making a soft top

was thinking about making my soft top (the bikini type) for my series 3 (88") for the summer, and wondered if anyone had doen this, my mums pretty epic on the old sewing machine so could do all that kinda stuff, just wondered if anyone had any tips, i.e. how to attach to the top of the windscreen (so it can be detached easily and relatively quickly, or templates or measurements etc) just any advice on this would be appreciated.

i havnt but would like 2 see pic m8 if u go ahead wiv it

yeah im definately gonna do it, i bought the black canvas for it yesterday (rot and waterproof) and have been designing it this week so within the next couple of weeks will make it and get some pics up.

im just having trouble figuring out how im gonna attack it to above the windscreen, so any info would be appreciated.

Hi,
I have a SIII lightweight soft top and am also interested in your bikini design / plans. I has a mate (!!!!) who got a sewing machine for christmas.... dont ask.
He will also sew me up a bikini if I can find plans.
The way the soft top attaches to the windscreen on my ltwt is with some hook things on the actual windscreen. I can take a closer look next week when I get my hands on my ltwt if needed. I am also looking for info on a roof rack for soft tops, not even sure this exists.

wud these help?

hatman you are a hero! my design i came up with is pretty much that bottom pic, but mines a bit more angular at the back, like looks like 2 triangles coming down rather than rounded. If anyone can get a realy close up shot of the windscreen that would be great! But these are definately what i needed to be gettin on with thanks!!! kibodwin ill take pics of my design once its been cut out and i know it will fit so you can copy them if you like what you see...

have a look here for metalwork and prices.

thought this looked good ...

definately prefer the bikini top too full truck cab canvas. The only problem i can see my coming across at the moment is the metal work. I was thinkin of making the hood stick (the one thats just behind the font seats) out of an old roof rack i have and just bending it into shape, of just gettin a thin metal pole and bending it (something along those lines) the main problem is goin to be the door tops, iv figured out how im goin to do the top of the windscreen so its just the door tops i gotta figure out.

see post #8

hyland770 said:

yeah im definately gonna do it, i bought the black canvas for it yesterday (rot and waterproof) and have been designing it this week so within the next couple of weeks will make it and get some pics up.

Click to expand...

where did you get the canvas mate

Only problem I can see is you said summer,

do we have a summer?/?????:bounce: :bounce:

canvas came from ebay, if you type in waterproff canvas then some shop is selling 10 meter rolls for about £30. lol yeah may have to take the ol girl across the water to find a proper summer!!!

snigger

hyland770 said:

kibodwin ill take pics of my design once its been cut out and i know it will fit so you can copy them if you like what you see...

Click to expand...

Cheers, I look forward to them. On a bit of a side note re the front windscreen attachment, I looked it up online and there seems to be 2-3 different ways of attachment. The first is the hook type where the canvas comes over the top and attaches onto some flat downward facing hooks popping into the canvas 'eyes'. The second is some sort of twisty gromit type attachment where you pass the canvas onto the gromit and twist the end of the gromit to 90deg to hold it all in place. The third is a diy thing where someone on 4x4pirate i think hand made a soft top and had a horizontal v shaped but of metal which held the canvas which had a flat bar running along it to slot into the horizontal v windscreen bit. Here it is the pulling of the canvas towards teh back that holds it all in place. I hope I am clear enough.
I hope this helps. I will take some photos of my soft top when I can.
K.

i was thinkin of using heavy duty poppers to attach to windscreen, and to attack to the back of the pick up, but not sure if they will be strong enough or if i can attach them to metal? does anyone know if you can do this?

hyland770 said:

canvas came from ebay, if you type in waterproff canvas then some shop is selling 10 meter rolls for about £30. lol yeah may have to take the ol girl across the water to find a proper summer!!!

Click to expand...

cheers