Whoaa, awesome work on that top.
Few questions for Whoaa or anyone else, why liquid nails? 3M makes a panel adhesive, I would think a product for automotive use would be better. Maybe I'm just over thinking and Liquid nails is fine?
Also did you clamp down the support bows when you glued them down with Liquid Nails?
Did you have to shape the square tubing to fit the curve of the top?
What type of insulation did you use on the hard top and what did you glue it down with?
Thank you sir.
I'm sure some type of automotive adhesive would work great. Although I'm not sure about "better". I didn't get to crazy about researching some special type of glue, I just used liquid nails because I know it works great.
No clamping required to contour and fit the top. However they do have to be made w/ the proper radius to match the top. When making them it was a trial -and- -fit proccess until I got them to fit perfect. I did some quick measurments to find how much crown was in the bow (top skin), and then bent the new ribs to where they looked close, then welded some ends on them at about a 40* angle to fit inside the rim around the top. I made mine to have a slight pressure fit, in other words -when I layed the ribs in place on their side, and then turned them 90* to sit proper there was a slight amount of pressure..like a friction fit. I'd estimate that mine have a very modest 2-3 lbs of pressure "holding" them in place as a pressure fit.
And, BTW...I don't have a full fabrication shop anymore. I have a basic garage for lawnmowers, and I don't have a pipe bender.
To make the radius bends in the square tubing I measured out some quandrants on the tube and marked it, center, then a quarter lenght, ect. Shove the tubing into the end of my trailer hitch reciver and pulled w/ my hand until I seen it bend, moved to the next mark, rinse-n-repeat. Make some bends, and then ck the radius to the top contour. Pole-barn technology, LOL. It might sound like a big task, but really it only took about 15 minutes to make all of the new ribs w/ the proper radius.
During the process I thought about lowering the headliner and screwing it to the flat lip all the way around the top, but the top is already low to start with and dropping the headliner another 2" wouldn't leave enough head room for sitting in the front seats.
I used some 1/2" semi-rigid foam insulation board -bought at Home Depot. I cut slit's in the foam board as relief cuts so it would contour to the proper radius. I used luiquid nails to the glue the insulation to the top skin, mainly just because I already had it handy sitting there in a caulking gun.
After this wonderful insulation was in place I realized that I still had another 3/16" - 1/4" that I *could" fill w/ more insulation if I choose to. Another trip to Home Depot. Cruising through the store w/ an open mind and looking for some type of insulation that was flexible and a maximum of 1/4" thick I struck gold on the hot water heater isle. I bought some bubble-type of insulation. When I got back to my shop I realized the caulk gun was empty, so I used a hot glue gun to stick the bubble insulation to the foam board.
My requirments when choosing insulation and headliner material were: water resistent / water proof, mold & mildew resistent/proof, lightweight & strong.
And then finally, bought some paneling board, wraped the panel board with headliner material and made a new headliner. Now the top is very, VERY insulated -for heat, cold, and sound.
I used real healiner material, which is really thin foam about 1/8" thick, plus a very thain layer of colored fabric.
I used some left over bubble insulation to wrap my inner fenders before tha carpet went on...much quieter
