[Build] Rebuilding a fiberglass high top
- Thread starter DAV!D
- Start date
Raul
Adventurer
Until the day it rains and you are rowing in the middle of the lake.
MSD
Well Known Xplor’r
This is looking good, great job I like people who take on DIY projects!! Your top is going to be amazing. Any areas that you need to fill in this will work great. I use it on the tops that I make… There's a lot of additional stuff here as well… http://www.fibreglast.com/product/Lightweight_Epoxy_Filler_1100/Epoxy_Resins. This filler is great and I use it a lot in both carbon fiber work as well as fiberglass. As you already know fiberglass is strong and heavy, you don't need to add to much wood so that van isn't top heavy. You can glass in cardboard and it will be light an strong… I make all my supports out of it when glassing tops. Looking forward to seeing your progress.
MSD
Well Known Xplor’r
This stuff is great as well - http://www.fibreglast.com/product/L...airing-Compound/fairing-and-filling-compounds I actually prefer it to what I listed above, you'll just need a quart or two and some BPO hardener and you're good to go...
Ok, well my DIY top came very close to being sidelined today.. I took a look at the local pick & pull junkyard and saw this... (same place I bought my current build top)
I've never been a fan of the big square box high tops, but after all the days I've worked on my current one and knowing the days left, this looked a bit appealing. The toss up is I'd have to shorten it and fill in the back where the cut out the doors but from what I know now, I could do this top in about a week but I decided to stick with my project.
I had already finished glassing the other side and was just giving it a bit more dry time which is why I took a look at the junkyard.
My now standard DIY quick mold but this time I got smart and rebuilt it so the supports were all on the outside giving me the needed room to do a better job glassing it all together. BTW for release agent, I've just been using some cheap turtle wax car polish.. Seems to work good enough for what I'm doing but might not work well if doing something with a actual mold.
After getting back from the junkyard I pulled all the supports out of the top so I could see how it all worked out. Obviously still a lot to do, but it seems to have held it's shape good enough. The sides are sill flexible enough I can push or pull them a bit to fit on the van. I will do a test fit tomorrow just to make sure it still lines up well and after that I'll be filling in the rear section and adding the side supporting material where the windows will go.. I decided I'm going to epoxy those extra fiberglass sections to the inside of the top and then run some fiberglass around the edges to add some extra support around the windows.
I'm still planning to do the front last as I'm still debating how I'll do it.
I've never been a fan of the big square box high tops, but after all the days I've worked on my current one and knowing the days left, this looked a bit appealing. The toss up is I'd have to shorten it and fill in the back where the cut out the doors but from what I know now, I could do this top in about a week but I decided to stick with my project.
I had already finished glassing the other side and was just giving it a bit more dry time which is why I took a look at the junkyard.
My now standard DIY quick mold but this time I got smart and rebuilt it so the supports were all on the outside giving me the needed room to do a better job glassing it all together. BTW for release agent, I've just been using some cheap turtle wax car polish.. Seems to work good enough for what I'm doing but might not work well if doing something with a actual mold.
After getting back from the junkyard I pulled all the supports out of the top so I could see how it all worked out. Obviously still a lot to do, but it seems to have held it's shape good enough. The sides are sill flexible enough I can push or pull them a bit to fit on the van. I will do a test fit tomorrow just to make sure it still lines up well and after that I'll be filling in the rear section and adding the side supporting material where the windows will go.. I decided I'm going to epoxy those extra fiberglass sections to the inside of the top and then run some fiberglass around the edges to add some extra support around the windows.
I'm still planning to do the front last as I'm still debating how I'll do it.
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I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the front section.. I don't like the idea of just extending it straight down as it would look a bit odd but on the other hand, if I try to make it slope down correctly it will be a lot of work. I'd have to rework a good section of the front to make it look right..
I then had this interesting idea... I can make a spot for a LED light bar and make it recessed. This way I add my height but there is something there to break up the straight down edge. I'm thinking one of those curved ones like this.
A quick look on Amazon I found these 2 which are the right size and both seem to have good reviews for the price.
http://amzn.to/2mqrRNW & http://amzn.to/2mqC0tU
I'm normally not a fan of bolt on accessories, but I think this might solve my dilemma of what to do with the front area.
I then had this interesting idea... I can make a spot for a LED light bar and make it recessed. This way I add my height but there is something there to break up the straight down edge. I'm thinking one of those curved ones like this.
A quick look on Amazon I found these 2 which are the right size and both seem to have good reviews for the price.
http://amzn.to/2mqrRNW & http://amzn.to/2mqC0tU
I'm normally not a fan of bolt on accessories, but I think this might solve my dilemma of what to do with the front area.
fire_strom
Adventurer
Great work! Thanks for sharing. Where is this junkyard that has tops? I never see them around my zone.
-G
-G
Pinnacle Campers
Chateau spotter
Aside from the OP, I have noticed that car-part.com lists some. Some yards list the OEM top that is on the van, some list it as a high top, some with and some without pics.
Well, I ended up running into problems. While test fitting the top on Wednesday I think it was, I messed up and didn't have enough support which ended up with the top sliding sideways. It messed up the front sections to the point I'd have to cut it out and redo a lot of my work. I also notice a shaping issue with one side not really matching the other. While on the ground it looks ok, but while on the van it was pretty obvious. (the side with the cut out door area was sticking out way too much).
This can all be fixed, but it will require me to build a actual jig of some sort to better hold the top and allow me to actually glass it from the inside instead of all this piecing things together.. Due to this, I decided to go pick up the other top I saw at the pick & pull. I have a dead line to get my van done and the original top is going to take me a bit of time to get it right, time I just don't have honestly.
The other top is already tall enough, it just needs to be shortened and the rear door area filled in. With that in mind I went Thursday and pulled the other top, so this topic will now side step to me rebuilding the new top.
This top was a lot lighter and after doing the 1st one this one we pulled off in just 2 hours.
I cut it in half toward the rear to avoid some of the roof supports..
Here is a profile picture of the top ready to be fiber-glassed back together. This top being lighter means it's a little more wobbly making it much, harder to get aligned back together. I spent several hours trying to get it back together on Fri and didn't get it done until today.
After a lot of frustration, doing then redoing, it finally looked pretty good.
I wanted to glass it from the inside first, but with all the problems this gave me getting it aligned back together, I opted to do a single layer of glass on the outside first. This is where the new top is at status wise. I just glassed the outside and will wait till it cures so I can flip it over and do the actual strengthening from the inside.
I didn't really like the big bulky top, but this one will get me on the road faster and it will actually give me a lot more room inside.
This can all be fixed, but it will require me to build a actual jig of some sort to better hold the top and allow me to actually glass it from the inside instead of all this piecing things together.. Due to this, I decided to go pick up the other top I saw at the pick & pull. I have a dead line to get my van done and the original top is going to take me a bit of time to get it right, time I just don't have honestly.
The other top is already tall enough, it just needs to be shortened and the rear door area filled in. With that in mind I went Thursday and pulled the other top, so this topic will now side step to me rebuilding the new top.
This top was a lot lighter and after doing the 1st one this one we pulled off in just 2 hours.
I cut it in half toward the rear to avoid some of the roof supports..
Here is a profile picture of the top ready to be fiber-glassed back together. This top being lighter means it's a little more wobbly making it much, harder to get aligned back together. I spent several hours trying to get it back together on Fri and didn't get it done until today.
After a lot of frustration, doing then redoing, it finally looked pretty good.
I wanted to glass it from the inside first, but with all the problems this gave me getting it aligned back together, I opted to do a single layer of glass on the outside first. This is where the new top is at status wise. I just glassed the outside and will wait till it cures so I can flip it over and do the actual strengthening from the inside.
I didn't really like the big bulky top, but this one will get me on the road faster and it will actually give me a lot more room inside.