POP UP ROOF FOR Toyota 78

[renago]

hi guys ,

north african trips are off limits for a while , due to local turbulent times.
I'm afraid they this trend will go on for some time , 10-20 years .
so I must redirect my trips to some other nice places , but all are more cold and wet then Sahara desert.
my car was nicely fit for desert trips , but the roof tent was well used after 10 years , and when cold and wet weather was around , it was OK , but not really confortable


this is how it was fitted .


I live in Italy , and unfortunately no one was doing these pop up roofs .
only in Germany , Switzerland ,Austria , there are some small companies doing them.
but....price very high , minimum over 10.000 € complete, better version go up to 13.0000 € ,
timing , they ask always 2-3 months for the job , and they were at least 600-800 km away from my home town .
no DIY kits aviable either .
so i decided to make my own pop up roof .

many designs , ideas come through my mind , at last most of details and spec were decided .
this is how my car WAS !!!

 

[renago]

so with out going too far , we decide to start the JOB !!

the following pic are just before the hair cut
and at the barber shop!

I was first shocked , and then sad , after the roof went .

more to come .

bye Renago

 

[Ben]

Great thread. Looking forward to seeing how you do the roof.

 

[Neil Stone]

Looking forward to seeing the pics of this build.

 

[renago]

some more photos

 

[renago]

above is the whole base made up , it took aprox 4 days .
cutting , folding , grinding , welding , cutting , grinding , welding , grinding
the problem is that you start with a rough idea , but you are not certain till all pieces are weld together .
the first stage was quite nervose , on unknown ground .
back side corner , trying to simulate the corner of the car .
the first step is to allocate a rubber seal , that should keep out air and water when the roof is closed .
the second step is to allocate a pressure pump piston that will lift the roof , and keep it in position while open .
the third step is to fix the tent on the bottom frame , and out of the mechanism of lifting and closing rear view .
I tried to keep a similar line to the original form .
we will see at the end is it will look as a box on top or a decent roof .
I am still a bit worried .
this week was very intense .
we'll see next week how it works out .

more to come

bye

 

[Alwyn Wallace]

Hi Renago, what a great thread!

There is a company in South Africa called alu-cab that you may be able to get some ideas from as they do a very similar setup and it works very well.

With regards to Africa and overland travel it is very easy still to travel around Southern Afrcia and Eastern Africa with quite a few people shipping vehicles over and then just flight out to them several times a year. if you want any info on this feel free to ask. b

Best of luck with the build and happy travels

 

[Pete Girling]

Hi Renago,

Why do you say that North Africa is no-go? I was in Morocco last month and it's perfectly safe. We ran along the Algerian border north of Figuig all the way to Foum Zguid. Tunisia has been stable for the last 12 months. Mauritania has been trouble free too.

Come on down!

Regards,

Peter

 

[Philip]

Hey Renago,

Do you have some more pictures of the build? Looks great so far.How is the roof fastened to the car. Is it completely welded to the car?


Greetings Philip

 

[AlanofOZ]

G'day everyone (Ciao Renago), you may like to look at this web site for fit-out ideas (mulgo.com.au/portfolio/mulgo-pop-top-for-toyota-troop-carrier/) or this South African fellow's youtube clip (youtube.com/watch?v=riMTgFHr7GY). I understand the owner of Mulgo is Swiss who drove overland to Australia a few years ago. He is now resident in Sydney and converts Troopies, Land Rovers and sundry other vehicles. We have a 2010 Troopy that we fitted out in a similar way to the Mulgo conversion, but fitted a roof top tent rather than a pop top. I could't bring myself to cut the perfectly good roof off! We have an 80lt Waeco fridge behind the passenger seat, 60lt poly water tank behind the driver and a box running down either side. The boxes are seats/storage and with an additional board they can be converted to a 2 x 1.4 m bed.

Our fit-out allows us to sleep inside the Troopy on colder nights and in the roof top tent on warmer nights.

Of all the pop top conversions I've seen I like the Mulgo one best, mainly because the front hinge design allows for a modest amount of capacity to carry things on the roof.

Your project looks very professional and very well made.

Che bel progetto, bravo.

 

[revientalo4x4]

Nice mod!!! Didn't it feel weird to cut through the car? there is a point of no return with these mods, even if it doesn't end up as planned.

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