Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Made a fiberglass back panel for my 92 wt soft top. It sits Neaty in the pinch weld around the piller and roof and sits in a track on the floor. Made the panel out of 9mm marine ply with two layers of glass an one of gel coat on each side. I then got rubber backed marine carpet and contact cemented it to the inside so it is lined.

any more close up detail pics . Sounds and looks like a nice clean solution

and look a million times better than a chop. nice.

ill do so better pics this arv

Looks very neat and factory like.

looks realy good mate.

Awesome job! Looks factory - Actually looks better than factory!

looks the goods.. except if your 6'2 like me you wont fit!

That is a very neat job.

For reference, here is a factory SWB ute. This is very similar to the maruti cab closeout but the bulkhead is a bit different.



Steve.

Have some more up close shots of it and also a template i made for if any one else wants one

very very nice! i was looking at making one myself but went and made a fastback canopy from polycarbonate. top work.

could it be made removeable? And the window reminds me of a picture frame lol.

I like it!
But how far back can the seats go? still all the way?

I basically have my seat as far back as it goes.

Also, is that glass or perspex? If perspex, do you think you could do the whole thing in clear perspex??

Mike

What stops the B pillar bending forwards in an accident?
You have removed the brace that supports the top of the seat belts.

Jas.

maybe he could connect his roll bar to the B pillar ?

Tim D wrote:

want33s wrote:What stops the B pillar bending forwards in an accident?
You have removed the brace that supports the top of the seat belts.

maybe he will rely on his roll bar for that ?

I dont understand, how will the roll bar stop to main hoop folding forward??? i cant see and tie in points from cage to hoop!!!

11_evl wrote:

Tim D wrote:

want33s wrote:What stops the B pillar bending forwards in an accident?
You have removed the brace that supports the top of the seat belts.

maybe he will rely on his roll bar for that ?

I dont understand, how will the roll bar stop to main hoop folding forward??? i cant see and tie in points from cage to hoop!!!

i'm not suggesting that the B pillar won't fold forward in a roll, maybe he thinks the roll bar is sufficient if he rolls.

want33s wrote:What stops the B pillar bending forwards in an accident?
You have removed the brace that supports the top of the seat belts.

Jas.

coileys dont even have that... so i dont think its that important!

jonno_racing wrote:

want33s wrote:What stops the B pillar bending forwards in an accident?
You have removed the brace that supports the top of the seat belts.

Jas.

coileys dont even have that... so i dont think its that important!

Coilers don't have it because the B pillar is permanently connected to the windscreen and the windscreen is fixed.

On a leaf car, you can fold the screen so you need the stays to give the b pillar some support.

Steve.

yeah i agree, i left my support bars out once before a trip and my fibreglass roof kept popping off because the b pillar was moving so much.... its only screwed in there !

Its actually braced pretty well and by the time you add the panel which is bolted on to the pillar by six brackets which is bolted to the floor by a 900mm wide channel, its got to be a lot stronger than two 8mm grade 8 bolts holding it all up. The fiberglass panel is a piece of 9mm marine ply with 2 layers off 600 glass and a layer of gel coat each side. Its 13.5mm thick. Id trust it more than those two flimsy bars. Took it over a heap of corros the other day didn't rattle one bit

zookprojectfnq wrote:Its actually braced pretty well and by the time you add the panel which is bolted on to the pillar by six brackets which is bolted to the floor by a 900mm wide channel, its got to be a lot stronger than two 8mm grade 8 bolts holding it all up. The fiberglass panel is a piece of 9mm marine ply with 2 layers off 600 glass and a layer of gel coat each side. Its 13.5mm thick. Id trust it more than those two flimsy bars. Took it over a heap of corros the other day didn't rattle one bit

I dont know if you need the bars or not.

But Im 100% sure its not as strong now, as it was with those 2 not so flimsy bars. They are possibly the heaviest gauge steel on a whole sierra body! Steel has very good tensile strength, plywood (even with the fibreglass coating) has nothing on steel; its also connected up in an inferior manner.

You're actually both right -

The bars are uber strong and probably the thickest part of a whole sierra - even the axle tubes are only 3mm thick.

However, the bars are there so the b pillar doesn't pull forward when the seatbelts lock in an accident when the windscreen is folded.

If the B pillar is attached to the windscreen the bars aren't really required (Assuming everything is tight) which is why the coiler doesn't need them.

Steve.

So highway star you would no what sort of "manner" its connected up with cause you have physically inspected it have you. Its good to see your intuition working well after viewing a few photos. I spose you looked in your crystal ball and saw the mount brackets and bracing behind the carpet.
Some people eh, I spose you also have a trade or engineering background to knowing the tensile strength of 3/16 thick low grade steel. I would trust the roll bar made out of shed 40 32nb pipe and the way its plate mounted, then the flimsy B piller and its support bars in a roll over

I am jealous of yor shed ..

That is all ...

zookprojectfnq wrote:So highway star you would no what sort of "manner" its connected up with cause you have physically inspected it have you. Its good to see your intuition working well after viewing a few photos. I spose you looked in your crystal ball and saw the mount brackets and bracing behind the carpet.
Some people eh, I spose you also have a trade or engineering background to knowing the tensile strength of 3/16 thick low grade steel. I would trust the roll bar made out of shed 40 32nb pipe and the way its plate mounted, then the flimsy B piller and its support bars in a roll over

I don't think Highway Star was talking about the strength of the Targa bar in the event of a roll over. I know I wasn't.
I want to know what happens to the usefulness of the seatbelts in a frontal accident if the targa bar bends forwards. The rollbar won't stop that, and I can't see the glassed plywood helping as much as the steel bars attached directly to the upper seat belt bolt, even if it has 50 bolts into the floor.

Jas.

i think to save all arguements you should put a tab from you roll bar to your seat belt bolt
just a thought

zookprojectfnq wrote:So highway star you would no what sort of "manner" its connected up with cause you have physically inspected it have you. Its good to see your intuition working well after viewing a few photos. I spose you looked in your crystal ball and saw the mount brackets and bracing behind the carpet.
Some people eh, I spose you also have a trade or engineering background to knowing the tensile strength of 3/16 thick low grade steel. I would trust the roll bar made out of shed 40 32nb pipe and the way its plate mounted, then the flimsy B piller and its support bars in a roll over

The photos indicate that it is all in line with the back of the targa bar, that it does not anchor back further. If any sort of stay was acnchored further back in the body work it would be a vastly stronger arrangement. And yes, as want33s pointed out, its for forward strength, not roll over strength.

I dont own a crystal ball, I prefer using pigs blood at the alter of Anubis... I now know who will win WW3

I am an Mechanical engineering student, final year.

Dont get me wrong, I like what you have done, it is 100times better than most "uteified" Sierras, I just think you may need to consider something about the strength in that area. However as Steve said, if you never fold you're windscreen, you may not need to worry about it.

Tensile strength of low carbon steels is vaguely in the region of 400MPa. You would be going very well to get 100MPa out of any type of wood.