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Thanks.

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The fun continues. Started breaking down the top. Ours was pretty nice as far as these things go, but still a small dip in the top. It seemed to have some asymmetry during fitment and some dissection reveals inconsistencies in the bracing similar to what's been reported on the board previously. It was in it's original finish, so all the weird stuff seems to be factory weird. Passenger side rear brace was a big block, elsewhere was was 1X2" or less. More prep/repair to come. I'll keep you posted.

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So factory tolerances weren't very precise and the tops were assembled with whatever was needed to make them fit?

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;)

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Pete's got a great quote from Paul Duncan in the very first post of his K20 Super build thread about correcting a truck "birth defect"...specifically, the lack of an auxiliary fuel tank. Eric took a little license with the top that I think is brilliant...and similarly corrects a factory "birth defect". On the single wall tops, as most of you know, there is a track that holds the top to door glass weatherstripping. There is also a lip that covers this track on the top edge, but fades out at the glass corner about where the blue arrow is in the picture below. Eric extended this lip down the vertical edge. What this does is give us more latitude in shimming the track to idealize the glass to weatherstripping fit without showing our hand...at least thats the idea.

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...a clearer view.

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What material did Eric use to extend the lip? Fiberglass? Curious to see how this shakes out, seems like a good way to go.

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Short strand fiberglass. We had several conversations over the preceding months about how to attack the top from a materials standpoint. I was leaning toward SMC specific stuff. Eric was more open minded and philosophic. I think he got a kick out of the fact that when stripping the top he found a factory fiberglass repair. And honestly the top does match the truck in the sense that it appears to be a Friday afternoon hodge podge. It looked pretty doggone good with the factory finish, but underneath the wood bracing was variable, different parts of the SMC don't seem to match in color or texture, and it had a fiberglass repair...all par for the course. Regardless, with any luck it'll all just end up a good story about a nice top.

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What a drive this morning. Out before 7am, cool and clear. Took her to the alignment shop (we hadn't missed it by much with a tape measure)...then a nice shake down. She started the morning with 11 miles and now sits in the garage with 40...and she looks too good in there. I think I gotta paint my garage now.

PS Those guys at the alignment shop sure were nice to let me hover. They didn't even give me friction when I (uh-hmm) suggested that I should drive it up and down off the lift.

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I'm jealous that you're driving yours already, and I'm just starting my restoration. Hoping to have it out this time next year.Nice job !!

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I'm sure you will. It looks like you've really got a great truck to start with...and Thanks!

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Just to add another perspective on our factory hardtops, mine has also required significant work (and therefore $$$) to straighten out. Some of this was undoubtedly due to 44 years of wear and tear but other aspects of the defects have me scratching my head. I had a lot of voids and missing edges along the edge of the top that look like factory defects to me, but perhaps I judge too harshly. All I can tell you is that I have written some fairly large checks for fiberglass repair over the past few months. Of course, none of these things was visible before the top came off the truck for the first time and more was revealed once all of the top weatherstripping was removed.

IC, your truck stands alone in its icy, glittering perfection. Best in breed as the English and dog fanciers would say.

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First off Tristan...thanks so much for the kind words...and the pics. I don't know exactly the process for making these tops, but I envision a couple of guys slathering wood and resin into a mold as fast as they can go...a messy and non exacting process. A couple of our brackets were thrown in there about as crooked as they could go...I also don't think they did a textured finish just because it looked good or they already felt like they were making a boat anyway, so why not. That splatter-shot hides a lot.

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You know how I love those factory grease pencil marks. Well, she's got a little more to give. These were on the interior hatch top, just below the factory finish....maybe "54"?

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The top and hatch are almost ready for texture and paint...maybe in the next couple of days.

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Just read through your thread. Great work and thanks for all of the pictures. Great inspiration.

Dwight

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Thanks Dwight

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Super humbled today by the TOTM nomination, thanks Pete. Hadn't taken the time to take any good outside pics since we were still working...but considering the nom, I snapped a couple this afternoon after work. The wipers aren't on yet because Eric wants to buff the cowl some more.

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Looks amazing! Keep up with the photos and info about the fiberglass top as I will be going through this process.

I can't wait to get mine on the road

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Thanks...I'm excited for you to hit the road too!

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We considered several options for retexturing the top. Zolatone was a choice that's been presented on here that I like a lot. It's a relatively expensive proposition, unless you take it to a shop that already has the capability. It has a special gun set up. warbucket was the first that I saw use Upol's Raptor Liner and I thought his turned out great. Upol also makes another product very similar to Raptor Liner that's called Gravitex. It's marketed as stone chip vs. Raptor Liner which is obviously a bed liner. Gravitex is what we ended up going with. It comes with a stutz gun (like Raptor Liner) to shoot it, but they say you can shoot it with a gravity gun. You can vary the texture a bit by adjusting the pressure. We really just tried to replicate what we had. I thought Eric described it well when he said it was a little bit rougher than an orange.

The rep recommended epoxy primer first which was allowed to cure for over 24hrs.

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It took 3 bottles of the Gravitex to cover. Eric went a little smoother on the interior side. Only about an hour wait for the texture to cure, then on with the white.

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Very nice! I really need to refurbish my top.