FormulaFranco

i hate,t he stock GM carrying case, and was just wondering if anyone has a custom enclosure that they keep thier t tops in... pictures or ideas would be awesome!!!

creepingdeath

make a custom carrying spot in the deep part of trunk? I personolly think the factory case and mounting system is awsome. theres not really anywhere to put them in our cars but the trunk unless you strap them to the hatch or roof lol. Our cars are small and the only place to put them other than where gm intended for them to go is in the back seats or just leave them at home but both ways aren't very good. Maybe a saddle sack on the side of your car lol??

FormulaFranco

that would have been a good place to make an enclosure(the deep part of the trunk) but i got my subs there.. i was thinking of a system that goes on the top part of the trunk(where the stock case was) that was made of wood, and holds both tops in there.. it would eliminate alot of trunk space and im not sure it would work cuz it may be to high for the hatch to close

87 formy

I keep mine in the deep trunk think whatever it may be called. They fit in there nice and snug, I don't have an enclosure or anything for them - they don't move, rattle or anything. I'll be making a fiberglass box for my backseat when I get subs. I don't know if there's much you can do if you have the back filled with subs.

FormulaFranco

where exactly woudl u put the fiberglass box when u get subs

creepingdeath

A wood box with a trunk full of subs would be heavy. If you could make a fiberglass one that fit it might be lighter and nicer but then youll have no rear veiw mirror vision, plus you can get a ticket for that.

FormulaFranco

good call on that one... the only thing is i dont like it when my tops radel when im playing my music....

87 formy

I got rid of my rear seat and I plan to replace it with two 12's.

I'm not sure of anywhere the t-tops would fit besides in the rear well. There's one box for fourth gen cars that fits in the well and the t-tops slide into it. I don't think there's enough room for something like that though, you could look into it.

Have you ever heard of stealth box? They're boxes (for fourth gens I think) that fit in the back of the car on the sides. You would probably have to cut the plastics and lose the spare tire and glove box, but if you can get something like that to work and then keep the tops in the rear well it would probably be sweet.

I did see someone make a wood box that fit on the top part of the trunk on here...it wasn't pretty though. Someone on here made a box to hold the t-tops that fit where the factory bag does. It looked pretty easy to get them in, it had two slots in it, one for each t-top. The thing was huge though, and it was all MDF, so it was probably pretty heavy too. It looked really bad IMO, but it might have potential if you used a different material to make it and slimmed it down a bit.

That's all the ideas I have for now, hopefully you can come up with something from them.

Big Time

It's not unheard of to just set the tops in the well with the heavier locking parts down, and keeping some eggcrate foam in there to separate them and keep them from rubbing and rattling.

If you have a mint condition car, I wouldn't, but for most 20 year old cars, it'll do.

creepingdeath

Put your t-tops on if you dont want them to rattle then lol. Or if its a sunny day just leave em at home! I didnt really like hitting bumps with them in that bag they always clacked together hard over speed bumps or pot holes hard.

FormulaFranco

all great ideas.... but if u guys could help me find the picture of the guy that made the box.. that would be great.. that way i could try and make one to look like it.. but in a slimer more eye apealing way

87 formy

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fabr...-ttop-box.html

There's the link...I threw up a little when I found it.

I get what Big Time is saying about if it's a mint car, because it does mark the carpet up; I don't care though, because even though my car is pretty much mint, it's a cheap aftermarket carpet and I want to make a little fiberglass holder to fit in there.

FormulaFranco

wow, that thing is huge!!! i was thinking something alot smaller, guess its a start tho.. dont know what kinda design im gunna do yet.. if u guys have ne suggestions tell me!!

87 formy

I'm just thinking of ideas here, so don't plan on any of it being great or possible to do.

What if you have some (relatively thin) round tubing going across the trunk to keep the t-tops in place, either through the plastics or held up with a bracket.

I'll try to explain my idea here. We'll say you're planning to stash the tops from behind the car. Start by putting one of them on the floor, with the exterior part facing down. It would have two lips to hold it in place - so you would slide it in and then push it down to hold it in.

That's for the first top, now we'll go into the second.

Make a bracket that comes off of the lip that's closest to back of the car. Angle it inward so it ends just past where the plastic ends on the first top and have two padded tubes go across so the top will just slide in (at a downward angle).

Now you would just have to secure it. If you made some thick foam on the lip by the back seat, you could just slide it in and have it snug.

Another idea to secure it is to just have a separator on the end where the glass from the tops would meat and just have something come up so that they can't slide back.


I don't know if I did well at explaining that, but hopefully you get what I'm trying to say. Basically what I'm getting at is not making a box and just securing the t-tops in the back. If you got what I said, it was just a quick idea - it would still need to be perfected, so if you like it you can probably tweak it to where it would work and look good.

FormulaFranco

thats a really good idea... im not sure if i would like the tops just out in the open tho... but i came up with this...

take into considertion that my dad owns a metal shop and all this would be fairly easy for me to do.

how about a plate(Light sheet metal) that was engraved with the firebird logo that went from one side right to the other so that it isnt all uneven looking.. and so instead of having it really high, since it would be long they colud just go next to eachother..
the plate would be on a hinge that would be attached to the top part of the trunk area(where the other guy put his) and therefore woudl be really easy to insert and take out the tops. the plate would be on a slight angle.. im going to try and paint shop some ideas for u! gimmie a bit and tell me what u think( still havent come up with a way to keep them attached to the plate...)(

87 formy

Okay, I get what you're saying about the hinged plate, but as far as I know, the t-tops can't fit side by side together any way you do it (if that's what you were saying). You would have to mess around with it and see if you can get them to.

It would be easy enough to make a metal box with the lid you described and just place the t-tops in it the same way you would place them in the bag. Add a little spring to hold up the lid and it might be nice.

FormulaFranco

yea it would be aweomse i just wouldent want it to look really bulky and mess up with my rear mirror view

FormulaFranco

ive got to go down to the garage and get some measurements b4 i do any diagrams and such...

wolverine350r

iTrader: (1)

Ok, keep in mind that I just drew this up real quick, and I don't have a car with T-tops, but I want one so the thread was of interest to me.



Basically with box 1 and 2 I would make it top opening and just place a piece of foam between them.

The third (and now 4th) box is what I might try if I was making one. Basically there would be slots cut in the side of the box where the T-tops would slide in like they do to the T-bar, and then there would be holes drilled into the sides for the T-tops to lock into (like on the car). -- I just realized that both tops would need to be positioned such that you could actually reach the handles -- so like pic 4.

So there are my ideas, take them for what they are worth, I'm not sure how close to the actual T-top shape my sketches are, but it seems the box can be much smaller then that one in the Camaro though. I'm sure these can be improved, so have at them if you want.

skitztikwon

the back hatch of a third gen i gods gift to a pair of subs its like a blody ampitheater back there putting were your back seat was you will lose sound i tried the backseat thing its night and day heres the idea i want to do its simple leave the hooks direckly behind the seats and relocate the ones althe way in the back and turn the bag around

IROC-Z_Racing

iTrader: (1)

I haven't looked into it yet, but like skitz said above me:

If you wanted to keep the bag for it's "space-saving" capabilites (I say this because people have complained how big a t-top box would be), why couldn't you just relocate the lockdown loops that are on the flat trunk piece and on the back wall of the trunk's well, and mount them on the sides of the whole trunk space. In other words, instead of the t-top bag clipping "over" the trunk's well (like me and the many others that have subs in the well), have the bag clip sideways, just turn the bag around 90 degrees? This would keep the bag on the top flat piece of the trunk and not over hang on the subs in the well, or keep the well open for any oversized luggage! Since I do A LOT of traveling!

FormulaFranco

good call fellas... guess i was thinking way to complicated

IROC-Z_Racing

iTrader: (1)

ah well we all do it sometimes. try to be inovative by trying something never been done before, when you could just take what was already there, and just improve upon it.

I just happened to think about that after reading this thread, just puttin my worth in!

- Justin

87 formy

With the planned 1200 watts RMS between the subs and 400 between the two front speakers, I think it'll be plenty loud

Anyway, I thought the whole point of this thread was that you didn't like the bag

83Firebird420

what i do is use an old blanket. basically just make kind of a sandwich with them all. when i had subs id put the ttop bag down, then one ttop, then the blanket, then the next ttop and just flip the rest of the blanket over top. when i dont have my subs do the same thing, only have them standing in the trunk with the handle side down. ive done it for 3 years and no breakage.

85camarojunkie

Two ideas for you guys.
#1 If some one could fab it then why not make something like the 4th gen camaros. They have t-top holders in the back in the trunk.
#2 This is not what i seen, but here is a pic of a box enclosure but room for t-tops. Now what i seen was a guy that put two slots in between the box for the t-tops. but this is close enough.

RJ_Moore

That looks like the best work I have seen anywhere customizing speakers location and maintaining the t-top storage. I don't know if anyone can help, but I have t-tops and the bag, but can't understand how I am supposed to put the t-tops in so they fit the bag.

Can anybody post up a video on it or text instructions on how to do it. I thought the diagrams above this post I am replying to indicated that you could select the lowest profile to work, and not have to worry about abrasions.

Help is appreciated. RJ

camaronewbie

Look at the diagrams above - the tops go in the bag like the first diagram. You have to open the bag zippers all the way open, then flip up the top of the bag, and flip up the seperator, then lay one top external side down, then flip the seperator over it, and lay the other top external side up, and handle in opposite position, then close bag.

camaronewbie

The reason the 4th gen tops holder in the trunk work so well, is because the 4th gen tops are not square like ours, they look like a square that's been skewed to one side, and the pass side skews the opposite direction as the driver side, and the handle section is shorter than the glass edge.

But I still think a holder similar to the 4th gen holder could be fabbed up - you just need holes in place for the pins to insert into, and short seperators to keep the tops from touching each other at the glass ends - and this could be layed flat rather than standing like the 4th gen, so that the well could still be filled with subs.

americanmuscle3

iTrader: (1)

i bought some fourth gen ttop holders im going to try to modify them to make them work in my third gen

IROCK ZZ

my t tops sit ever so perfectly on top of my subs amps and everything. i was concerned about moving or bouncing at first but have never had such a thing

Tflick

You could try to modify these 4th gen holders.
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl...t:429,r:0,s:10