Anyone ever made a removable hard top?

[riotbeast]

Just curious if anyone has ever done this, ive been contemplating hacking up an old golf and going to town.... And possibly making the soft to easily removeable.... Their are a couple of mercedes that come to my shop that ive seen the factory removeable hard top and i think its friggan neat

[87CabrioSK]

In this thread, is the only one I've ever seen. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4711901

[hyperlightboards48]

Jhacking up an old golf and going to town.... And possibly making the soft to easily removeable....

I say go for it!

Might be easier to make the golf a convertible hard top though... In for pics

[riotbeast]

In this thread, is the only one I've ever seen. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4711901

Couple good ideas in that thread
Maby i will try to find a junked cabby to grab the frame out of would be a lot of time effort and fiberglass but hell i would love to have a foldable hard top
On the cabby ive got....

[riotbeast]

I say go for it!

Might be easier to make the golf a convertible hard top though... In for pics

It probly would be a bit easyer in theory but ive already got the cabby so thats probly where the idea will stand... Probly work out the rest of the VR swap first but ive been tossing this idea around for about a year now and i think it would really give me the best of both worlds....nice warm cabin in the winter and good sound deadening.... And in the summer the awsomeness of having the drop top..... And of course the whole where in the world will you see another one factor

[NPoulos24]

This is funny I was thinking about getting a convertable frame and using fiberglass mat to make a removable hard top earlier today

[scirocco75]

This is funny I was thinking about getting a convertable frame and using fiberglass mat to make a removable hard top earlier today

Any progress on this? I have thought about this many times having owned many Cabbies in the past and currently. Just 2 weeks ago I picked up a parts car and have been looking at the top frame with the same ideas.
I will be watching this thread and will post if I come up with anything.

[briano1234]

Here is the issue as I see it.

Unlike the 60, and 70's British cars where the tops were totally removed when you took them down. Hardtops could be easily bought and removed or placed on them as there was nothing to get in the way.

Cabbies on the other hand have fixed attachment points for the top. To get a "removable" hardtop to look correct, you would have to remove the Cabby Top at the attachments on the side and rear so that your removable top had somewhere to attach to. So the issue becomes one of removing the top assembly/frame for something better?

Now I am not saying it is going to be easy to fabricate or build just that it isn't as easy a thing as some would make it appear.

The questions that pop to my mind, will the convertible top still be used, and the hard top for winter?? Or will you have a Hard top only and then a bare vert when it is removed? Will it be able to be stored in the trunk so that in the advent of rain you can re-assemble it? Would you be able to get it up in a rain, then how much easier will it be to take off.

Using Snaps or Velcro to attach a vert top is one idea, I have been toying with but I say toying...
Then I would need a Vinyl rear window sewn in to the top to remove it for folding in the car, and as for the padding or headliner, well I didn't drive a 50's and 60's British Leylands and expect that .... Another issue is getting the frame to be sightless when down, and a tonneau cover to dress it out.

But if anyone here remembers how "water tight" those MG and Austin tops were or the amounts of Duct tape and towels used for winter driving to stuff the cracks where the top met the body in the GWN (great white north) at -20....Relish and cherish VW's top design....let alone the Heaters.....



Just my 2 cents...

[scirocco75]

^ Briano1234 the references to the GWN and English cars is hilarious and spot on for me. I grew up in the U.P. (Mich) and although we were a VW dealer family, I rode in my older brothers collection of English cars until I got my drivers liscense (1979).
I bought and sold used cars until I was able to buy my first new car which was a demo 1981 Rabbit convertible and by comparison to any other convertible I had seen shy of cars 3 or 4 times as much oney, it had the best top in the industry!
Back on topic: My idea was actually to modify the framework of the front half and extend it about 12" beyond the rollbar, then cover it in canvas securly in front and sides of framework and run some straps back to behind the rear seat to create more of a bikini top. If this worked and looked good I would remove the oem top and frame, remove the carpets and drill drain wholes in the floor.
Sounds crazy but my current car is close to beater status and may be worth the experiment!

[Xgl0baltk]

i was considering making a hardtop for my 97 MK3 cabby .. but still havent gotten to it .. my biggest problem is getting the hardtop on in the back... i was thinking about using the MX5 solution to just clip it on there

[fredges]

If I could get my hands on one of these...

I could make that top, plus all kinds of cool stuff! Body kits, etc.

[inlovewithavdubengine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ClLt...eature=related

[flowmastergfunk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ClLt...eature=related

Although the MK2 bodystyle would make a great cabby, that was a sad, sad waste of a 2 door diesel! I would have love to have a car like that!

I have wanted to step up to the table of making my own hardtop but never had a nice cab with a bad top. I got my new cabby with these intentions still in the back of my mind. The only threads I have ever seen over the years involved that lego looking top. It would be easy enough to weld the moving joints of an existing frame. A variety of the idea that I have had for sometime is that if you plan to have a 2 seater cab, you can also make more a a fastback design. I have considered taking influence from the corrado and the scirocco. I have even considered using the rear glass from a porsche 924 and basing the hardtop design off of that.

With a little time I can toy around with the ideas in photoshop but who is going to be the first one to chop a top and dive in? This thread should not be left to die and disappoint like all of the others before it.

I went to show my friend a picture of said lego top this morning and stumbled upon a cabby pic I have never seen before. This may have made the top of my favorite cabby list...and it is bumperless...the way I like em.



Dub motivation. Rawr!

[Dragonwing]

The way that poor car sits makes it a caricature of itself....sort of like the way Deal used to draw VWs and others in the late '60s and early '70s. A total joke for street driving. One steep driveway, one parking block, or one ill-placed curb and not only the front spoiler but your whole engine-oiling system is in the crapper....along with your engine, soon enough.

Yeah, I can see the appeal........

DW

[flowmastergfunk]

The way that poor car sits makes it a caricature of itself....sort of like the way Deal used to draw VWs and others in the late '60s and early '70s. A total joke for street driving. One steep driveway, one parking block, or one ill-placed curb and not only the front spoiler but your whole engine-oiling system is in the crapper....along with your engine, soon enough.

Yeah, I can see the appeal........

DW

I could do without the bulky sideskirts and the front spoiler. I am sure ripping off that oil cooler would sure warrant some fatal fluid loss rather quickly. I am mostly attracted to the shaved rollpan in front and the exaggerated flares. It would look much more tasteful IMO with just a duckbill. All the same, we need more hardtop around this place. I don't even know how that guy managed to get a hold of the lego one.

[flowmastergfunk]

I dug up a ghetto photochop that I made long ago of what a cabby would look like with a corrado style roof. I know the rear windows are out of proportion but I just wanted to see what the cab would look like as more of a fastback. Just a rough idea
Before

After

[escobar101]

According to the ex-owner (who sold the car to another buyer who owns 3 of these Vilkus top), the company who made them only made 5 of these before they folded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8UF6...eature=related

[riotbeast]

I dug up a ghetto photochop that I made long ago of what a cabby would look like with a corrado style roof. I know the rear windows are out of proportion but I just wanted to see what the cab would look like as more of a fastback. Just a rough idea
Before

After

I have to say i would probly go with a golf rear to a raddo...just my style with this type of car speaking tho

[scirocco75]

I haven't had a chance to get to my Cabby hardtop ideas yet, but am still thinking of using a stripped Cabby top frame (non foldable) and using only the minimum pieces required to stretch Carbon Fiber over it. It could be a two piece top even to keep it light and possibly each piece could be used alone, as a Targa. I will watch this thread and input as I progress.

[kamzcab86]

All the same, we need more hardtop around this place.

If I wanted a hard-top, I would've bought one of these with a sunroof:



The soft-tops are getting fewer in number as it is. What we don't need is more hard-tops around here. And I despise the bumperless and slammed fads... but to each their own.

I do give a to creativity though, provided the ideas are well-executed.

[flowmastergfunk]

I am getting pretty darn close to tearing apart my top. I would like to get a car cover for the mean time so that I don't have to worry about my car being completely wide open when left unattended. There is a local that has two complete cabby tops that are like new for 400 bucks which is a fair deal, but I still want to make this hardtop happen. If I can barter a bit with them I might pick one of those up after I finish welding my existing frame and get the majority of the sculpting and glassing done. Summer top, winter top

I plan to, first, weld all of the moving joints in the top
Remove undesired metal and rebrace frame as needed,
Make a bulky sculpted version of the top on the vehicle using wood, old fabric, clay, foam ETC
Make a fiberglass mold of the sculpted top to produce the "real" top out of more fiberglass
Mate fiberglass to modified frame and make a rear window out of lexan

My game plan is to stick with more of a fastback look. Not exactly like the rough idea where I shopped a corrado hatch on it, but a design built directly off of the stock top.



Nothing too extreme, but just a hint sleeker. Just different enough of a body line to make the common dubber do a double take

I am not against the softtop, but it would be nice to install a good stereo and worry a bit less about it being stolen. I miss having good tunes and that is the biggest reason I want this top

[native-texan_in_tn]

Some interesting thoughts in the thread, though I'm somewhat dubious about the potential results, I have to admit (don't take that as any attempt to discourage the ingenuity, by any means, either). I think it will really depend on how "finished" the end result appears but am curious to see how this goes once you get beyond the drawing board with it.

I am not against the softtop, but it would be nice to install a good stereo and worry a bit less about it being stolen. I miss having good tunes and that is the biggest reason I want this top

I once believed the same, until I had a simple mid-level Pioneer head unit stolen out of mine not a week after I finished my dash replacement/trim/rewiring project. I really don't know why they'd bother going through a soft top when it's so much faster to pop the lock (I experimented with just a simple coat-hanger one day when I was working on my door handle, both from between the pillar/window and down through the window scraper...) or the glass. Most won't care if they're simply funding their next hit... {sigh}

[flowmastergfunk]

I once believed the same, until I had a simple mid-level Pioneer head unit stolen out of mine not a week after I finished my dash replacement/trim/rewiring project. I really don't know why they'd bother going through a soft top when it's so much faster to pop the lock (I experimented with just a simple coat-hanger one day when I was working on my door handle, both from between the pillar/window and down through the window scraper...) or the glass. Most won't care if they're simply funding their next hit... {sigh}

That is just rancid, but that is exactly what I am talking about! I know our windows are pretty easy to bypass too since there is no upper door frame (BTW modifying the door lock is another project that I would like to include with the hard top) but slicing the top just seems far to simple for all of the tweakers and scumbags out there. I just want to be much less vulnerable and just a tiny bit more unique.

This makes me want to start another thread regarding nice soundsystems in peoples cabbys! I wonder how many people actually have the courage to do something legit with theirs hahaha. I took the "Dual" brand deck out of mine just because it looks nicer than it really is. Someone would want to steal it, but I wouldn't have spend a $20 bill on the POS

It would be much easier to pull it off if we could tint our damn front windows in Cali!!!!!!

[native-texan_in_tn]

I understand perfectly... Yep, I can almost tolerate a murderer more easily than a thief, if that makes any sense. Even got my rearview mirror (why would anyone steal the original that was turning black down the center...? lol Sheesh...). I found it funny that after ripping open the dash trim to get to the radio, they were careful enough to unplug the unit, keeping the adapter harness I had neatly soldered together (yep, I tend to look inside of any VW's I encounter around here, I must admit...)...

As for which is faster (cutting the top or popping the lock), I certainly don't have any real "research" for my theory, just simple "what-if-I-were-doing-it"/devil's-advocate ponderings...

As for sound systems, opinions/mileage vary greatly. I opted to maintain a relatively OEM arrangement since the acoustics leave a lot to be desired in the Cabby environment, changing radically depending on whether the top is up or down. Twas the easy way out for me... lol

[flowmastergfunk]

I was doing a little more research and looking for ideas when I stumbled across the old hotrod term of "Carson top".

It is the same idea of building a removable "hard" top, but the idea is more so associated with with the top still being covered in fabric. Out of a few hours of research I found several builds that involved using fiberglass as well. I found one particular DIY article that has an AMAZING step by step of a talented builder with many pictures and detailed explanations of his steps. I highly recommend anyone that has pondered over building a cabby hard top to check this link out! It is a quick and rewarding read.

http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/howto/86421/

It seems like after the wire mesh stage, you can skip the upholsterer and start dong some fiberglassing! This style of using conduit seems cost efficient, can yield nice round curves and would end up being lighter than building off of the stock top frame. I would consider using the front sector of the stock top and possibly the flanges that bolt to the inside of the rear quarterpanels to be used for attaching the roof, but I may design a more simplistic way to detach the top in the rear. Those pieces can be easily cut off with a battery powered sawzall at the local JY and I can probably sneak out with them for next to nothing, as opposed to an entire frame.

Also, dare I bring in the idea of carbon fiber? I know the true procedure for carbon fiber involves baking it and so on and so forth, But maybe just using a sheet of carbon fiber as a substitute for the final layer of fiberglass and just using a quality clear coat or sprayed resin over it? That last idea is certainly an uneducated n00b idea, but I do like the way it sounds.

You can blame this picture of an S2000 top that I saw for that idea.

[fleet_maintenance]

So, I stumbled on Vortex after googling cabrio hardtop about a year ago, after "rescuing" a 98 cabrio (adoption fee: $300). I am thrilled to see this thread starting to take shape. I was disappointed with the 3pc cabby top featured in other links, and have been silently planning a black gel-coat hard top build. Here's my 2 cents:

I want to build a frame slighty smaller than the profile of the soft top roof line, pad it with 2" Dow blue foam insulation, shape it down to the desired hardtop roofline (double bubble anyone? Also, slightly larger in the back to accomodate folded down soft-top, while still allowing full trunk operation). This SHOULD give me a perfect "plug" to form a mold from.

Attachment will be based on gripping/clamping the rear edge of the hardtop to the edge of the cabin hole/trunk edge, alog with using the front hardware/handles to lock the front on the hardtop to the windshield frame, all factory like. I'm thinking of using a factory cabrio rear window w/ defroster, and glassing in the molded leading edge a soft-top to seal the front edge.

I am contemplating using mesh or screen sandwiched between layers of fiberglass epoxy and cloth for rigidity. Depending on overall weight and strength, I might pop in a (gasp) sunroof. I'm shooting for 75- 100 lbs max.

Simple as that. Hahaha. Glad to see these ideas kicking around. That's why I joined vortex.

oh...btw, I have virtually no experience with fiberglass...

[flowmastergfunk]

So, I stumbled on Vortex after googling cabrio hardtop about a year ago, after "rescuing" a 98 cabrio (adoption fee: $300). I am thrilled to see this thread starting to take shape. I was disappointed with the 3pc cabby top featured in other links, and have been silently planning a black gel-coat hard top build. Here's my 2 cents:

I want to build a frame slighty smaller than the profile of the soft top roof line, pad it with 2" Dow blue foam insulation, shape it down to the desired hardtop roofline (double bubble anyone? Also, slightly larger in the back to accomodate folded down soft-top, while still allowing full trunk operation). This SHOULD give me a perfect "plug" to form a mold from.

Attachment will be based on gripping/clamping the rear edge of the hardtop to the edge of the cabin hole/trunk edge, alog with using the front hardware/handles to lock the front on the hardtop to the windshield frame, all factory like. I'm thinking of using a factory cabrio rear window w/ defroster, and glassing in the molded leading edge a soft-top to seal the front edge.

I am contemplating using mesh or screen sandwiched between layers of fiberglass epoxy and cloth for rigidity. Depending on overall weight and strength, I might pop in a (gasp) sunroof. I'm shooting for 75- 100 lbs max.

Simple as that. Hahaha. Glad to see these ideas kicking around. That's why I joined vortex.

oh...btw, I have virtually no experience with fiberglass...

Welcome to the group! Never paid much attention to how the top goes down on the cabrio but I am sure it isn't as invasive as the cabby! I will have to look at some pictures. I am happy there is someone else interested in doing the same thing for the other half of our topless family. Keep up the brainstorming

Don't learn the hard way if you start laying fiberglass! WEAR LONG SLEEVES AND EVEN LONGER GLOVES! Get a hazmat suit if you can! It can get nasty. I wear a respirator but I wish I could get a bionic suit when dealing with this crap.

[flowmastergfunk]

step one
Just got a hint of rust to take care of first and a little painting. Then it begins! *crosses fingers*

[riotbeast]

step one
Just got a hint of rust to take care of first and a little painting. Then it begins! *crosses fingers*

Oh jeeze, once we are in our new apt ill be ripping my cab apart in the 2 barly garage we get with the place can not wait