Replacing Targa top

[Skytrooper]

Now, I have been up and down these forums and have seen numerous threads on the targa top. Some advocate an expensive rebuild or painstakingly doing it yourself, while others replace with Lexan bolted to the frame. Ebay sells a fiberglass replacement. Many choices, that is for sure, but has anyone made either a steel or aluminum replacement ? That I have not seen. If you go the fiberglass or Lexan route you already have a one piece top, so why not use steel or aluminum and paint to match car ? Obviously steel would weigh more than aluminum, but it would still be pretty close to the Lexan or fiberglass options.

Of course I might have missed a thread on this sort of thing. If so could someone point me in the right direction please.

[Skytrooper]

anyone ?

67 lookers and no thoughts ?

[RSTarga]

for about 700dls Dan Pechtel at carsinc will rebuild as new, why bother with anything else?

[Zef]

Keep it original...folding...I bought the skin and the front seal from Dan and done it myself.

[Skytrooper]

Not so much asking what I should do...that is settled in my mind.

I was just offering up an idea that I hadn't seen yet. Trying to be helpful.

I have a mid year car, so it isn't worth squat anyway, original or otherwise. So, I might as well make it how I am happy with it.

[shbop]

Budget Targa Top - Super lite

[Skytrooper]

I have already seen (and mentioned in thread start) the lexan replacement. I personally do not care for the look, although it is a very well done job. I just don't like seeing all that hardware. This is why I was thinking about aluminum or steel.

[c0metdot]

[Skytrooper]

Yup, no targa...no choices, but I still haven't seen or been shown any steel/aluminum targa top replacements.

C'mon Pelicans, you guys know or have seen everything !

we're at 197 views, and still nothing ?

[vulcan300]

I haven't seen it either. Likely because it defeats the purpose. I have a Targa as well and recently had the top rebuilt by Dan Pechtel. It's now nice and quiet, no heavier, and looks great. Total cost was less than a grand. The Lexan option is intriguing because you get a lighter top and a skylight all in one.

If you do want to build an aluminum top you could take the same route as the builder of the lexan top and use an aluminum sheet instead. Use Aluminum posts as hardware and braze the top to the posts. Fill, sand and paint the outer surface. Use something like damplifier pro on the underside to quiet the noise and glue on a headliner and you'll have your frankentarga :-)

J

[Zef]

Since you look for a heavy duty metal targa top....
Walmart sell'em....!

[wowzer911]

I've seen carbon fiber ones.......prefer that look over fiberglass.
Why not use stainless to match the Targa bar?

[marcsalleras]

i bought the fiberglass one off of ebay, works pretty dang well, light as a feather too and about half the price of dan, eventually im gonna buy the parts and figure out how to fix the old one on my own

[Skytrooper]

Originally Posted by marcsalleras

i bought the fiberglass one off of ebay, works pretty dang well, light as a feather too and about half the price of dan, eventually im gonna buy the parts and figure out how to fix the old one on my own

Who did you purchase from ?



I did some more in-depth rooting around in the forums and found pics. Now, I am only looking at the paint to match hardtop. I do not plan on any body alterations.

[marcsalleras]

its the main guy on ebay who sells them, hes got all positive feedback, he sounded unproffesional as hell in his ebay add and in his emails, i talked with him on the phone and he was nice enough so i went ahead and ordered it, its a nice fit, i just had to do a tiny alteration to the back of the top, the bolts were too small for the hole so i stuck a small piece of hose on the bolts, they fit perfect now

[marcsalleras]

you have a damn nice targa by the way haha

[Skytrooper]

It isn't mine, but has some nice appointments ( I'm not big on the color or the wing)

[JMPRO]

In order to make a top with the correct compound curve out of Alum or steel it would require very expensive tooling or a very experianced metal former that could hammer form and english wheel it into the correct shape. I checked into having an alum skin made and it was expensive , I don't recall now but something like 2g's just to form the skin. Now I checked with one of the best at this sort of thing and perhaps thier cost is a lot higher than some guy working in a little shop some where but the big guy had the ability to make lots of parts and fast. After you have the skin it still needs to be attached to a frame. All of this adds up to mucho dollars for a very limited market. Unless you have unlimited funds for a one off neeto top it just is not a easy thing to do.

[Skytrooper]

I have an entire metal shop at my disposal, with no associated cost. Basically if I supply the material, they will create whatever I want. I am thinking around 100 bucks max. I plan to use the existing frame with self-plugging (aviation) countersunk rivets that will be shaved to the contour of the metal. All seams rolled. Aluminum will then be properly treated, primed and painted. I am not looking to go into business selling these. I just think it is what I want for my car. My original post in this thread was to see if someone else was making and selling these.

[Zef]

Originally Posted by Skytrooper

I have an entire metal shop at my disposal, with no associated cost. Basically if I supply the material, they will create whatever I want. I am thinking around 100 bucks max. I plan to use the existing frame with self-plugging (aviation) countersunk rivets that will be shaved to the contour of the metal. All seams rolled. Aluminum will then be properly treated, primed and painted. I am not looking to go into business selling these. I just think it is what I want for my car. My original post in this thread was to see if someone else was making and selling these.

Just make sure that the aluminum skin is thick enough to allow machine countersunk in order to install the countersink rivets.