't know by now, we're all pic whores. none of us have enough imagination to see things in our minds. we NEED pictures!!!

[ishkabibble]

Hey, I've been to Saginaw, you can't fool me.

Canadians are nice people, anyway. Plus, they can import R32 Skylines.

[DeXteR]

Hey, I've been to Saginaw, you can't fool me.

Canadians are nice people, anyway. Plus, they can import R32 Skylines.

come on now, you don't need a passport to come visit us in the great white north.

what in the world were you doing in "the nasty" and when? next time you're in town (hopefully for your sake that's not anytime soon) let me know.

oh, and to the OP and the mods, we'll end our thread-jacking as soon as we see pics!

[ishkabibble]

I used to live in MN, and would sometimes go through "the nasty" to go to Canada. I actually spent a 4th of July there a long time ago. I probably won't be back any time soon - I'm not fond of the cold weather in the Midwest. Love the people, though.

New vert forum law? Idle chatter is allowed while waiting for pics to be posted?

[DeXteR]

New vert forum law? Idle chatter is allowed while waiting for pics to be posted?

i'll second that motion!

all those in favor, signify with the "werd" smiley like this:

[KA-Te]

You can't make a thread entitled "so we cut the top off my friends gold coupe last weekend", and not post pictures!!!

We know you had to have taken some! Post themmmmmm!

Nobody's calling on the OP, we just wanna see the pics!

[jrsink]

i'm waitin for an email from the dude that let me cut his old coupe...

and i just murdered my clutch yesterday trying to tow my gf's camry; no driving until tues...

[koukicody]

pics dont work...

[jrsink]

can't figure how to upload pics...anyone?

[jamied311]

can't figure how to upload pics...anyone?

[madcowvert]

i have a coupe that i'm parting out and i think i'm going to do the same thing..