New Dune Buggy Roof Installation Project

I was not sure if this post was going to get out at all after the events that had taken place over the past few weeks here at the workshop.  Some good events and some not so good.  The best event was the arrival of my new Mini Cooper.  As most of you already know and have read about, I am a Mini Cooper nut to say the least.  I had ordered a new Mini Cooper to replace my orange 2014 Mini and the it finally arrived last weekend after waiting two and a half months. 

 I am thrilled with the new car so that is always a good event. 

 The bad event that happened these past few weeks was a major storm that hit my little town.  Every tree in town either had some storm damage or had complete storm damage where the tree was knocked down and needed to be removed.  Two of my neighbors had this happen. I had more than enough sticks and branches in my yard that took three days to clear.  A pain to say the least.  I also have a tree that needs to be cut down not because of the storm but the fact that it is dyeing.  I was amazed that the 72 mph storm did not knock it down in the process as well.  So I am lucky in that respect anyway.  So that catches you up with things around my neighborhood so let me get to this weeks project.

I thought I was done working on my dune buggy with all the projects that I have done on it so far but with the installation of a new convertible top I was mistaken.  The top fit my dune buggy for the most part and installing it was not a real problem.  The one thing that I was not happy with the new top was how it fit the roll bar and windshield where you climbed into the car. 

You can see from the photos above how the roof does not quite lay right just above the driver and passenger side openings where you climb in with the top on. 

Part of the issue may be with the new installation of windshield clips that the roof snaps on to at the front corners of the roof.  Originally these snaps were designed to be mounted using metal screws that had to be mounted to the windshield frame by drilling holes into the frame itself.  Not something I thought was a good idea from the start. I designed this simple clip that mounts to the windshield frame and has the snap mounted to it so no drilling is required to mount it.  

When I mounted the new bikini convertible top to these clips it may have caused the issue with the roof not laying right on both sides of the car. I went to worn on the problem and came up with a solution that makes the roof even more secure while driving down the road as well as giving the roof line at the entrances of the car a nice look in the process.

I designed a support frame for both sides of the car that would be made out of a custom fit fiberglass panel, fiberglass rods, two 3-D printed end mounts that fit between the rear roll bar and the windshield and four 3-D printed curved fiberglass rod mounts. 

To make the fiberglass curved panels I made simple templates from my computer design of the part using Fusion 360 software.  From the computer design I printed out templates and then traced the shapes I need on to one inch thick Styrofoam. I then cut each curved shape out on my bandsaw.  Along with these parts I took a long pieces of two inch thick Styrofoam that I would use as my base and also cut 1/4 inch thick one inch wide Styrofoam strips to make the inner surface of the form.

I hot glued the curved pieces to the two inch thick base as shown above.  Each of these curved pieces were six inches apart so getting them in place was an easy task.  After the curved pieces for the fiberglass mold had been mounted I then started hot gluing the foam strips on to the curved pieces or ribs.  This would give me the exact shape that I needed to match the roll bar and windshield frame in the car. 

Here is what the form looked like once it had been put together.  I did not have to completely cover the larger ribs as it would not be needed in the car when the fiber glassed part was completed. You can see the twist in the form that was needed for the fiberglass panel that I needed for the project. 

I had covered the Styrofoam form for the driver's side fiberglass panel with clear packaging tape so it was easy to remove once it had cured.  In the photo above you can see how shiny the inside of the fiberglass panel is because of the smooth surface of the tape.  Also in the photo above I had already mounted the end mounts for the panel and installed the fiberglass rods and their respective mounts using fiberglass epoxy resin and micro-balloons.  The resin and micro-balloon mixture makes a perfect filler and bonds parts together easily.  I clamped all the parts in place and let them cure over night.  

The fiberglass assembly had to be duplicated in reverse for the passenger's side of the car as both assemblies are mirror images of one another. I took the Styrofoam form apart and rebuilt it in reverse so that I would get an exact mirrored assembly for the passengers side. 

Here is a good look at the driver's side panel mounted to the dune buggy's roll bar and windshield. I really like the look of the orange fiberglass rods but unfortunately I was not able to figure out how to keep them that way when painting the parts so I opted to paint both panels inside and out in gloss black paint.

Another good thing about adding the fiberglass rods into the assemblies was that now the panels are more solid with very little flexing to it.  It would also take some real effort to break the panels when they are installed on to the dune buggy. 

Here are both panels before painting and after painting had been completed. I do like the nice glossy finish on the panels and the structure when mounted on to the dune buggy looks nice on the inside of the car as well. 

To hold the roof securely to the new panels and get a nicer look in the process I installed Velcro patches to the top lower edge of each panel.

The roof then was pulled tight to match the Velcro that were also installed on the underside of the roof.  I used industrial grade Velcro with a holding force of 10 lbs per patch.  

Before and after front view driver's side.

Before and after rear view passenger's side.

As you can see the roof line is a lot cleaner looking now and will be a safety feature with the Velcro holding everything in place while driving down the road as well.  

To remove the roof now takes only a couple of minutes more because of the new roof panels but it is easily done if I want to go cruising with the top off in the evening when it is cooler out. During the day with the top up help keep the sun from beating down on me too.

I'm not sure if this is the last project for the dune buggy.  I can't think of anything else I want or need to have done at this point but you just never know.  I am sure something else will spring to mind in the coming months.  For now it will be nice to have the option to have sun or no sun if it is to hot.  The look of the new top looks just as good on the dune buggy as without.  Works for me.