building your own hardtop?

Brynjar · 09-24-2009, 09:16 PM

I´ve been serching for some DIY on this but I cant seem to find any. do you guys know of a link I can find pictures of home made top??
I have an idea og ficerglassing over the softop and then covering it with vinyl. to you think thats gonna work.

I have a 90 model geo tracker soft top.

jacesgeo · 09-24-2009, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brynjar

I´ve been serching for some DIY on this but I cant seem to find any. do you guys know of a link I can find pictures of home made top??
I have an idea og ficerglassing over the softop and then covering it with vinyl. to you think thats gonna work.

I have a 90 model geo tracker soft top.

I believe by the time u got all the f glass done u could have bought a used hardtop somewhere lol i got one down the road the guy wont come off of. 500 bucks, tracker comes with it...

Brynjar · 09-24-2009, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacesgeo

I believe by the time u got all the f glass done u could have bought a used hardtop somewhere lol i got one down the road the guy wont come off of. 500 bucks, tracker comes with it...

the fiberglassing doesnt take long i´m gonna to it directly on the soft top just smooth it out nicely first and wax the top first so it doestn stick togeather I tried it on a little spot on the top and it works.

and about finding a used top I live in Iceland and you can count the geos here on one hand so finding a hardtop is impossible and the people that on them want to keep them for there own cars.

Ole-Boy · 09-26-2009, 08:18 PM

I bought a hardtop. But. I considered making one. The material I would have used would have been aluminum. I know that I (myself) could make one cheaper, and far better and sturdier than any company that have them readily available to buy. Cardboard comes cheap. I was going to make a template/mock-up out of cardboard.

I went as far as buying the main 4' x 10' aluminum sheet that was suppose to be the exterior skin...lol.

As far as your method of glassing over the soft top, good idea. As long as you give it a good coat of wax, you're good to go. Glass & resin is cheap.

GrummanRV · 10-15-2009, 09:58 PM

I've made two hard tops for Samurai's, not an easy job. I found the easiest method is to lay up flat sheets of glass then cut to shape and glass together.
I have pictures if you want to see.

CodyJ · 10-16-2009, 12:00 AM

I found a hard-top and bought the whole car, $850... but I was after a hard-top and now I got 2 trackers. I still want a hard-top and am liking were this is headed... I want to attempt this using my ragged soft-top that is going into the trash afterwards.

Pictures would help GrummanRV, as I bet its time consuming to get it perfect. But the way my 95 is mounted inside, the same concept could be put into play with a DIY fiberglass setup, I will get pictures for people to add into their build myself.

GrummanRV · 10-16-2009, 12:28 PM

Ok heres some photos. I hope this is the way to do this. If not let me know

Suzuki-Forums.com - PhotoPlog - Home made FG hard tops

Bex · 10-16-2009, 03:10 PM

Hey, they look pretty good. I especially like the picture of the rear window on the black Samurai. How did you do that?

Brynjar · 10-16-2009, 04:29 PM

I like the way you did it, looks nice. mine is gonna be a little diffrent since I´m gonna cover the hard top with vinyl to keep the orginal soft top look. while im inn there I´m gonna build a roll cage as well since I just got my new 33 inch tiers.

GrummanRV · 10-16-2009, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bex

Hey, they look pretty good. I especially like the picture of the rear window on the black Samurai. How did you do that?

I used to be a custom fabricator for a boat builder. I just free hand formed it with strips of glass onto flat sheet. It's actually 2cm thick (hollow) with Lexan siliconed from the outside to make weather tight. I fabricated hinges using SS tubing used as a form. hinges are glassed onto door and roof. You can open the window without having to open the rear door. The 87 is the same and is still on the road in Campbell River, B.C.