Soooooooo, Rob. Are you going to divulge the name of the shop of said friend of a friend who is doing the top?
CK5
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73'-75' soft top build UPDATED PICS 6/16/09 post 62
- Thread starter rdn2blazer
- Start date
Soooooooo, Rob. Are you going to divulge the name of the shop of said friend of a friend who is doing the top?
Fast Ed's Interiors 310-320-1766. 1840 Del Amo Blvd. Torrance Ca. 90501. He's dome Numerous SEMA show cars. The Toyote truck in the link below he did. There is a couple of reviews below aswell. My bud had know Ed for several years now. Here are pics of my buds 66' SS396 Chevelle interior. He has since had Ed remove the head rests and re-cover the top half of the seats. And the 450HP 396 has been replaced with a 625HP/685TQ 540" Merlin block Dart headed motor. I drove it, HAZED THE TIRES AT WILL ANY GEAR, and it's BAD ASS!!!!
http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3711433431
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/30/sema-2007-toyota-tundra-dually-diesel/
Bought some more Stainless fittings for my build. Have to get them machined up this week. Will post update pics asap.
Made some progress on the frame for my soft top build. Got some new fittings, have more stuff on order. Still making minor changes here and there, but overall I'm really happy with the frame so far. Ofcourse the challenge will be for the guy making the top. Who knows it might actually be easy for him, we will find out I guess. Don't have a tally of parts cost yet. will do that at the end when it's 100% finished. I took these in the dark so some may be a bit hard to see. On to the pics. A few more pics in next post for this update.
More pics
You can see the cleat that will mount to the bed in the corner, and the mounting point on the bow. This will act as a gusset to the frame for the most. I'm still waiting on these fittings to show up.
dfl701
1/2 ton status
Looking great! Hopefully that guy can do the top real easy.
The set screws in the fittings are temporary. They will all be bolted with SS bolts & Nylock nuts when the top is on for a long time. When I just want it on for a week or so I will use Push button Ball lock pins. The taped holes have worked out great as tooling bolting points while machining the fittings.
Thanks man, The guy is REALLY good at custom interior. He has done plenty of soft tops too on cars that have been in the Vegas SEMA Show.
In this pic you can see I have about an 8" gap from the first bow to the door window. I have to have tubing there for the top material to mount to and the door window to seal to. I have an idea for this. I will have "T" fittings on the vertical leg of the bow pictured, I will have a " [ " piece of tubing locked into the "T" fittings. There will be a quick realease pin locking it straight out pointing towards the front of the truck. The pin will pin thru the top tube going to the windshield, & the "T" fittings will have quick realease pins aswell. When I have the sides of the top rolled up. I will pull the quick realease pins and swing this piece 180 deg to the back of the bow so exiting and entering the truck will be much easier.
This piece will have a plate mounted to it that has a arc to it that matches the arc of the window, and will have a rubber window seal on it so the door glass seals when shut. The windows will probably be down when the sides of the top are rolled up. So I would like the frame piece to swing back out of the way. Make sence? I will post pics when it's fabbed up.
This piece will have a plate mounted to it that has a arc to it that matches the arc of the window, and will have a rubber window seal on it so the door glass seals when shut. The windows will probably be down when the sides of the top are rolled up. So I would like the frame piece to swing back out of the way. Make sence? I will post pics when it's fabbed up.
Lunatic
1/2 ton status
I was wondering what your plans were for the door window sealing....
It all looks great so far - Keep it up !! I look forward to the completion.
Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
It all looks great so far - Keep it up !! I look forward to the completion.
Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
Subscribed.
chevyuser74
1/2 ton status
is that support system all one peice? or does it come apart.
It completely disassembles. I may even have the bows seperate in the middle for better break down storage. I have those spring push button thingys like an EZ up sun shade tents legs have. You push in the metal button and the legs telliscope. I was thinking of having the bows snap together in the middle like that. Still undecided though. I want the option of quick realease for all disconect points or bolts for a more secure mount to prevent theft. Harder to steal if its bolted, but I always love the idea of quick realease.
Tomorrow I plan on bending up the door/window tubes. The glass seal plate will take a bit of design still. Again, I'm TOTALLY winging this build. Easier to make changes that way. I don't want to get disapointed with a plan that does not work out. When I though of the door gap, I thought of that while downloading the last set of pics lol! I love brain storming on the fly like that. Makes building fun.
Lunatic
1/2 ton status
That's a good idea, but you will lose the rigidity of the bow by doing so (Im sure you realize this). A possible solution would be to sleeve the bow from the center with about a 1ft overlap on each side, and quick fasten the sleeve to each bow half.
Without the sleeve, I can see an eventual slump down the center, and the canvas holding water..
Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
Actually it would be sleeved AND have those push button clips in them. Yeah I did think of that, but thanks
. I actually want to keep them as one piece but it's not practicle. I doubt I will EVER actually NEED to break it down on the trail but ya never know. If I tweak the hell out of it hitting a tree I might need to break it down. I'm going to bend up several bow sets as extra's for a prototype set of seperated set of bows & one piece bows as extra's.
Lunatic
1/2 ton status
We're reading the same sheet of music then 
What will you sleeve with though ? Finding a nice fit to the ID of 3/4 EMT might be tricky. Ideas ?
Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
What will you sleeve with though ? Finding a nice fit to the ID of 3/4 EMT might be tricky. Ideas ?
Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
We're reading the same sheet of music then
What will you sleeve with though ? Finding a nice fit to the ID of 3/4 EMT might be tricky. Ideas ?
Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
Thats easy, Chuck some Just a tad bigger SS tubing in the lathe at work and turn it down to fit. We have SS tube too. If we do not have a good size then I have DOM small diameter tube here at home that will work perfectly.
A bit of progress today. Here is how the back strut will be. It makes the soft top frame a very rigid setup, not that is isn't already, just makes it even more rigid. I'm short the fittings at eack end of the strut and cleats but there on there way, should be here next week. I used cleats & fittings from one of the bows for this mockup. It looks like the rear bow is WAY leaning back, it is a bit in this pic but it's also an optical illusion from the rear of the cage. By the end of the day I had all the bows square to the bed rail & all the SS cleats bolted down. The Black plastic cleats were just for mockup. My boy played in my truck while I worked. Love when he spends time with me in the garage.
On to the window glass seal. I made a cardboard mockup plate. It's just in the design stage now. In the pic with the cardboard I have too much overlap of the glass to the plate. It will actually be about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch is all. I'm using a brand new set of door weather stripping from my 67-72 truck I never installed. It will work perfectly, don't have pics of that yet. I am making an Aluminum plate out of one piece and rolling it at work to have the same shape as the door glass. Then I will cut it out.
If I cut it out first then I can't roll it, it just wouldn't work right. We have a roller at work. The seal plate will mount to the double arced piece of tube I made. When I have the soft top sides rolled up I will rotate that piece 180 deg to the back to make for easier exit and entrance space. It works perfectly. I will first have to remove the seal plate though. I will make spacers from the arc piece to the seal plate. The seal plate will have the weather stripping mounted to it so the door glass contacts it. You can see the gap in pic two I have to the glass, It's not to bad at all.
If I cut it out first then I can't roll it, it just wouldn't work right. We have a roller at work. The seal plate will mount to the double arced piece of tube I made. When I have the soft top sides rolled up I will rotate that piece 180 deg to the back to make for easier exit and entrance space. It works perfectly. I will first have to remove the seal plate though. I will make spacers from the arc piece to the seal plate. The seal plate will have the weather stripping mounted to it so the door glass contacts it. You can see the gap in pic two I have to the glass, It's not to bad at all.
