A wild ride
A wild ride
I know there was an earlier thread about mounting the hard top, but I thought my weekend experience would be a good read. In the interest of being authentic, I mounted my new hardtop per the instructions. I had run the car at 70 MPH and had no problems. Saturday I was going to Daytona Beach and doing 70 MPH on I-4. A combination of a bumpy contruction zone and gusty winds took the top off. Pretty hairy! I got lucky in that the springs actually kept the top from blowing onto the highway. After I got off at the next exit I was amazed to find NO damage to the car, and minimal damage to the top. It basically flipped over and laid down on the back of the body. The bolts that hold the top to the link that mounts to the roll bar were pulled through, but the spring bolts/mounts held. After crawling home on side roads I decided to remount it using the method outlined by Mel Hubbard in the earlier thread. I built my Manx on a Berrien frame so I wasn?t worried about the flexing that may crack the windshield. I made two slotted wooden blocks that are contoured to fit the back of the windshield frame and mounted them to the top with carriage bolts and wing nuts. I then bolted the top to the rollbar using the existing hole in the roll bar from the original bracket, drilling through to the ?ear? of the top. I made spacers out of aluminum tubing to fill the gap between the bar and the top. This works really well. I drove to Daytona yesterday in the same wind conditions and at 75 MPH the top was solid. The car runs much smoother too, because the windhield buffeting is gone. I figure I got real lucky. I still have my top and no accidents were caused or people getting hurt by it flying off. Take it easy, Dave
Glad there was no damage to you or your buggy. I'll trade you engines then you won't have to worry about high speeds. :driving:Hardtop mounting
Hey Guys, Here are some pictures of how I mounted the hardtop after it took flight. This is the three piece hardtop. The top larger screw above the line of small screws is where the original link attached to the top. These were pulled out. I backed this area up with some 1/4" plywood and put new screws into the holes. The top now bolts directly to the roll bar with a carriage bolt which can be seen below the line of smaller screws. I made the wooden blocks out of some red oak I had from a home project. The front views just show how the top locks into the channel in the windshield frame. I hope the pictures show up. See you on Sunday. Dave