Back again

I've had the top project on hold for the longest time. I've just come back to it and have decided to start over from a different direction. I bought some fanfold foam at Lowes. I think it was like $12 for a sheet of 4x8. I'm planning on building the shell out of this foam and then lay some fiberglass on top for strength. I will take pictures as I cut and glue together. I figure that this will enable me to get a better shape without all the complicated bending and welding that I was doing before.

Fit and finish

I had a busy Monday!. My goal was to get the top ready for real world testing. To do this I had to make the back able to take rain and to close of the C pillar area. I found out that after adding on rear glass I was no longer able to put the top on by myself. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do anything since I wouldn't be able to measure and size things on the car. I decided to remove the rear glass and use a different hinge system for the hatch. With the rear hatch removed the top was easy to put on. I then welded on the outside of the wire frame that I'd be using for the C pillar area. Next I measured the frame that I was building for under the rear hatch. This frame will seal with the hatch making a channel for the water to go down and out the back when it rains. After I cut the metal for this channel I welded it to the top. I took the top off the car at this point. Next I welded on the new hinge system (pictures to come later) and then welded up the wire frame. I thought at this point that putting the fiber glass on would be not too difficult. I was wrong! Fiber glass is tough, its sticky and it gets everywhere and if you get it on your skin it will stay there forever. It looks like the catalyst that was in these packets from who knows how long ago had gone bad because only the one packet seems to have dried. In the end I had to reinforce the outside with duct tape to make sure that it wouldn't come loose while it sets.
Now that I have the top on and its driveable I have a few challenges to over come. I need to seal the windows to the top and have the doors be able to open easily and have the windows go up and down easily. The other challenge will be to make sure that everything else is sealed to get ride of some wind noise and for when it rains.

Order placed

I placed an order for some fiber glass supplys today.
I ordered:
6yards x 50" of triaxial weave fiber
8yeards x 50" of matt
2 gallons of vinyl ester resin
1 gallon general purpose resin
catalyst
release wax

This should be enough to finish the current roof and then build a mold from it and to build a fiberglass top with high strength and rigidity.

Plans for finishing the top.

To make the trunk water proof I will weld on a lip to go below the trunk on the sides and then use rubber to make a seal between this lip and the trunk.
After some discussion with James I've decided to create a wire frame for the C pillar and then lay fiber glass on top of it. I am going to have to mold in some brackets for attachments. I've watched some videos online about how to mold with fiberglass and carbon fiber.
This top I will finish with fiber glass and then after I've done some testing and any modifications that are needed. I am thinking that I will build a mold of the top and then create a top out of carbon fiber.

Besides making plans I did connect up a strip of red LEDs for a center brake light.

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.