THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.