Spent a few hours today fiddling with stuff. Installed my helmet hook. Because, Racecar. I have a steering wheel hook also, but I'll wait until I get the Momo QR wheel to figure out placement for that. Then I installed the brackets that will ultimately hold the tie-downs for the rear of the bikini top. Then I figured, "hey, I may as well work on the top a bit" So I spent some time fitting the old cabrio sunroof panel to use as the structure for the front of the new top. Sits on the cage at the perfect position and angle, like it was designed to do so. Because it was. I bought some upholstery vinyl to prototype the tonneau cover. Figured I stretch that on, just to see what it looked like... I likey... more to come on that. Then decided to play with the tonneau a bit. Oh, what the hell, let's play some more. I plan to have the final one made from the same black multilayer material that the OEM convertible top uses. But I'll build a proper prototype in vinyl first, and may run it for a while for testing. The OEM convertible top attached to the rear structural bow. The bow has a slot near the top of the outer face. The top had a plastic or nylon spline sewn into a pocket. That slid into the slot to hold it in place. My tonneau design uses the same attachment method. Just happened to have some nylon tubing exactly the right diameter, left over from my methanol kit. Marked the material in the shape of the bow, then cut it and loosely stitched in the spline. Then slid it into place. Not easy, because it's designed to be both snug in the slot and taut on the frame, but it worked. Installed the box back onto the car... Flips open, like the OEM top. The OEM beltline trim, weatherstrip and 3rd brake light install just like with the OEM top. Weatherstrip provides a seal against the tonneau, like it was made to work that way... Decided how I wanted to slit the tonneau around the cage, and cut away! Stretched it into position, and just taped it together and to the cage, temporarily, to mock it up. Later I'll add proper flaps over the slits, and straps to cinch it tight to the cage. Me likey.... It's exactly the way I had envisioned it...
I spent about 4-5 hours on the tonneau today, plus an hour fitting the top panel (it has cutouts to accommodate the roll cage, and had to straighten it out some from the crash). The time on the tonneau included one more attempt to get the bend in the rear top bow correct, first.
Good build threads are 1) hard to come by and 2) are like a good book... You just can't put it down till you've read it cover to cover. I was physically exhausted after my 2-3 day marathon when I discovered this gem last month. I will see this one of one soon, I just know it!
More pretty work Paul. The tonneau cover looks pretty much like I envisioned it too, only better. The only car I ever had with one was a '59 Alfa Spyder and that one could cover the passenger seat too. Of course the little bucket seats in that thing were far from being ergonomically correct, or comfortable. Come to think of it, it never ran long enough at one time to get tired from the seats anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing your car. Maybe I'll get lucky and see it at the Dragon. That's some mad fab skills Sir.
More work on the tonneau today. After confirming that I could get our sewing machine to actually sew this stuff, I pulled it back off the car, and practiced my mad sewing skillz. Hemmed the edges, sewed a pocket at the front edge to hold a tube to stiffen and stretch it, made some flaps to cover the three slits, sewed them into place, and added some velcro to hold them shut. Didn't worry too much about making it pretty, just shooting for functional right now... it's a prototype. Done! Back on the car... Still need to figure out how to stretch or hold down the "wings" on the sides, but otherwise it's just about perfect. Yesterday, it was 25 degrees and sleeting. Today, 60 and sunny. So, time to test it. Worked! And didn't come off at speed. Significantly less buffeting and wind noise. And looks good. Really nice day. The car drives sooooooo much better with summer wheels and tires, and with more brake pad bite. I'm starting to finally get a feel for it... but am being pretty careful, still. Just can't stop doing stuff... so I reinstalled my rear fog brake light mod after I got home. Also figured out an approach for fastening the sides. I'll see how that holds up tomorrow.
My kind of guy --- can plumb a kegorator and sew! ...if I wasn't already married. Nice work, really. The tonneau is the finishing touch.
So the first attempt at building the GP Roadster, I named Locutus. Because my cabrio was being assimilated by GPness, or something. I kept Locutus Mk2 as the working name of the new car, because I liked it. But one of my friends just suggested something more fitting, I think, now that it's fully baked... Thoughts? I'm not afraid of it being a harbinger for a fiery death. The car has already risen from the ashes, at least metaphorically, of three lost MINIs....
Der Phönix? Less chance of the plate being taken by a Firebird owner. On another note. Although I'm sure you've already thought of it... make sure you use UV resistant thread when you sew your final product. That is truly some beautiful fab work on that cover Sir.
Thanks Eric. That means something coming from anyone... but especially means something from you. I appreciate it. And welcome to our newest binge reader, Grizid700!