Running out of ideas to pull more weight off my antique, so before I force myself to learn a new skill by making my own CF t-tops, I thought I'd ask around first. I thought there was someone who was doing this sort of thing, but my search effort came up empty. Any help finding a source (if it exists) is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

What are your parameters? Does it have to look right, and be light? I've been thinking a CF or Kevlar headliner might be lighter and give more headroom. If you are talking a complete t-top replacement, maybe some sort of one-piece replacement with the perimeter latches in place and the center simplified or missing somehow might be a way to go. That's beyond my skill set.

 

Perhaps thinner/lighter glass (windshield etc) would be more effective?

 

The bolded made me think of Astro Top.
Some people love them and some people hate them.
I don't know how one of these would hold up in the OP's use case.

 

I'm assuming you already have fiberglass tops, right?
When a guy looks at bare fiberglass tops w/o the inner liners, a lot of the excess weight comes from: 1) The heavy mounting clamp and hardware, 2) Linkages, 3) Stainless trim.

The later years SMC panels (bare panels) actually aren't that heavy. I would think if a guy really wanted to keep weight down, taking a mold of your roof and fabbing up a one-piece carbon fiber top with an alternate light-weight mounting hardware, could achieve decent weight savings. That's going to be a lot of work when you start thinking about the edges and making provisions for mounting (but a fun project perhaps). An easier and more inexpensive (in terms of time) approach might be to buy a pr of roached-out inexpensive later SMC panel tops and reduce/eliminate the larger weight items. Put some lightweight foam or headliner material underneath for trim. It should be significantly lighter. SMC is pretty thin and that crap is damn strong, which also means 'safe'. If you've ever tried to break a piece (good luck!). You also want it to be safe I would think.

Another thing you could try is get a piece of 1/4" or 5/16" acrylic panel and ...using a heat gun try to mold it over your existing tops to match the curve, and build a frame under that, weather out of CF/FB or aluminum. Acrylic sheet is fun to play with and mold. Pretty easy too. There are lots of ideas out there.

Best of luck!

.

 

Dynamic corvettes has recently released some CF t-tops. I also saw a CF one piece targa setup that they had. It's a little expensive, but looks very sorted and well built.

 

Pretty much. The main usage would be for track days to get weight off up high, but I want a stock/sleeper look in the process. I currently have the headliners out for helmet clearance, but that still leaves me with 23# (total, both tops) up high. I'd love to be able to take 5 or 6# off each t-top.

 

I've got the later/lighter side glass sitting on the shelf (I just need to get the later brackets/mounts, as my car is an early '69 with the older design mounts). My windshield was replaced in the late 80's but when I measured the thickness a few years ago it appears to be the original thickness, not the thinner size as the later C3s. If I get in the position of having to replace the windshield again, my plan is to see if there's any reason why the later windshields won't fit the early C3s. (If I thought I could get the present windshield out without breaking it I would definitely consider selling it to offset the cost of the later/lighter windshield.)

 

Yeah, it's a bit hard to swallow the price they're asking for those.

 

Good info. I appreciate it.

 

Honestly, I'd expect aftermarket carbon fiber parts to cost a heck of a lot of money. It is very labor intensive and difficult to leverage economies of scale.

That said, I've had the same thoughts as you and plan to fabricate my own. The factory tops are far heavier than they need to be and I need some additional head clearance. I do agree most of the weight comes from the hardware, not the fiberglass, but if you're going to go through the effort, might as well do carbon.

 

There was a guy, I think, on this forum with a poll about what composite parts to make for C3.
The poll included hoods, 1 or 2 piece tops, and bumpers.
Most votes were for hoods and not much else.
I think he made and sold some L-88 hoods.
From memory the name was Stingray ________?

When I replaced my windshield the new one was thinner and weighed 5lbs less.

 

Weight savings google... optic armor windshields... see what they have for 68 to 82 vettes, maybe consider there side window and back window stuff.