2.0 KCC 356 Speedster - www.356speedster.co.za

[flatfourfan]

Good Day Yesterday

Ended up getting a call from my local steel supplier saying that my 12mm x 1.2mm pipe had arrived as well as my fasteners, some nylon washes and some knick knacks.







So work can start full blast now on a project that I've been asked to pursue by a LOT/ LOT of people. Mainly the scissor top convertible frame. Myself and Roger have been chatting about this a lot as well as talking to our Canadian counterpart. I think that we'll be making some adjustments so that it works fine on our speedsters, but the whole mounting, fit and finish will be the same as the US/ CDN based units. I have made a whole load of latches, rod sections and trim pieces but have been waiting on the material for the bow sections. I was going to make the bows using round bar, but I wasn't happy with the arrangement.



The roof bows will have a turnbuckle mounted in the center of each bow that will allow it to be:

1) Shipped in flatpack form to keep shipping costs down as it will be a way smaller package
2) Easily adjusted to fit our speedsters

I’m hoping to have a full working prototype up and running by the weekend of the Replica-a-Palooza on the 22nd.

Looks like there will be 2 cover options that I'll be able to provide, or also leave out totally if you don’t want it. I’ll give the pattern with the kit if you choose to have it done elsewhere.

1) Basic cover canvas – This will be a single layer of canvas material, that will literally be an emergency top to keep the rain out, this is much like the stuff that replicars use. 1 rear window though as the original.
2) Double Duck Canvas – More expensive option, better sound insulation, but I dunno how the colour will hold upto South African conditions, but with 99% of speedsters in this country…….the roof never goes up.

Stay tuned..........rear tail lights going on this weekend and also some mods to the dash. Every weekend will now involve doing some work to the speedster.

[splitfan]

That is very good news Gary ! And i wish you guys all the sucsess You can put me down as a potential buyer for the 1st one , gimme a call and we can chat

[Bossie2004]

Hey Splitfan "Gena qeue"...my order for the roof has been placed a while back...hehehehe. Gary, you're going to be in demand bru, hope you stocked up on the Red-Bull and Monsters....to get through the orders list!

Great work, looking forward to the 22'nd.

[flatfourfan]

That is very good news Gary ! And i wish you guys all the sucsess You can put me down as a potential buyer for the 1st one , gimme a call and we can chat

Will do man. Ps, I have the gauge trim for you, ready to be collected.

The first one will be the test mule and I can see that there will be a lot of testing and re-testing as well as fitting and re-fitting. I started on the pivot mounting points for the body. I went off the mounting points on the car, that's why 1 point is slightly off. The reason for the stand off is so that the roof is actually pushed inwards and allows it to be pushed all the way down and under the tonneau cover when being stored.



I've also cut and trimmed the brace that will be attached to the bottom of the main bow as well as started on the main bow and the rear bow. I'm waiting for my turnbuckles to arrive and also found out that the carriage bolts that I had ordered were in fact gutter bolts. Still it was only R2.30.......lol. But now I have to shoot around town to get carriage bolts. I can at least use the bolts for mock up purposes.

I started work on the jig to bend the main loop as well as the rear loop and I'm hoping to have that on the go by tonight or tomorrow.

One thing that I have noticed with this, there is a LOT of geometry with this roof and pivot points etc. Nothing impossible, but a lot of legwork.

Also finally found the airbox that I was looking for. Hyundai Getz, slim, small and with so handy mounting points underneath.

[acpaterson]

Cool buddy. PS: Can you say "Shoe-horn".. Lot of motor in that cavity..
I'll prolly take a roof system off your hands in a few months time. Not urgent for me. I'm going to put a flat tonneau cover acros the rear seat on mine to finish it off. Where your rear lights buddy?

regards

Alan

[flatfourfan]

Cheers, dropped you a line on your thread. Got the lenses on Friday.

Well I have to re-route the water supply line from the tank. and then the air-box can drop in. I also have to change the mount points for the rear decklid and move them inwards so that I don't have clearance issues. All of this I was going to do anyway, but this will all wait until I'm sorted with the roof.

I have a LOT of interest in the roof once it happens and I've decided that after the first one, all the parts will be laser cut and bent before I finish them off, it's a lot of work and if I had to charge per hour, no-one would buy them.

[splitfan]

Thanks Gary I will give you a call , my dad is in your area this week so might ask the old man to swing past again Please keep us updated on the progress of the frames ect , I do still have the front part of my old roof (where it mounts to the window) so lemme know if I can help with sizes ect !

[flatfourfan]

Cheers J

I have the front bow where it mounts to the window and I'll be looking at just making a fibreglass plug when I have to, so I'm sorted there thanks.

[flatfourfan]

I had to make a plan to get replacement hardware as my first supplier promised carriage bolts and dome nuts with nylon washers (2 sizes) and ended up giving me gutter bolts with rubber roof washers and lock nuts. Yeah it’s kinda not the same. I also wanted a smooth head on the carriage bolts with no markings as it would seen on the inside.

I got a full refund and went to a specialist to get everything that I needed. Just a note that he was cheaper than the other guy was. I wanted the carriage bolts as it allows the head side to lock into the frame.



An assortment of bolts as well as dome washers and some normal nuts that were included in the price.



The little buggers that proved a smidgen hard to get hold of, 2 sizes are used for the frame.



Some work tonight, but I should have something decent to post after the weekend.

[flatfourfan]

So, work began again on the roof and it's a bit of a non event as you're making small clips and pipes and brackets for a while before it actually starts to look like something.

I finally finished the main pivot points.



Square holes for the carriage bolts as well as curved sides for a smoother look. Note that I welded another bead along the bottom once I bent them back as they have to run parallel with the body. I then made the base of the main hoop.



Mounted everything with the new nylon washers and gave it all a test fit. Ignore the small screw and massive washer, eventually I'm going to fill all the old holes and make new mounts.

Then work started on the main and rear bow. Very basic way of doing it, involved loads of bending at small intervals. I used the old bows for a few reasons.

1) The standard roof will allow people with a replicars top to fit it on our frame with little mods.
2) I like the height inside the car and its visually there.

I'm going to have a new roof made with no blind spot windows and no zip out rear window, so I'll be using my old one as a template.









Done and dusted. I made them a bit longer so that I could have a bit more area to play with if need be as the lower section will have to be flattened. More on that just now. I had one kink in the one frame, but I have so much extra steel that when the time comes to bend a few more, I'll just either see if I can fix it, or make a new one.

[flatfourfan]

I then started the process of flattening the ends of the bows so that I could get a nice solid mounting point for the rear bow and then also start the alignment of the bow to the mounting point.





Mounting the rear hoop off center on the base of the main hoop allows the rear hoop to drop lower in the back.





Time for the main hoop.......This gets mounted at an angle to the base plate that gets mounted to the pivot point.........damn I love the geometry of this thing and apparently I haven't even got into the best stuff yet.



The whole hoop needs to be dropped about another 5cms or so, but I'll only see that once I've got the top on so that I can see at what point does it start to get taut. And yup........it all folds down in the back. The final height should allow the whole frame to drop down even further even once the material cloth roof is on.

I can't wait for the weekend......time to start on the scissor front section.

[acpaterson]

That's looking great Gary. It is a very a DIY type job I must say, and I like how you're approaching it. I don't understand tho how a scissors section will work for the front? Where will that store when the top is down?
I also see your tanex mounts are the ones with a thread and bolt on the inside of the body.. Nice and clean. I just collected these ones I'll use, very nice machining and quality.

Cheers

Alan

[Firebird]

very cool

[flatfourfan]

That's looking great Gary. It is a very a DIY type job I must say, and I like how you're approaching it. I don't understand tho how a scissors section will work for the front? Where will that store when the top is down?
I also see your tanex mounts are the ones with a thread and bolt on the inside of the body.. Nice and clean. I just collected these ones I'll use, very nice machining and quality.

Cheers

Alan

Agreed, with basic DIY skills it's do-able, but there is a lot and I mean a lot of trial and error with this build. Mango Smoothie (the original builder) has given me a lot of insight and some hints and tips on how to build it, but there is still a lot of unknowns with this. I should be able to still meet my deadline with a working frame by our speedster meet though.

The front section of the roof is where the fun begins. it's all geometry as it has to fold and collapse in a certain way. Everything then gets attached to the front bow, it all folds down flat under the rear tonneau cover into itself. This should give you an idea on how it's done.



all folded up.

[acpaterson]

Ohh wow, ok, I see, I was envisaging something else bud..
Mm.. That front part looks KAK complicated.. Can't see that being easy to replicate, or make in Qty.

Keep us updated buddy.

Cheers

Alan