BJ74 Poptop, modular top camper or something (5 Viewers)

[FJBen]

This is going to be a slow build, and who knows where it will end up.

I've always liked the pop-top setups and would have loved to have a troopy with a poptop however, I own a BJ74. With that, comes the fact of owning an FRP top, which is fiberglass. Lots of documented issues with people trying to attach roof racks/tents and such with an FRP top. You have roof racks, mini-exo cages, false rain gutter setups. A few options. My friend has some pop-top Eurovans and we have used them before, what a cool setup!

However, I find something cool in the BJ74. Longer than a BJ70/ or 40 series and not as big as a troopy, PLUS you can take the top off for more like a 40 setup. So the question becomes, how to get a Pop-top BJ74, without ruining a rare top or rare cruiser?

I've seen a few of these images online which kinda of sparked my whole thought that this could happen.

This one is pretty sweet...unfortunately there aren't any other pictures that I can find of it, or the inside. Basically a one off proof of concept.

These are just some different ideas as well. I can't even imagine the cost of this. I even thought about putting a slide in pickup bed topper, but not sure how to make it not look like crap or redneck.

 

[FJBen]

So this puts me in design phase, how to make something like the top one, without tearing a rare original top up. Well, as luck would have it, someone was selling a Euro-spec roof that needed a little work for the price of $0.00 AND they were about 2.5 hours away. Perfect! worth a try to hack on and mess with at that price.

Thanks Gr8fulabe!

Here is said top:

 

[FJBen]

My guess and hope is that it's just a cap that went over a factory FRP roof, and the back half of the top was cut out. It's about ~6" taller than a standard top.

Regular top

High top -

And here's my first photoshop attempt at the idea

 

[TWILLY]

This is great. What's the length of the roofline (and, in turn, the sleeping platform)?

 

[FJBen]

The cool part about using an extra FRP, is that the whole thing can easily be changed from regular top, to pop-top to no top with no permanent mods to the cruiser.

What I've come to find out, is that it appears to be a full cap like I said before that goes over a mostly normal FRP top. (minus the back part) Is sits down on that rain gutter that goes just above where the back window is and all around the top. That rail is rusty so I was able to pull some out.

Here is after pulling the rusted gutter part out.

Then after cleaning some of that out on another spot you can clearly see the outer cap portion. I figure if I go around and clear all that out and the few rivets that are holding those is, I'm hoping it won't be awful to separate. I have no idea if they used glue or what so that might be interesting. Or it could just be junk and I cut it up.

 

[FJBen]

This is great. What's the length of the roofline (and, in turn, the sleeping platform)?

thanks!

The length of the usable space of the FRP is ~78" ish. It's 43" wide.

The Euro Hi-top appears to be 6"ish inches taller by my guesstimate.

Using my top I found this measurement:

I was brainstorming some different ideas as well and have this little .gif of ideas.

Now the sleeping area is probably a little tight, so there is a possibility of having a backwards kick out a little bit for more room.

 

[Metto]

thanks!

The length of the usable space of the FRP is ~78" ish. It's 43" wide.

The Euro Hi-top appears to be 6"ish inches taller by my guesstimate.

Using my top I found this measurement:

I was brainstorming some different ideas as well and have this little .gif of ideas.

View attachment 2340761

Now the sleeping area is probably a little tight, so there is a possibility of having a backwards kick out a little bit for more room.

Great idea! I'll be interested to see how this develops.

 

[FJBen]

I have a few ideas for hinges, with the VW Westfalia being at the top of the list.

This is the 68-73 style VW hinge, however these are about $250, and the slides tend to bind. Still a decent option.

I would like to find, Eurovan style but those are harder yet to find apparently.

There are a few companies kind of making their own, but the dimensions are a little too long, so I might be stuck making my own. I found these on amazon that are $25, and with some mods might be able to make something work to get the angle right. They supposedly hold 200lbs

HOwever I might end up just making my own out of steel or aluminum stock such as this person has done.

My top and bottom mounts would be slightly different.

 

[FJBen]

So for mounting, the wedge style like most troopys are would be the best with the narrowest up front.
This also poses and interesting question on how to mount the scissor hinge since there really isn't any metal roof to cut out and mount to..

This person is using a wood framed build out, but you get the idea of how they sit.

The great thing about the FRP top is that there is a metal bracket that goes from the main roll hoop to the windshield. On this piece on both sides it's already tapped/threaded for grab handles as you can see on my BJ74.

My thought is to put some angle iron/aluminum pieces right there to mount the scissor hinges to, or a bracket/support for the hinges.. The point again to be not having anything be a permanent change to the vehicle. They are located roughly in the right spot for hinges.

 

[FJBen]

A few pictures of the roofs. Almost 100% sure it's a full cap.

Here is my normal BJ74 roof. You can see the 2 seals. The top 1 is the very front of the roof.

On this photo of the euro-top, you can see the 2 seals, plus fiberglass over that. You can see some sort of sealant on the front.

You can see where the cap goes over the original roof.

So far all is stacking up quite well. I've got one of that major pieces of the pop-top covered. An outer shell that looks like an OEM roof.

 

[FJBen]

Here is a picture of the top on the BJ74 it came on.

 

[FJBen]

Another option I have thought about is the straight pop up.

Now benefits of this are more space available foot/head setup which may not matter. The whole cap will go up, and I could mount the hinges, "X" style right on the roll bar thats in the back.

mock:

Any pro/con's that I may not be thinking about?

 

[sethro]

This is awesome. I vote for the straight up pop top. I've got the maggiolina extreme XL which is MASSIVE, and the room throughout is great. Having full height everywhere might make the interior feel a little larger than it actually is...

 

[FJBen]

This is awesome. I vote for the straight up pop top. I've got the maggiolina extreme XL which is MASSIVE, and the room throughout is great. Having full height everywhere might make the interior feel a little larger than it actually is...

Yeah extra room in cramped quarters would be greatly appreciated!

I think I could get away with the same amount of hardware basically. Use an "X" hinge to 2 power assist struts.

 

[sethro]

Yeah extra room in cramped quarters would be greatly appreciated!

I think I could get away with the same amount of hardware basically. Use an "X" hinge to 2 power assist struts.

If you went nuts you could recreate the Maggiolina lifting mechanism. X hinges with screw jacks at either end, linked by a bike chain...I use a drill with a modified socket to avoid the hand crank...

You could go completely mental and use a PTO driven Rube Goldberg system to raise and lower the top...anything worth doing...

 

[FJBen]

If you went nuts you could recreate the Maggiolina lifting mechanism. X hinges with screw jacks at either end, linked by a bike chain...I use a drill with a modified socket to avoid the hand crank...

You could go completely mental and use a PTO driven Rube Goldberg system to raise and lower the top...anything worth doing...

Well lets start with getting the fiberglass top off

crank would be sweet, but I like the simple setup as I'm no engineer!

 

[hoser]

With the short wheelbase/space of the 73/74, I'd probably go with one of the two styles below.

Or maybe like the Earthroamer XV-JP?

 

[FJBen]

With the short wheelbase/space of the 73/74, I'd probably go with one of the two styles below.

Or maybe like the Earthroamer XV-JP?

Not sure my skills are up for those!

I looked quite a bit into the Earthroamer Jeep setup, but I heard a lot of complaints of that setup style. They could just be more quality, than design issue, but you are still in a tent 7' off the ground with no hard sides for protection.


I'll put it this way, at the moment I have no plans or ability for it to be more than the occasional (few times a year) place to sleep/camp when hitting the mountains/lake etc, events. I would love to start doing a few week trips soon, but those again are a ways out most likely and I have 3 kids, well oldest is going to college in the fall...


So basic needs are for 2 people to occasionally camp or day trip with it, if that makes sense.

 

[hoser]

The roof measures over 6 ft in length but you will lose some in the pop-top conversion. You will also need to pull a bed floor panel if you going between the cabin and the sleep area. Unless you use a ladder on the outside... which by then, you might as well run an RTT (supported by roll cage or something). I just feel like you need more length in the bed area.

The high top roof is kinda nice already. You sure you can't just build a modular bed platform at door height (right below the windows)... maybe install a removable steering wheel for more room.

 

[FJBen]

The roof measures over 6 ft in length but you will lose some in the pop-top conversion. You will also need to pull a bed floor panel if you going between the cabin and the sleep area. Unless you use a ladder on the outside... which by then, you might as well run an RTT (supported by roll cage or something). I just feel like you need more length in the bed area.

The high top roof is kinda nice already. You sure you can't just build a modular bed platform at door height (right below the windows)... maybe install a removable steering wheel for more room.

If I measured correctly, and use a straight X style popup, I think that would give me 6'3" of realistic sleeping room possible, and yes I would probably have to enter from the outside...which isn't ideal for when you have a poptop....kinda defeats the purpose like you said.

The Jeep/Flippac style would by far give the most room. I haven't ruled it out, but it would require a whole lot more fabrication and strengthening. Maybe it could flip over the front, support bars to the front bumper. then a sort of "bed" that is tied into the load bars on the inside, and the hinge would be enough support? I"ll try and mock up a photoshop with that. I had thought of that, but everyones concerns on the Wildernest/Flippac swayed me some.

Yeah, I haven't done any cutting or chopping yet so it's brainstorming. That roof cap sits right on the roof rail all the way around, and it's just rotted there, but other than that the top is pretty solid. I do kinda like that idea of a suspended bed idea if I could do something with the seats. Sometimes it sucks being tall.