Oh ****! Subscribed to this nonsense.

 

FC comes with tie downs. Doubt their quality holding a heavy item? Weld some loops and use industrial ones people use for the bed of their pu. Done. There is locking storage bins bins that can fit most tools too. Excuses to hack up an already good looking and functional hatch.

A removable hard top for a vert makes more sense. I see these on miatas and s2ks.

 

i admire you for giving it a go, but this is the easy part- now comes the hard part, lol

 

This is pretty funny that there is someone who is doing exactly same I was doing! I got a roof from a coupe. I did cut and grind inner metals of the roof since the it was much heavier than I expected. Then it has been sitting in my garage for years... Anyways, good luck and show us when you are done!

 

Damn, the picture of the roof cut is a game-changer for me. This is what I'm thinking:

Looks like someone could use a hatch roof cut, graft on the back window/frame from an S13 coupe, and for the windshield attachment portion, just graft on the targa top piece from the vert top and be done. A little custom weather stripping for the frameless vert doors, and presto, insta-hardtop. If there's enough real-estate on the trunklid for Miata-style hard-top latches, that could also be an option.

One could even go so far as to build one like I described above using metal parts, then fab up a mold to make fiberglass tops, and use Lexan or Plexiglas for the rear window.

 

This is mine.

 

Looks legit

 

not a fan, sorry guys just dont like it

 

new white manual doors are on, handles ect. swapped over. the roof has been trimmed and fits nicely doors both line up with roof like stock. getting it ready to weld also aquired lexan for rear window and possibly sunroof. i know theres haters but i will have a different 7. im over the vert and everybody has fastbacks. so to each his owm.

 

I got on the forum today to see, out of sheer curiosity, if it were possible to put coupe doors on a vert with slight modification because I hate the small triangular piece on vert doors that you can't roll down and isn't on coupes. Just my weirdness. But then I saw this thread. And 1) Subscribed 2) Drooled over the potentiality of this all working out, and 3) Got super excited cause it's still a live thread. Looks pretty interesting to me, guys. Keep up the good work.

 

Old thread I know, but I'm surprised no one tried shooping a Miata hardtop on a vert to get the look.
Here is a quick rendition I did:

 

that little window does a few things- it firms up the frame of the window because coupe doors are obviously full frame, and it buffers a good amount of wind

 

The general profile looks very good but the Miata top would not work without extensive chopping/channeling.

I think it's a mistake to begin with a vert chassis for a project like this.
A coupe gives you the door openings and roof, grafting in a rear window and deck would be simple compared to trying to fit/seal doors.

 

Oh I know in reality it wouldn't work very well at all. It would pretty much be a completely custom top by that point. It is rather easy to Photoshop it to get that Coupe look though haha.

If i was to take on a project I still think I'd start with a vert. Swap in coupe doors to not have to bother with window seals and make a custom roof from there. Much easier said then done but that is more then likely the "simplest" route, in my eyes at least.

Any way you do it its gunna require some serious fab work!

 

I disagree.
Starting with a coupe leaves only the rear glass and decklid to fabricate.
Aesthetically challenging no doubt, but far simpler than attaching a roof to the vert's windshield header and fabricating/grafting in upper door surrounds (and the rear glass).

The only advantage to starting with a vert (IMO, naturally) is the working decklid/trunk and that doesn't tip it for me.

 

new wheels kit overfenders and paint soon. hopefully by the end of the week ill be ready for lexan.

 

its been pretty easy so far. the only issue ive had is with the inside of the door frame that the door shuts against is different than the vert it has a different bodyline the vert frame dips in a lil more than the hatch but thats nothing a lil cut and shrink wont fix.

 

I think that I am madly in love with this, but I need more/better pictures!

 

Here ya' go!

 

dude! holy **** good job!

 

Very interested to see what this looks like with paint and a window. Nice work!

 

No. This coupe is MUCH more well executed than the pickup.

 

My buddy mike and I got the roof welded on over at Getnuts lab Las Vegas it was super easy just jumped around a lot. It didn't come out perfect but it's really good after doing the body work. After welding I ground down the welds then I used a product called metal 2 metal to further strengthen the seams then feathered it out with body filler then high build primer sanding in between products and wet sanding to finish. Next is the back window I will post better pics soon.

 

I also forgot to mention the inside of the car was reinforced with 1/16 steel plates behind the seats attaching the inner roof skeleton to the wheel wells and surrounding metal. I thought it would be way heavier than the vert but if you've ever felt how heavy a vert door is compared to a 86 base model the vert doors are insanely heavy also the vert top is heavier because of the built in rollbar. This car will be lighter than a vert especially with all lexan windows lol.

 

I absolutely love how legit this is...