Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 3:51 pm

Not much progress to report, there isn't much light left by the time I get home from work. I did manage to mount my LED "porch light" over the sliding door, going to have to wire it through a PWM dimmer because this sucker is bright:

Also started working on the interior insulation. Reflectix bubble-wrap facing the fiberglass shell, then 1/2" rigid foamboard with the foil-covered side towards the interior:

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 10:12 pm

So I've run wires for speakers, lights and the fan in the roof vent. Also ran a piece of conduit for future use, that way there's a clear channel to snake wires through even with the insulation and everything installed.

Roof vent:

Oddly, when I was vent shopping, the ones without a fan were $35 shipped .. and the ones *with* a fan were $35 shipped. So .. what the hell, get the fan.

Screened the windows and built up another layer of 1x2 around them as well. Gives room for the insulation I'm using, plus a place to attach the headliner panel:

Then on to the insulation. 1/2" rigid foam with relief cuts so it conforms to the roof curve, wedged into place then foil tape holding the edges to the wood.

.

I'm heading over to the aptly-named Mr. Plywood in the morning to grab a 5x5 sheet of 1/8" Baltic Birch for the headliner panel. I *should* be able to do it with one contiguous piece as long as I watch the grain orientation. Which means the first stop will actually be Peets Coffee.

Gotta get Bus Work done early-ish tomorrow, the Missus wants to go to a movie at 1PM, then we're heading to the Oaks Park Oktoberfest shindig in the evening. Paulaner beers, döner sandwiches, sausage, kraut .. and hopefully currywurst.

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 4:01 pm

Had to trim 6" off the end and 6" off the side of the 5' x 5' Baltic birch plywood, but I was able to successfully install it. One piece from the passenger-side window to the driver-side window. The attaching screws , will all be invisible when it's complete, being either under the roof vent trim, on the other side of the forwards/rearwards bulkheads, or under the LED indirect-lighting arrangement I'm working on. It doesn't perfectly conform to the roof curves, but I'm happy with it, and if I wasn't saying something about it here, nobody would ever know.

Anyway, on with the pictures. Looking towards the front storage area:

The rear storage area:

Looking forward/upward from the rear seat:

ruckman101 · Post by **ruckman101** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 1:08 am

Suuuuuwwwweeeeet!

Nice work!

neal

Post by **Amskeptic** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:19 am

tristessa wrote:It doesn't perfectly conform to the roof curves, but I'm happy with it,

Looks good.
Colin

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 9:58 am

How come you didn't varnish the backside of the birch like you made me do? Hah?

Mr Blotto · Post by **Mr Blotto** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:38 pm

Looks great - nice work! I have never been in a hi top - so can someone 6' 2" stand up straight inside? I am thinking that fan would not only be great in the summer, but could be handy to push all the warm air down if you were using a heater in the winter (or whatever your PNW folks call it - by me it is called "f#$king winter").

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 8:44 pm

This hightop isn't quite tall enough for me (6'1") to stand up straight inside, though I've only tried it so far with shoes on .. barefoot or in socks it might be *just* high enough. Some of the other hightop versions are taller -- I think the ASI/Riviera "Vista" hightop is one of them, but I'm not sure.

Hambone passed me a CD-ROM at the Lucky Lab last night, it's got all the installation-day pictures he took. I'll be getting them online probably tomorrow...

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Sun Sep 28, 2014 6:39 pm

Hey, Hal. Been a while. Nice top you've got there! Love it!

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:47 am

Superb job on the plywood install. =D>

Any hints? I have to do something like that inside Frito this winter.

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:19 am

glasseye wrote:Any hints? I have to do something like that inside Frito this winter.

Plan things out in your head before you start, see which direction the plywood sheets like to flex, and be ready to cuss .. a lot.

On the big section of mine, I attached one edge, flexed it into position on that side, attached it to the wooden ribs on the roof, then flexed the remainder of the sheet into position on the other side. Next I marked where the edge needed to be cut, un-flexed that side, trimmed the sheet, then flexed it back into position and attached the other edge. The rest of the plywood is either small pieces (6"x8") or factory Westfalia (headliner over the front seats).

Here's the switches and PWM dimmers for the new hightop LED lighting in their temporary location (will be moved to the forward bulkhead once that's finished), and a bit of the indirect lighting setup. That's a European surface-mount light switch -- if it can handle 240V, 12V should be no problem:

And the beginnings of the rearward storage area:

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)

Re: Hightop (Colin, don't look!)