Thread: Bop Top ordered...any advice?

Tweet

Thanks for the compliments! As for a top for your A bone, give Sid a call, I bet he has or can make something to fit your car... his work is second to none, and with a few measurements provided by you, I bet he would do it for you. In fact, i wouldn't be surprised if he already has something that would work... I know he has Bop Tops for model A's, and he has tops for 32's with DuVall and SoCal windshields... I'm betting if you used the Model A top with the brackets and header he already makes for the Duvall, it would work.

Not sure about the Duvalls on the Model A's as far as the BopTop goes.

It should be able to work though.
I pulled the standard 32 top irons/oak bows for 2" chopped windshield off my 32 roadster and found it would be easily adaptable to my 31 on 32 rails roadster.
The only thing you have to do with it is to section 2" out of the front horizontal/longitudinal bar for it to work on the A.

It would probably work with the standard Model A windshield frame.
Not 100% sure there since I'm running chopped 2" windshield posts on standard 3-31 Model A stanchions.
A bolt-on swap for the most part - all that's required is grinding the stanchion so the post can go back and then welding the hole where you ground off the rear piece of the A stanchion.

30-31 A cockpit measurements are virtually the same as the 32.
The 28-29's are fairly close as well.
Only real difference between 31 and 32 is the 32 cockpit is 2" deeper.

It does look like the BopTop will keep the rain out fairly well when parked.
My stock style 32 top overhangs the side far enough that rain - and wash water - doesn't go inside.

My top folds, but even folded it sticks up a bit and for the runnng topless times I fold it, take it off and store it in the house.

Thanks for the pics Joey.

There's more to the front oak header than I thought.
The stock ones are a little narrower, but still stick out far enough to be a bit of a sun visor and also makes the windshield looked chopped more than it really is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have pics of the 32 top on the 31 as well as pics of the top folding on the 32....

C9, I misunderstood what you meant by "overhang"... I thought you wer referring to the portion that overlaps the rear 1/4 panel around the rear... I now see you meant the sides and their relationship to the tops of the doors... I haven't actually gone as far as dumping a pail of water over the top, but it LOOKS like rain should roll off the sides and past the door tops. The edges of the sides sort of roll outward slightly too, to divert water away from the car as it rolls off. I noticed on the installation video that the top Sid was installing had a double seam along the sides, with an additional piece of piping sewn inside this seam which my top does not have... My guess is that the one in the video was made several years ago and he has since revised/changed the design of the stitching slightly... It appears the "old" way would work to make sort of a rain gutter to keep water out even more, but my top simply has a single stitch along the side, as seen in one of the above photos. Another thing I should note, is that the oak header is made to "float" in front of the windshield frame, with an air gap between the frame and the oak bow... I made a rubber seal to go between the bow and the windshield frame, which I hopw will serve 2 purposes... to keep the wind from whistling in between the header and the windshield frame, and to prevent the wood from marring the chrome of my new windshield frame if the 2 ever make contact going over bumps, etc. I'm very anxious to see how this thing does at speed, and what sort of effect the wind has on it. Seeing how I haven't really driven the car at all yet anyhow and have never owned or driven a street rod before, i guess i don't have much to compare it to. I'm sure I'm in for a totally new experience! Bring on Summer 2007...