t top question
Banned
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,577
From: Sandy VJJville
You should go to your local junkyard with a reciprocating saw and hack the top off of a hardtop if you're wanting to go through that much trouble. It would be kinda cool to have a see through targa top though and you'd still be able to latch it on the outsides at least. You're still going to have to figure something out for the middle because I'm sure it wouldn't be as rigid as it was before. Personally, I think you're better off sticking with your T-tops for now.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 822
From: Lawrence, KS, USA
It all boils down to two simple things:
(1) How skilled you are at custom fabricating.
and just as important,
(2) How bad you really want to do this.
There are a lot of ideas that I thought would be cool for my car, but there's very few that I actually do, unless either I know I can do it, or if the skill level required is above mine, I find someone else who is skilled enough to do it. If you can do it yourself, the more important factor would be how much time you're willing to put into it without giving up on it, or if you pay someone to fab it for you, how much you'd be willing to pay for someone else to modify the car or part(s) for you...
I, for example, know NOTHING about metalsmithing, and so I paid a local metal fabricator to make me an extended, stainless-steel air deflector for $130, and my custom gauge cluster panel for $150 (that's only for his labor & materials, I still paid $1400 myself ordering the gauges and sensors)
(1) How skilled you are at custom fabricating.
and just as important,
(2) How bad you really want to do this.
There are a lot of ideas that I thought would be cool for my car, but there's very few that I actually do, unless either I know I can do it, or if the skill level required is above mine, I find someone else who is skilled enough to do it. If you can do it yourself, the more important factor would be how much time you're willing to put into it without giving up on it, or if you pay someone to fab it for you, how much you'd be willing to pay for someone else to modify the car or part(s) for you...
I, for example, know NOTHING about metalsmithing, and so I paid a local metal fabricator to make me an extended, stainless-steel air deflector for $130, and my custom gauge cluster panel for $150 (that's only for his labor & materials, I still paid $1400 myself ordering the gauges and sensors)
Last edited by FuryZ28; Nov 19, 2006 at 10:25 AM.
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 636
From: Kerrville, Texas
It all boils down to two simple things:
(1) How skilled you are at custom fabricating.
and just as important,
(2) How bad you really want to do this.
There are a lot of ideas that I thought would be cool for my car, but there's very few that I actually do, unless either I know I can do it, or if the skill level required is above mine, I find someone else who is skilled enough to do it. If you can do it yourself, the more important factor would be how much time you're willing to put into it without giving up on it, or if you pay someone to fab it for you, how much you'd be willing to pay for someone else to modify the car or part(s) for you...
I, for example, know NOTHING about metalsmithing, and so I paid a local metal fabricator to make me an extended, stainless-steel air deflector for $130, and my custom gauge cluster panel for $150 (that's only for his labor & materials, I still paid $1400 myself ordering the gauges and sensors)
(1) How skilled you are at custom fabricating.
and just as important,
(2) How bad you really want to do this.
There are a lot of ideas that I thought would be cool for my car, but there's very few that I actually do, unless either I know I can do it, or if the skill level required is above mine, I find someone else who is skilled enough to do it. If you can do it yourself, the more important factor would be how much time you're willing to put into it without giving up on it, or if you pay someone to fab it for you, how much you'd be willing to pay for someone else to modify the car or part(s) for you...
I, for example, know NOTHING about metalsmithing, and so I paid a local metal fabricator to make me an extended, stainless-steel air deflector for $130, and my custom gauge cluster panel for $150 (that's only for his labor & materials, I still paid $1400 myself ordering the gauges and sensors)
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 822
From: Lawrence, KS, USA
The fabricator just finished it yesterday, and he's going to ship it out to me on Monday, so I'll have some "installed" pictures by the end of the week, but here's a shot of it that he sent me via camera phone:
The two big gauges will be the speedo & tach, the left smaller gauge will be the oil pressure, and the right smaller gauge will be the water temp. My voltmeter and fuel level gauges will be mounted in a a-pillar dual gauge pod. The three tiny holes on each side are going to be my warning indicator lights (SES, Low Oil, etc.). The small hole that sits just above each smaller gauge will be my turn signals. The small hole @ the bottom in the center of the cluster will be my high beam indicator, and the upper hole that sits between the tach & speedo will be where I mount my Autometer mini shift light, which I'll be mounting it nearly flush with the gauge panel, so as to make it look like it came off the assembly line that way...
Also, in case you wanted to see it too, here is the extended stainless-steel air deflector that he fabricated for me:
The two big gauges will be the speedo & tach, the left smaller gauge will be the oil pressure, and the right smaller gauge will be the water temp. My voltmeter and fuel level gauges will be mounted in a a-pillar dual gauge pod. The three tiny holes on each side are going to be my warning indicator lights (SES, Low Oil, etc.). The small hole that sits just above each smaller gauge will be my turn signals. The small hole @ the bottom in the center of the cluster will be my high beam indicator, and the upper hole that sits between the tach & speedo will be where I mount my Autometer mini shift light, which I'll be mounting it nearly flush with the gauge panel, so as to make it look like it came off the assembly line that way...
Also, in case you wanted to see it too, here is the extended stainless-steel air deflector that he fabricated for me:
Last edited by FuryZ28; Nov 19, 2006 at 04:41 PM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
ChrisFrez
CamaroZ28.Com Podcast
2
Dec 7, 2014 06:01 PM
