Hey guys,
based on the discussions we've had from some of my earlier posts, I thought it best to put the build thread up here to address questions of the interior of the truck and the start-to-finish nature of the build. I hope to get some additional feedback from everyone and will look forward to the next iteration of the roof design with improvements!
Here's the truck in Baja on my 3 month surf trip:
The pop top was made from fibreglass, to give a 2.5 inch addition to vehicle overall height. It is reinforced with aluminum frame and uses steel VW roof hinges and heavy duty gas struts (to allow for boards and gear on the roof). The front fairing is fixed to the roof and houses a rigid 10" combo LED lightbar. More pics below.
I build the pattern/plug from MDF, foam and wood, sealing with resin and paint so that I could pull a mold off the shape. I used a roof from a salvage vehicle from my buddy Nate, who was awesome enough to donate the roof to the build-cause.
Once I was happy with the shape, I created the mold.
The modifications to the vehicle roof were made to accommodate the hole, reinforcement frame (alum), hinges, brackets that tied the roof frame (insert) to the body of the truck etc. I prototyped everything on the salvaged roof first to avoid drilling test / mistake holes. Well - it worked pretty well, although I did make several mistakes!
The prototype frame was made from steel to get sizing right. All metal frames were welded aluminum.
The roof of my truck was cut once the roof was made. This was way less worrisome than I thought - probably since I had spent months getting ready to cut the roof - when the time came, I just started cutting the headliner away and then the sheet metal.....
The hole and the bed (which is up high and sits in the hole!) is almost exactly a twin size bed.
I'm at my image limit, so I'll post this and try to add the rest of the images. More to follow!!
based on the discussions we've had from some of my earlier posts, I thought it best to put the build thread up here to address questions of the interior of the truck and the start-to-finish nature of the build. I hope to get some additional feedback from everyone and will look forward to the next iteration of the roof design with improvements!
Here's the truck in Baja on my 3 month surf trip:
The pop top was made from fibreglass, to give a 2.5 inch addition to vehicle overall height. It is reinforced with aluminum frame and uses steel VW roof hinges and heavy duty gas struts (to allow for boards and gear on the roof). The front fairing is fixed to the roof and houses a rigid 10" combo LED lightbar. More pics below.
I build the pattern/plug from MDF, foam and wood, sealing with resin and paint so that I could pull a mold off the shape. I used a roof from a salvage vehicle from my buddy Nate, who was awesome enough to donate the roof to the build-cause.
Once I was happy with the shape, I created the mold.
The modifications to the vehicle roof were made to accommodate the hole, reinforcement frame (alum), hinges, brackets that tied the roof frame (insert) to the body of the truck etc. I prototyped everything on the salvaged roof first to avoid drilling test / mistake holes. Well - it worked pretty well, although I did make several mistakes!
The prototype frame was made from steel to get sizing right. All metal frames were welded aluminum.
The roof of my truck was cut once the roof was made. This was way less worrisome than I thought - probably since I had spent months getting ready to cut the roof - when the time came, I just started cutting the headliner away and then the sheet metal.....
The hole and the bed (which is up high and sits in the hole!) is almost exactly a twin size bed.
I'm at my image limit, so I'll post this and try to add the rest of the images. More to follow!!
