Please help me with ideas for a rear hatch

[razor02097]

Hello all. I am wondering if there are some photoshop savvy people that can help me get some ideas for a hatch to replace the rear half of my soft top?

Basically what I want to do is to turn my 4 seater in to a 2 seater with a trunk/bed area. I don't need the rear part of the top so high and I really want some sort of hatch that can be lifted to load cargo. Right now I have to unzip the rear window and remove the metal brace in order to load anything taller than about 2 feet

Here is a photo of what a Geo Tracker looks like


Basically imagine the rear section replaced with what ever. The entire top is removable as it is.



Here is what one looks like with no top.



Please keep in mind my vehicle has no spare tire in the back nor does it have the seat belt posts or back seat so everything is as high as the body line.

So if you could... let your imaginations go wild I'm curious to see what people come up with.

[botsapper]

...there was this wave of custom 'Zukis back in the day.
http://i.imgur.com/lRsxj.jpg

[BamZipPow]

Originally Posted by botsapper

...there was this wave of custom 'Zukis back in the day.

Fixed yer post...

I wonder if that modified Zuk got any better MPGs or not.

[razor02097]

I can't go that extreme... I also still want to have the option to remove it if need be.

[razor02097]

Any thoughts about something like this?

[Flakbadger]

Originally Posted by razor02097

Any thoughts about something like this?

Using this template, and some very advanced MSPaint skills, I drew out what would probably be most aerodynamic.



Question is, do you want to put in that much time and effort? If not, the quick 'n dirty one will at least keep the weather out of the back.

Cheers
~Matt

[myrefugeisintheLord]

Would you keep the spare tire on? The sharp angle design would probably be worse if you have the spare tire on too.

I would think it would be way better to go with a rounded design, even if it only tapered down a couple of inches (due to the short distance).

Huh, I just had a thought. Is there a way you could keep the frame you already have and just bend the top bar down, cut the back vertical bar to match, then weld them back together? You could even cut all of the bars off from the attaching frame, and weld together a better design all together.

And as far as the soft top goes you could do a tuck on that back part. It would be a simple tuck if you weren't angling in the sides too.
That way you'd have the same ease of taking it off and similar look.

Edit: Thank you Flakbadger for the picture. That's exactly what I was thinking!
Oh, and hey, that little black mark you have going out the back of the design idea gave me another thought. Adding a kammback on the back would probably help too!

[razor02097]

so a partial kammback? Flakbadger your drawing is pretty close to the original rag top (as shown in the first post)...


I can work with metal and I can sew. There are 2 hoops that make up the structure of the rag top. The first hoop follows the vertical body line the other follows the line in the middle of the window in the back.

[razor02097]

So combining the 2.... what about this?

[Gealii]

Originally Posted by razor02097

So combining the 2.... what about this?

This looks good I thought your first picture was to steep, but flakbadger more follows the aero template which works great on greater legnths, but happy mediums that your showing is probably the best