Aftermarket fiberglass rooftop options

[Curtice]

@EWheeler and @Curtice some final thoughts now that I have the top mostly installed. Most importantly: drill the holes yourself.

The body to frame relationship on my cruiser is not square as Mike said, but as best I can work out squaring it up properly will make the situation worse. I drug out the plumb bobs and tape all over it to be sure. My body is off square about 1/4” from the frame.

I took measurements off the Gozzard top as well as the OEM top and they are, definitively, different. I measured from mounting hole to mounting hole as Mike did when he sent me the pictures/measurements from a top that came from the same mould mine did.

From OEM roof to Gozzard roof they only share two measurements from what I took, which is the rearmost bolt hole at the back of the door connector going across to the other side and the front to back bolt hole length on the LH side. Each one from side to side after that is different getting worse the farther forward you go. Measuring the outside dimensions (outside flange to outside flange, not bolt holes in this case) comparing old to new also revealed that the Gozzard roof is narrower than OEM. The taper on the RH side is different than the LH side which has been my confusion the whole time. Almost all of the holes in the sides line up until you get to the one section on the LH side where the door connector mounts and I don’t have this issue at all with the OEM top. Taper was measured with a straight edge along the outside to the outside flange of the roof.

Not that this helps my situation at all other than restoring my sanity that I’m not a complete idiot. I knew this was a risk going in and I’ll ride this one out because it’s not a perfectly restored show car. I wanted an imperfect really good driver that I’m not scared to use in the woods and that’s what I have. It will forever bother me that I can’t have the top correct but until I can come up with a better solution I will live with this. I’m sharing this so others can benefit and will also be sharing this information with Gozzard.

I still don’t have a good solution for the gap between the header and the windshield frame, my current thought is to machine a piece of aluminum that will mount to the roof with another set of holes that will mount to the WS frame. I’m open to suggestions. This is another one of those things that will most likely never be right and I’ll have to live with it until I can come up with a better solution.

I want to go back and emphasize again that I still believe this is a very quality roof that will last a long time and that they’ve been super helpful all along the way from order, through getting paperwork done, shipping, to responding to my questions while trying to install it. If I need something from them again I will be sure to ask more questions and use this as a learning experience.

I have not been in contact with them since he told me my windshield frame must not be square. That was mainly driven by my lack of time to take all the measurements and that we’ve had some personal family things going on that have taken precedence over my project vehicles. I also wanted to be sure that when I contacted them that I had as much information as I could so that I’m not wasting either of our time going back and forth because I was too lazy to take a measurement off one part of the vehicle or top.

Here are the measurements that I took Saturday while I was working on it, I’ll come back later and type them up in case you can’t read my scribble. The holes numbered 1-4 are starting at the front bolt hole where the door connector mounts working backward done with the same LH : RH like the top diagram below.

View attachment 2905942

Thanks a ton. With that, I feel like I could resolve most issues that come up via drilling and massaging stuff. I’m not opposed to slotting holes or drilling new ones on the cruiser side if things where necessary. The gap at the windshield though has me concerned. I don’t understand how, if the hard top sides, door headers, rear header, and windshield are all oem, how the top can be too long.

The only explanation is that the Gozzard top is too long. But reading your measurements, it looks like the rear to front measurements are all equal or shorter than OEM. Am I reading those correctly?

Again @southern son thanks again for all the detailed notes and experiments on our behalf.

 

[coinoperated40]

Those cross measurements are pretty far off. 90 1/8” and 90 3/4”. That would take a lot to tweak into place. I assume from screw hole to screw hole. Would make even a bigger issue if your 40 is tweaked in the other direction. I have no fix to offer, just like the fact you are putting this out there for all. Good luck with this.

 

[EWheeler]

Thanks a ton. With that, I feel like I could resolve most issues that come up via drilling and massaging stuff. I’m not opposed to slotting holes or drilling new ones on the cruiser side if things where necessary. The gap at the windshield though has me concerned. I don’t understand how, if the hard top sides, door headers, rear header, and windshield are all oem, how the top can be too long.

The only explanation is that the Gozzard top is too long. But reading your measurements, it looks like the rear to front measurements are all equal or shorter than OEM. Am I reading those correctly?

Again @southern son thanks again for all the detailed notes and experiments on our behalf.

Yes, I second this. The windshield gap is unacceptable for the cost of this unit. I can't imagine the frustration of both @southern son and also the manufacturer - all of these trucks are 50 years old, nothing is ever going to fit 100% as it should OEM, but if you're going to make a product it should be REALLY DAM CLOSE or just don't bother to build it.

I would think the tell-tale would be if you did an outline trace of the "drip rail" profile from the top view of both tops and then overlay them. It sounds to me like the Gozzard top would not match the OEM profile correctly. @southern son, do you think the windshield gap could be able to be eliminated if one ordered the top without holes, bolted those up first, and then worked your way around?

An alternative for you may be to just cut the Gozzard windshield adapter out and install an OEM steel one?

Thanks for being so open about this. Your pain and frustration are saving others from the same.

 

[Slapshot]

Been debating hard about either 1) rehabbing the existing top on my 71, 2) tracking down a better condition used piece, or 3) buying a fresh one.

With all the hassle of removal and (re)attachment (not to mention inevitable repair work), seems like option 2 is a non-starter. Either need to fix the existing one in place (drip tray seems in decent shape, so no need to remove), or suck it up and buy a new one entirely.

This little stream of consciousness probably ain't helping anybody else, but it did serve nicely to lay out my own best options. Ha!

Curious what level of rehab you had to tackle? Cracks in the top or mainly tray work? Previous owner installed a huge RV-style vent on the top of my own... that sucker's coming off and getting patched up soon.

My top had cracks in the original coating, failing seam sealer and rusty drip rail. I‘m going to do a full write up about it when I get it completed. I still have 2 windows to install! For some more pics and details go to my thread- ‘73 FJ40 followed me home. Now updated! 10/21 - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/73-fj40-followed-me-home-now-updated.1207566/
page 3-4

 

[Curtice]

@southern son and also the manufacturer @southern son, do you think the windshield gap could be able to be eliminated if one ordered the top without holes, bolted those up first, and then worked your way around?

This is what I’m thinking. To drill our own holes should leave quite a bit of flexibility to move and custom fit the top, rather than have to be beholden to a fixed predrilled holes.

That gap though seems pretty big, but I just can’t imagine the Gozzard top would always have that gap on all cruisers. They have been making and selling these for years. It must be a combination of things that created the perfect storm of crappy fit for @southern son

I’m thinking I may get this and give it a try as well, but without the predrilled holes. I haven’t yet painted my hard top sides or headers, so I could get the top, get it fitted, and slot/drill holes as necessary.

With my luck it might be a bad choice to do this, but I’m ready to be done with my resto. I think It’s worth the risk to me to not have to do all the work on the old top.

 

[southern son]

I emailed the same measurement sheet to Mike yesterday morning and his response was less than ideal, I had to read it a few times and then walk away for a while before I responded. He agreed that my OEM top fits better than his but even that one isn’t square…and they’ve used this top on many trucks without issue since they’ve been making them. He sent pictures of one of the most recent they did as well. It appeared to fit well but hard to tell from what he sent.

@Curtice I agree that I think it’s a perfect storm of terribleness that’s converged upon me in this situation. I’d like to see someone else’s experience with the top as well to narrow things down some.

 

[EWheeler]

@southern son not trying to drag you though the mud on this, I have one more Q for you.

Do you see any way of overcoming the height of front header panel across the top of the windshield, or do you think this panel is improperly designed or maybe only applicable to the later model trucks? Did Mike have any input on this? I have a '71 that I'm considering this top for (less and less as your saga continues), so my windshield frame should be same as yours. I do have a '69 top on my '80 FJ40, and the windshield header panel bolted up fine except I had to notch for the washer nozzle, so I'm not sure there are actually any difference between early & late hole placement.

At this point I think that the header panel gap to windshield and the other fitment issues MAY be able to be worked out by ordering without holes and fitting/drilling myself, but if the header panel is just too short, I don't see how that can be overcome without a fiberglass panel stretcher, and I can't afford one of those!

Thanks again for you honest & open feedback!

 

[southern son]

@EWheeler the header panel height is absolutely too short and I see no way of overcoming this.

The best solution I’ve come up with, I’m theory, is machining an aluminum bar to bridge the gap in height and spacing from WS frame. I still don’t like this idea especially considering the cost of this roof.

There’s no physical way that my roof can sit lower on the WS frame without causing more problems and having to cut on it.

 

[southern son]

There has also been no acknowledgement that I’ve seen about the gap either

 

[Curtice]

Are the windshield header bolt holes different for early model vs late model? My holes measure ~15mm from the top of the frame. My 40 is a 1978, but not sure the windshield year. It does have notch for the nozzle. Pic of my holes :

 

[EWheeler]

Are the windshield header bolt holes different for early model vs late model? My holes measure ~15mm from the top of the frame. My 40 is a 1978, but not sure the windshield year. It does have notch for the nozzle. Pic of my holes :

View attachment 2907917

CCOT shows three different roof cap to windshield adapters. I know the two center holes, the two you have shown, are in the same location on the late model frames as they are on the early model frames. Looks like the early frames have two additional holes on the outside.

Hard Top to Windshield Frame Attachment Caps

Hard Top Windshield Caps - Hard Top to Windshield Frame Attachment Caps

www.coolcruisers.com

 

[southern son]

@Curtice Maybe it’s the picture but yours looks a lot shorter than mine does. I have four mounting holes across the windshield frame for my 1974.

Definitely looks to me from that picture that the roof I have would fit yours better.

 

[Curtice]

Alright cool. Well I’m probably gonna try it and be guinea pig #2 on this thread.

 

[Scott11cruiser]

I have a top from Mike, test fit has gone well and I’ve not had any major complaints regarding fit/finish.

 

[Curtice]

Good stuff. I just ordered mine. Will probably be a month or so before I can test fit it. I did not order the predrilled holes with rivnuts, so hopefully I can get it to set properly.

 

[Curtice]

Ok mine arrived. I’m gonna try fitting it up this next week. Wont get to it by tomorrow, but plan on messing with over the next week.

 

[southern son]

@Curtice I was wondering earlier this week if yours had come in or not. Looking forward to seeing how the install turns out and hopefully I can figure out what I’m doing wrong on mine haha.

 

[Curtice]

Was able to get it started today. Got the sides and headers all in place. Placed the top on to see. At first glance I think I’ll be able to make it work.

First off, the holes in the front valance lined up perfectly with the holes in the upper windshield frame. I was able to get some bolts threaded in:

Shot from the side:

So I am misaligned on the sides, but it seems like it’s off the same on both sides. So, huge overhang of the top over the drivers side:

And the opposite problem on the passenger side:

So it’s like both hard top sides need to be shifted toward the drivers side relative to the top in place. My plan is to use some ratchet straps to get the sides where I want them so it is equal overhang on both sides, then mark the holes for drilling.

Gonna try to do that this week.

 

[southern son]

@Curtice yours definitely fits better than mine does on the front, looks like Gozzard just needs to update the description for what the header panel fits so people know when purchasing.

On the sides: I assume the sides are loose, are you able to wiggle it around to where the overhang is even or do you think you’ll end up having to use something like ratchet straps to hold it in place while you mark holes?

 

[Curtice]

The sides are bolted down, just not completely. I’ll need to use ratchet straps probably. I can push/pull each side to the right position with a bit of oomf, but will be hard to keep steady and mark holes. So I’ll probably loosen the lower bolts a bit for some wiggle room and ratchet where it needs to go, then mark the holes.

Hopefully this will work.