Rear glass

I got the rear lexan window partially installed today. The profile is starting to come together. To install the glass I had to cut it into a trapezoid shape to match the shape of the trunk. After that I put a bead of silicon around the whole frame then I placed the lexan onto this and put another bead of lexan onto the glass. I then used an L shaped metal to sandwich the lexan to the frame and welded that on.

Some more supplies

I got some more supplies today. I first tried to get a single piece of lexan for the rear view screen but Lowes and Home depot only had 36 x 48 sheets and I needed 40 x 48. I decided that I tried to see if I could fashion a 2 sheet window but after buying 2 sheets and bringing them back to see the fit I decided that it wouldn't work. I went online and found that the same place that I ordered the corrugated plastic for the underbody also had a 48x48 sheet of lexan.
After the Lexan came in I decided to get a few more metal supplies. I got another 24x24in sheet metal and I got a few more bars of metal. I'm also going to have to fill my CO2 + Argon tank before I do any more welding.
I was thinking that I might try to put a bead of silicon on the edge of the sheet metal where it will contact the body between the rear seats and the trunk, if that doesn't work I will look into rubber.

More hardtop work

The first thing I did was to add some support beams that have a curve to them. This has 2 benefits, first it adds extra head room. The second benefit is that it matches the slope of the rear hatch.

Once the support beams were welded in, I started to attach some sheet metal to fill out the roof. I had some sheets that werr a little big. I tack welded them to the perimeter and the interior supports.

After It was welded, I cut off the extra and its starting to look like a roof.

Hard top progress

Please click the pictures for a larger view
Today I worked on the frame of the hard top. I built the attachement points for the rear of the frame to the car. I had to shape these so that they matched the contour of the body and so tht they matched the shape of the molding of the outside of the soft top.



After I mounted these I welded a the beam that will make up the rear roof line to its edge .







On the side with the gas cap I made a cross member that attached closer to the front so that the gas cap can still be opened.







I attached the rear hatch to the top of the roof with 2 hinges on both sides. After that i finished createing the hatch.






Here is the finished frame of the hard top. I need to finish the mounting points to the top of the windsheild frame and to add the latch for the trunk. Once these are done I will put in the rear glass and attach the body panels.

Test results from tray

I've driven with the under body tray for a week and 1 tank of gas so far. My gas mileage was 30.8 and the speed down the "hill" was the same (around 68mph) . So there was no noticeable change plus or minus from the under body tray. I'm curious if more air is flowing out my vents now or if the air through the radiator is going out the side through the wheel well. I don't know if sealing the engine bay by closing off the wheel wells to the engine bay will have a positive or negative effect. I'll be looking into adding an under body tray to cover the rear differential and seal off the underside of the rear bumper.

Underbody tray

I installed a underbody tray to cover the bottom side of the engine compartment.
There is a small lip spoiler in the front so i took that off and then sandwiched the new tray in between that and the lip spoiler. There was a few solid chassis points that I bolted the tray to in the back. There is still an open area from the wheel well to the engine bay, so i wonder how effective this will be. I will be testing the effectiveness by the hill speed test and a weekly average mpg. I will be looking into a shield to seperate the wheel wells from the engine bay.

Progress

I got to work on the hard top today. First I bent a bar to form with the edge of the windshield. This requires a multiple bends in a 3D crescent shape.




Next I welded the 2 peices I bent to go from the body up from the windows to a bar across the top. This will form the top wear the hatch / trunk will hinge to.






Next I attached the windshield the bar to the window bars. After the welds this shape turned out to be a pretty strong shape.
I started to bend a bar from the window supports toward the trunk but this shape is very complex and I didn't have the time to attempt it.