Thread: Building a Removable Top

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Well I finally took the crappy soft top off of my Plymouth and decided to start building a filler piece to fill in the giant gap where the original cut on the body is and where the convertable top was. I'm gonna build it out of 3/4" MDF with some 2x2's and 2x4's with a built in storage area and a speaker box for a 10" Kicker Solo Baric subwoofer. I'm thinking about possibly making the top, exposed piece, out of really nice cedar and staining it with boat teak. (If I go that route I will also plan on doing some custom woodwork to the inside as well.) But I may end up shaving some foam and wrapping it in vinyl instead. After I complete that I'm going to start build a removalbe hardtop. It will start out with a wood frame and get possibly get fiberglassed or maybe I'll just wrap that in vinyl too. Not sure on that yet. All I know right now is that I need more wood.

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Top Off




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The Start of the frame



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Trunk area before:



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Top Off:





Anybody else done something like this? Any tips?

Just my experience but i wouldn't use MDF, It likes to suck up moisture and can ripple and bow. a good marine ply would work really well.

Ditto on the wood choice. More expensive, but less headache over the long haul than if you use MDF.

David

Do you have a picture of the car with the top on it? I would be interested to see where you started.

I look forward to you progress on the removable hardtop. I have been kicking a similar idea around for my roadster so I could drive it in the AZ summer. Yes, I have heat/AC in it...the purists hate that.

Here's about 160 hrs labor, $2500 in material, + the cost to cover.
Made of foam and incapsulated in fiberglass.
The biggest trick is to get the "loft" right or it'll look like ya threw a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood on it.

Originally Posted by 37 Caddy

Do you have a picture of the car with the top on it? I would be interested to see where you started.

I look forward to you progress on the removable hardtop. I have been kicking a similar idea around for my roadster so I could drive it in the AZ summer. Yes, I have heat/AC in it...the purists hate that.

Well this is all I have right now. And I'm positive that I don't have any picturew with the top actually up as I never put it up. And that's one of the main reasons why I'm doing away with it. (Other than the fact that it was HEAVY, at least 150lbs, and UGLY!)



You can see from this pic just how far it sat up on top of the car though. I hope I have a side angle shot but I'm not making any promises.

I also agree to what you guys said about MDF and I was only gonna use MDF for a very small portion. The subwoofer box.

Alright I got some work donw this weekend and it's looking good. I have built the majority of the base for the top which happens to house a 10" Subwoofer and a fluch pull out drawer for storage. I have to finish the drawer but it will be going in the large cut out next to the subwoofer.



















Now it's time for some vinyl and to start on all the wiring for the stereo. After that is all done then I will start on the removable top.