Light weight "Summer" door tops

Tom Childers · Post by **Tom Childers** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:17 pm

I have promised a number of people that I would post something on my door tops. here it is.

These were original factory fabric door tops that seem to be hard to find. They were in bad shape when i got them. I stripped them down, removed all extranious metal ( including the center upright bar on which the front part of the window pivoted to open), cleaned, repaired and painted what was left.

A local boat canvas shop made the dovers with zippered vinyl windows for a reasonable price.

The hard part will be finding suitable frames. i don't think that it would be hard to fab some out of thin walled, small dia. tube and sheet metal though.

Below are links to pics on photo bucket. Sorry, I can't find any of the original ones in the condition that I started from. Be happy to answer any questions

Inside view
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00558.jpg
Attached to bottom w/Velcro http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00561.jpg
Attached to top, back and front tube frame by lapping over tube and attaching to inside of cover with velcro
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00562.jpg
Don’t forget to add a strap for the un-zipped window roll http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00563.jpg
Hold down latch and homemade hook
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00564.jpg
How top fits to bottom door
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00566.jpg
The only mod to door bottom was a hole drilled for small pin in center of frame. Note that I did not get it perfectly centered and had to “hog” it out lengthwise slightly.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00567.jpg
Complete light weight door top
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00569.jpg
Frame with cover removed
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00571.jpg
Weatherstripping from Home Depot applied to Pinz door frame seals quite well. Note wet from hoseing off pollen so that you could see.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ ... C00573.jpg

milesdzyn · Post by **milesdzyn** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:02 pm

Very nice Tom! What are the latches that you used and where did you find them? I'm looking for a good sturdy latch that has a no nonsense industrial look to fit the Pinz aesthetic.

Miles

todds112 · Post by **todds112** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:23 am

Very Nice! If I can get something like that made, I'll use it year around. Has to be better than the sealing on the factory uppers, that spray me down with water everytime I close the door.

Miles, McMcaster-Carr has a good selection of latches. I've been looking at something that can replace the maintenance hatch latches in mine. I think I just did a search on "latch" or something like that.

Wayne Roberts · Post by **Wayne Roberts** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:40 am

I met Tom at a gas station in the middle of the Ocala forest a few years ago. He came up and introduced himself as it was just a chance encounter. He was driving down the road and saw me pull in to get some stuff from the store. We talked for a while and he showed me some pictures of his truck and the door tops. I thought that they were great. I believe that I was told by Sean at ET that these came from the Saudi Pinzgauers. The window "glass" opened to the center and folded back as Tom said. Fairly a rare thing to find. I did locate a set but did not purchase them due to other thing going on in my life then. Perhaps at least knowing where they came from might help someone locate a set. I looked in my parts book but could not find a part number or picture. Not sure if my book is only for the Swiss or that the Saudi's made them themself. There are differances between Austrian and Swiss Pinzgauers so I would assume that the factory could have done something special for the Saudi's.

Good Luck,
Wayne

PinzEOD · Post by **PinzEOD** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 8:39 am

Those tops are pretty cool. Yet another project for me to ponder.

Miles, you can check out www.allegiscorp.com for latches too, tho McMaster is more mainstream, Allegis has a TON of stuff with good tech drawings as well. I use McMaster almost daily at work, but have had good dealings with Allegis also.

Tom Childers · Post by **Tom Childers** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 12:19 pm

Miles,
Sorry to take so long to get back to you on the latches. The ones that you see came on the original door tops.

I made the catches by taking a narrow, thin piece of flat stock and hacksawing two cuts half way through. I then bent the tab between the cuts up a bit. Drilled a hole on either side and pop rivited to the bottom door. Should have used a bit heaver stock because the tabs bend upward occasionally and have to be tapped back down.

I was going to suggest McMaster but others beat me to it.