Aluminum High top design

[Russel 235]

[envirogisgirl]

very cool!
How about an update...

Thank you

[Deedee22]

Here’s a couple photos tonight. I covered the hinges with rustoleum tonight.

[iltis74]

Wow, persistence pays off. I was excited when this thread started, and it's awesome to see something come out of it.
_________________
65 Beetle
74 Thing
87 Syncro

[MayorMcCheese]

Very cool.

[Gruppe B]

Incredible! The top looks really well built and I love the extra storage over the front. I finally got to see a NAHT first hand and the space is a total game changer. A poptop hightop would be even more awesome!

Thanks for posting!
Cheers
Gruppe B

[Deedee22]

Here’s a short video tour of the van with the topper. Hope you like it. Sorry I guess you’d probably like more footage from the outside. I’ll snap some more shots of that this week!
https://youtu.be/yT1kASZ5NNw
I hope this link works!

[Deedee22]

Ok, I just took a video but every time I try and upload it to YouTube it fails. I’ll just snap some pics tomorrow instead. I haven’t noticed any difference in handling. I always had the feeling it’d tip on corners, that hasn’t changed, still has the same amount of pep I remember when I first had the sub installed.

[Zeitgeist 13]

I suspect most of us would like pics of the outside from various angles, and your thoughts about how the vehicle drives and handles now.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Deedee22]

[/quote]

Why do you keep saying "alas"?
Are you upset the project is finished, or unhappy with the final product?[/quote]

I guess I was tired. Not sad the project is over, more relieved. It took so long and it was so embarrassing when people would ask me if my van was done yet and I’d say, ‘not yet’ and they’d look at me with this shocked look like ‘what mess did you get yourself into?’ And I’d feel this shame/anger, then ask 3dig for status etc. things happen, (to some more than others). Eventually I just told my brothers to stop asking me about it and I’d let them know. Haha.
If I were to go back in time I wouldn’t have done it and just figured out a way for my kids to sleep either on the floor or on a cot strung across the front seat or whatever. It’s nice now that it’s done but probably not worth it.
It’s great on the inside now, from the outside it’s just a bit too tall and looks a bit like a kid wearing a top hat or whatever.
I’ll look into that idea of just getting an electric knife and going from there. I’ll try and post a video and photos on here soon.

[photogdave]

[tristessa]

[dobryan]

I am not on instagram. Lookng forward to pics!
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[Gruppe B]

[DuncanS]

Are you talking about cutting mattress foam? $2 electric carving knife from a church rummage sale. Will handle up to 8". Maybe not as perfect an edge as a pro shop, but once the mattress cover is in place, it doesn't matter. Practice a little on what will become some of the scrap. You will get a better edge by putting the foam on a table with the cut line just over the edge and supporting the cut-off part as much as possible. I've often free handed it by having the foam held awkwardly in the air with decent results--except for the time I cut through the knife cord which was dangling on the other side of the foam out of sight.

If you are doing this yourself, cut the matress a little bigger so it will stretch the cover and eliminate wrinkles. Depending on the firmness of the foam, go about an inch too wide and and inch and a half in length. You can always shave a bit off if it tends to bend the foam. For cover material, polyester will be the easiest to keep stains off, but not as nice to sleep on as cotton. Your best bet for fabric will be a mill ends fabric store. You don't need much and their price will be half or less than going to an upholstery shop.

Duncan

[Deedee22]

Whelp, I did it. Worked with 3dig and got the topper. It was a very slow and painful process that I second guessed a lot but alas, she’s done (mostly). I have to figure out a mattress and a couple of other things.
One trick was the curved roof of my tin top, how to flatten it for the bed. Custom camper cabinets in shoreline wa did a superb job of that. I’ll post a few pics, and later I’ll post some of the outside. Maybe a video.
Not sure I recommend anyone else do it unless they really really want it. 3dig ended up having a lot of projects going on, so mine took about 7x longer than what we had discussed. Alas it’s done and I’m excited to use it. https://www.instagram.com/p/B1NildwBTwH/?igshid=1bebdlw03k0tp
Okay apparently i forgot how to post images. Odd. I’ll come back when I have that figured out. Checked on some foam places here and it seemed expensive to get a raw cut. Anyone have suggestions on a cheaper way to do that?[/img]

[DuncanS]

Wanted to put a coupe of cents in here as we had 9" of snow and an interesting thing occurred. I almost never sweep the roof as it is awkward, and the wind takes care of it. Yes, I do remove stuff that would be ice smashing the windshields of the unfortunates following. In any event, after about 20 miles of driving the free wind tunnel had sculpted the snow to a revealing profile. It continued at the slope of the windshield for about 8"high then tapered back to about 3" at the rear. Sorry, I didn't get a pic. This leads me to believe that a general shape like the Weinsburg/Tigerbus is more or less right. The Joker 5 that Gruppe B posted is the exact opposite of what is needed to reduce drag. I'm also encouraged that my lower profile version would help keep some of my non ethyl 91 in the tank. . I encourage everyone to consider carefully what their needs really are. That's why pop tops were invented. And it's not only windage, but weight, which is one of the reasons I considered foam in the first place. Take a look at this guy.

Of course we have no idea how fast he was going or what was in the Thule on top, but as I said in a recent post..........

I don't know about you guys who Tigerbus the bejesus out of the roofs with spares, solar water tanks and other stuff, but remember the old quote, "These things corner like an over ripe tomato!" And that's without anything on the roof.

[OddN]

[DuncanS]

Gruppe B--Here's a link that looks promising. Shipping seems reasonable, but not knowing your location it's hard to figure out what it might be. But maybe it doesn't matter as they seem to charge based on the invoice amount. This stuff should work really well. At $1.56/square foot you will need to spend around $200 for the foam. If you are going to need to curve it then a single edge razor blade run as deep as it will go should score it to create "kerfs" although no material will be removed.
http://www.fibreglast.com/product/Polyisocyanurate_Foam_Sheets_440/Foam

I couldn't get the address to work, but Fiberglas Supply for the biaxial cloth. You want 12oz and this will cost about #100.

For resins shop around for price. Two gallons may be a tad short. You are going to lather up ~200 square feet. Around $250.

I said earlier $500, but that was a SWAG, however, that's not far off. You ought to figure another $150 for masks, Tyvek suits, pumps, rollers and brushes. Since I do a lot of boat work I already have that. If you shop carefully, you could do this for about 5 if you can enlist some buddies that may have tools and non expendable equipment. If I were to do a first class Weinsburg/Tigerbus style with hatches, tie downs for the luggage zone, interior lighting, fabric lining, paint and so on, I'd budget a kilobuck and a quarter. I'm confident I could do it for this price and it would be exactly what I wanted. Elapsed time with reasonable effort about 5 weeks.

Good luck and let us know what happens. I'll keep my progress posted as well.

Duncan

[Gruppe B]