Project Extended Pop-Top Aerodynamic Camper Shell ('99 Tacoma)

[moorecomp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKqTHaWN-gE

They are commercially available now too: EZLift Systems Innovative Products Mendota MN

[freebeard]

a8ksh4 -- Well there you go. The basic decision is 'make or buy'. Pricing the EZLift product will answer that.

[turbothrush]

a8sh4 . Just throwing this into the pile of ideas. There is also a youTube video on it How They Work | Gobur Caravans

[a8ksh4]

Thanks for the links. Those linear actuators are only ~$130 on amazon. I could see using one at each end of my shell to work the front and back lift bars... We'll see.

I've had the side panels on the truck for a couple weeks now, putting them through some temperature cycles from below freezing in the mornings to 70s in the afternoon as well as some rain and frost. When they were new, the surface was nearly mirror smooth, but they're starting to ripple a bit on the surface. There is a bit of a raised line on one where the glass crosses a joint in the foam underneath.

I'm tempted to go ahead and make a mold from each of them so I can lay up some new fiberglass pieces easily should I need to.

When I do the shell, I think I want to change my strategy a bit. When I lay the glass over the foam, I'll make sure to paint/brush on some resin to the foam first, then lay glass over, and brush/roll more resin through the glass to make sure I get perfect adhesion. After glassing, I think I'd like to use resin/fairing compound to smooth things out instead of body filler or glazing putty. Or, perhaps I'll do the fairing compound and then just a thin layer of glazing putty.

If just the faring compound is enough to smooth out the surface, it would be nice to put some white pigment into it and make painting easier. Hmm.... I am full of hmmm... today.

[turbothrush]

Originally Posted by a8ksh4

I've had the side panels on the truck for a couple weeks now, putting them through some temperature cycles from below freezing in the mornings to 70s in the afternoon as well as some rain and frost. When they were new, the surface was nearly mirror smooth, but they're starting to ripple a bit on the surface. There is a bit of a raised line on one where the glass crosses a joint in the foam underneath.

Can you tell if the problem is a poor bond between the core and the fiberglass/epoxy skin or between the putty and the fiberglass ? Did you use 2 part putty or single part ? Single part putty shrinks ...a lot.

[Varn]

Before you go making a lot of work for yourself (making molds) measure the improvement to see if there is the positive effect that you desired. Also you need a plug which is perfect as your part can not be better than the plug. Just saying.

[a8ksh4]

@turbothrush - The bit of delamination is at a high spot along a seam between the layers of foam that I used to build up the original form. I think the foam was high enough along the seam that there isn't hardly any filler along it, so it's probably a bit of separation between the fiberglass and the foam.

All the heavy duty filler work I did was with bondo-brand polyester filler with hardener... I guess that's a one-part filler. To finish, I used Dolphin Glaze, which was pretty nice to work with.

@varn - yah, I think it'd be safe to go ahead and throw it on the truck, tape it down good, and go for a drive to see what my steady state mileage looks like on the freeway. I won't be ready to do enough dissassembly to do full-on ABA testing until I get things a little further along, but I should be able to get a ballpark feel for how it's working.

[dodgedartgt]

I came across this video that I thought you might be interested in. See how the cap moves up and rearward at the same time before tilting up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHGbGRybX9w

Mike in FL

[freebeard]

That's pretty awesome. The miracle of the 4-bar linkage.

[a8ksh4]

Wellll..... I've been at a stand-still for a whiie. I haven't had a weekend home w/ time to burn in quite a few weeks.

Anyhow, I applied a few weeks back to show the shell at the Maker Faire in SF in May and got accepted... I have to get a bunch of work done in the next few weeks and have some more progress to show there! If I can get coverage at work, this could be really fun!