"Spyder" style top for 986?

[The Radium King]

i've been thinking like you recently - delete the roof, etc., and fabricate a panel that incorporates both speed humps and clamshell (and perhaps rear trunk lid) into one piece (like the boxster proto or the new spyder) - it would work great with a zeintop; check my other posts for more thoughts on that.

for the lightweight roof, you probably want to avoid drilling a bunch of tenax fasteners into your car (this is the method used for the official porsche tonneau cover). so, i would start by going to a camping supply place and fabricating a tent pole that starts in the spinlock in each side, travels up at the same width as the windows, and then across just above the roll bar.

salvage the front bar that comes with the stock roof (the one with the front latch, etc, in it) and use this as the front mounting point. the new canvas roof would then travel back from this and over the pole (velcro fastened to the pole).

how you deal with the rear window would depend on what you've done with the back panel. if you've gone the speed hump/spyder route, then the rear window would be vertical and you would need to have fasteners at the bottom of the speed hump. this seal should probably be waterproof, so perhaps a permanent attachment here; erecting the roof would require opening the rear panel and unrolling the roof and front bar. like on the spyder, you would need two canvas 'buttresses' that extend back on each side to provide tension, as well as an attachment point on your rear panel for them; some stainless fittings and fastex fasteners and you are there.

if you've decided to just retain your rear clamshell, then your rear window would be similar to that on the stock roof, but the tension and waterproof requirements noted above would still apply.

you also have to deal with the side windows. it'd be tough to follow the curved profile of the window, so i would take the approach used on the spyder and just take a straight descending profile from front to back. some fastex fasteners where this interfaces with the tent pole for tension. remember that you can raise/lower your window from the outside with your key.

[noledoc]

Thanks to all, in the short run speedster humps with a fabricated "tent pole" seems the way to go. Maybe GT or someone would consider producing a fiberglass rear deck lid that incorporates decklid, humps etc into one piece like the spyder

DLS

[eightsandaces]

Originally Posted by noledoc

Thanks to all, in the short run speedster humps with a fabricated "tent pole" seems the way to go. Maybe GT or someone would consider producing a fiberglass rear deck lid that incorporates decklid, humps etc into one piece like the spyder

DLS

If you could locate a scrap top, and isolate the locking piece on the front, you could use the front lever lock and nose form to work off of for the strongest factory attachment, a good canvass shop could tent up off of that and come back at an angle to drain rain. They can use the same type of bows or aluminum tubes they do on a boat to create a tent, a pole that was behind the center console almost to the firewall would likely work sweet.

[The Radium King]

yeah, i think someone needs to borrow and install some speed humps, then take a mold of the humps, clamshell and rear trunk lid. create a one-piece panel that fastens at the spinlocks and rear trunk release. it would be light (even lighter if you do a roof delete) and have no seams and overlaps like the three pieces it was made from (in another thread a person noted that the aftermarket porsche speed humps look like 'fish scales' when installed over the other panels).

a lightweight roof could tuck-in underneath, made from the stock roof front attachment, some canvas, a tent pole 'hoop' and a couple of tensioning points on the new back panel. you could even forego the rear window if you have the rear wind deflector option (think of it more as a bimini top than a complete top *** edit to add another idea - build the wind deflector into the rear panel between the speed humps - this way when the bimini is up less water would get into the cockpit ***).

a poor man's spyder kit. perhaps even have a carbon fibre option for the panel and sell with a CF hood - lighter and no need to paint?

[The Radium King]

i feel like a dog on a bone ...

i think the rear panel idea is still valid (especially for me with all the stock rear panels deleted for the zeintop anyway) but the more i think about the speedster-style lightweight top, the more i think a bimini is the way to go.

here's an image of the spyder:

spyder w/ roof up

you could mimick that using the front member of a donor boxster roof. you would also have a spreader bar sewn-in to the roof that rests on the roll bar (you could modify a part from a donor roof for this as well); with this approach the roll bar sets the height of the roof and the spreader bar makes the roof as wide as the side windows.

the canvas would follow the same likes as the spyder roof in the link. no rear window (your windscreen would provide some protection) and some gaps at the side windows; enough roof to get you out of the rain and nothing more.

as per the spyder in the link, you would need a fitting at the rear on each side, each with a strap to pull everything tight.

it would roll-up and tuck under the humps when not in use. and you wouldn't need to have deleted your original top or have a custom rear panel to use it, provided you have porsche (or aftermarket) speed humps; the rear attachment could be accomplished with straps routed out the back gap of the clamshell.

[jacabean]

what if you were to use the actual tent top from the spyder and fab up the trunk lid with humps etc. ?

[noledoc]

Another option to support/define the rear of the "bimini" is to use a BK roll bar extension, or the competing product by GSR Autosport. this would give a little headroom above the rollbars, and would be permanent. One less thing to install and remove.

The biggest problem is the "rear curtain" used to make it all waterproof, not really needed if you are content to use the bimini as a sun shade alone, but necessary to drive in any rain.

DLS