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Getting Hard Top to fit with Vindi Roll Bar

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agent_orange
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Getting Hard Top to fit with Vindi Roll Bar

Postby agent_orange » Wed Dec 11, 2013 1:17 am

So if like me you decided to get a chap called Vindi over at Project M to make you a retro twin roll bar like one of these...
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...you might find that the hard top doesnt fit because its being raised a millimeter too high by the bar. I stressed "might" because this has not affected everyone, and in my particular case, I opted to have the bar sat on the interior plastics surrounding the seat belt tower.

Unfortunately, if the bar is catching with the hard top, this can cause a really annoying creaking noise every time the car flexes slightly :cry:

But this is a roll bar, not a style bar, so safety is a key feature. Meaning, simply lowering the bar (excuse the pun) wont do. So what can be done?? Modify the hard top! This is much simpler and less painful than it sounds. Heres how its done:

First, get your hardtop off the car, flip it on its back landing on some nice spongey material which you prepared earlier. Then get your grinder ready :dance:
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...and grind out two tear like shapes as in the above pic in the plastic panel. You dont have to use a template , but certainly no harm in making one,Please becareful not to go through the outer skin, there is 1" going to 1/2" to play with, we used a flappy disc and grinded back rather than cut, Lets look a little closer...

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Where the two red arrows are pointing, are whats holding that plastic panel. So ensure you cut around those. The cream coloured bit is the outer skin which is fiberglass, that stays untouched.

But does that not look out of place and blatantly modified?? Not until you have sprayed it with black plasticoat, giving you a result like this:
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You will probably need to spend more time brushing and cleaning the dust out than it took to do the above steps... and trust me you WILL want to do that unless you want the inside to look like a massive dope party.

Once you have done that, you can now fit your hard top safe in the knowledge that its no longer catching the bar.
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I think thats pretty hard to notice unless you go looking for it :handgestures-thumbup:

Lastly, as an optional extra, you can get the spongy black material you get on the back on the mouse mat, or something similar. Cut it into a similar shape and spray glue it into the cavities you just cut out. This will give a more uniform look and help hide the cut outs even more, and improve the sound proofing. Pictures of this coming soon.
Thanks as always to mazda mender for his time and help getting me sorted :handgestures-thumbup:
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