Time to move onto something pretty challenging, the construction of a custom aluminum top panel. The idea is that the top panel will bolt onto the halo cage structure and be generally shaped to follow the curve of the windshield frame without adding much additional height to the vehicle if any....
To move forward I had to do a few things....
I needed to add this flat bar into the door pocket offset of the halo. This is set in plane with the top of the halo and fills the gap to the windshield frame also. There will be another sheetmetal section to this that will provide the surface for the door sealing, but I don't need that just yet. This bar basically helps set the offset for the drip rails that will go around the edge of the top.
These bars also allowed me to figure out where the halo intersects the windshield frame. On the stock FJ40 the door surround bolted to that hood and the top panel as about 1" above the horizontal black line. That little section of the corner of the windshield frame needs to be trimmed out of the way to make the shape of the top more uniform and at a smoother radius.
This change is kinda like pulling down your hat a little further. It should make the chassis look like it is chopped about 1"....but without having to chop the windshield. I still probably should have chopped the windshield frame down, but I really didn't want to.....
I made up these little test bends out of 1/8" 5052_H32 for the drip rails. I am going to try and retain a factory looking 1970s-ish drip rail around the sides and back of the top panel. My hope is that this will keep the water out of the cabin if the vehicle is caught with the rear panels and upper section of the door removed. It also makes the outer edge of the bend much stronger.
The inside of the drip rail section has a flange that will bolt to the inside of the halo. I will be using some 8mm rivet nuts in the cage structure to attach everything. It should be fairly easy to remove the top panel if needed, but I plan on just leaving it in place generally. It will be painted a different color than the body however so it will be nice to have it be a separate piece.
This is the section that sits on the top of the halo ( and that door bar ). This is what the other parts of the top will weld onto....
The rear channel was done much the same way, but does not have to extend over the door opening offset. The distance from the edge to rail is the same to keep things uniform on the exterior.
The outer drip rail flange needed to be formed with more length and then trimmed down to form the shape I wanted. I am basically trimming the flange off right after the bend. I did this by marking the offset using the width of the marker body. This makes it quick and easy to run over an entire panel, or multiple panels later, so they can all be trimmed the same.
Once I had a plan I needed to stop by the aluminum store....and to get some wood which will come in handy later.