Making a Soft Top

IMO Dan, if you'll start with glue, go all the way with




But adhesives have advance some... Maybe there is something good to work with?

 

dan dont try the glue thing most glues also need reenforcment with sewing if you have acanvas shop near you talk to them we use a heat activated cement when we repair our tarps it is very spendy but works good for repairing tears dont know how well it would hold up for gluing seams together i will look for some and forward name of it to you

 

might work on the trail but not the hiway

 

Dan, my dad and I made a full top for his 24' boat back when I was in HS. We used marine grade vinyl. What we did was run yard sales until we found an older sewing machine. Paid $25-$50 for it, sewed the top together and then sold it for the same. If you have a local salvation army or something like that check those out also.

 

I say cut the material and you can install the buttons on it yourself. Then carry it to a tarp shop and let them do the sewing.

 

GORILLA GLUE- strongest glue i have ever used, i guess up there with some good epoxy's. this stuff foams up just a little, you don't need to use too much. it really is SUPER strong. i use it for a lot of random tasks.
the glue idea though-seems like it may become fatigued with too much street/high wind driving... i don't know.
good luck with it, and check this stuff out. http://www.gorillaglue.com

 

Are you using an old top as a pattern? I also want to make my own top. Fortunately my original top is intact enough that I think it can be deconstructed without shredding. Might even employ the talents of our local Amish community.

 

have you ruled out an older sewing machine idea? i looked on ebay and saw alot of "heavy duty" machines.i don't know one from the other though.bob

 

Making the top is fairly easy, a friend of mine owns a custom interior shop and we spend alot of time helping each other on projects. I ended up doing my own interior in my thunderbird and the jeep. I plan to make a top when the weater is warmer.

Some tricks:

Forget the glue. Most fabric shops use an old paint spray gun to spray a thinned down contact cement. Its great for headliners and getting a nice smoth finish to custom interior parts.

It will never hold up to the stress of a 60mph wind. Its not the wind blowing over your jeep that will destroy it its the wind entering the jeep from cracks, windows open doors. That puts the pressure on from the inside and basically blows thigs appart.

As for the sewing. A professional machine is great, but for the same $400 to $800 you buy a top. Instead you can buy an old 1950's 1960' even early 1970's sewing machine for $50 -100 or less at a yard sale, ebay, ect. They are simple only do one twy of stitch but are made of metal and are nearly impossible to kill. They can easilly punch through vinal kanvas and thin leather. They just go slower than the professional model.

The next thing is material choice. Fabrics are not all equal. There are many different grades of vinal, and canvas. My suggestion is take what you save on the labor cost and buy better stronger tighter woven material.

Same rule applies to the plastic for the windows. Some are far better than others.

Finally fabric will stretch easier than shrink. When my friend makes tops for customers they are very tight. sometimes an inch smaller than the distance they need to cover. He uses steam to allow the fabric (especially vinal) to stretch and soften so he can work with it easier. Customers with high end sports cars get very upset if their new not wrinkles or makes noise on the highway so tight is good. Once the fabric gets broken in to the the correct top shape a day or so later it stays that way for years. Too loose at the start and it only gets looser with age.

He had a professional steam machine, but I made one out of an old 5 gallon air tank and a water heater heater element that blows his away. I ended up making one for him as well. (Oh you can use it later as a parts washer steam cleaner)