chaos_construction

Personally I say go with the aluminum all your really going to need to do is bend some 90* angles in it (or a 45* leave about 3-4 inches and another 45* for your top back and corner angles for the roll bar) then you just have to bend it up for it to sit on the tub and where the front pannels meet the rear this might be a little tricky with an over lay to seal better weld up your seam down the center of the sheets cut out the windows and what have lined put in the windows and weatherstripping for the front and everywhere else mont it up grab your shop chair and a beer and admire your master piece.. Not to mention fiber glass is a huge pita to work with and quite a mess is involved through out the process with the sanding and all. I'm a much bigger fan of metal fab my self. Good luck in which ever rout you choose (don't forget the last step with the shop chair and cold beer that's the most important)

AK4Dave

I definitely agree with the last two posts....that's why I said his original post got me thinking about aluminum. I know fiberglass would be waaaaay too much of a project.......especially getting it to turn out looking real nice. Where with aluminum you could really get creative if you wanted and easily have it turn out looking tits. AND if you didn't like something you did you could cut it out and do it over with not "too" much difficulty....

So_Cal_Tay_12

Hahaha okay okay, im convinced enough to shop around for the materials, haha, it just hit me hot much easier itd be to get perfectly smooth, flat walls with aluminum. Now Ive never worked with aluminum so I dont know what gauges to use or the whatnot. Also would it hurt it to have a perfectly flat roof or would something special need to be done for that?

Other question I have is what would noise be like? Especially with rain? Or wind?

So_Cal_Tay_12

Haha, I guess I'll have to celebrate with milk and cookies til March 5th, 2012

Sarbatche

I wouldn't think that the noise would be too bad with the wind. If you placed bracing across the large top sheet it would stop any flexing at highway speeds. I'd recommend a sound deadening headliner, regardless. You'll probably also need rubber gaskets at contacting surfaces (i.e. along the tub).

X2 on the exposed diamond plate surface

Harbourone

You can get a tool to make little folds almost in sheetmetal to make it stronger. I cant remember what they're called but we use them to strangthen custom floor pans.

Smopho

Nida core panels with glass skin would be perfectly flat, lighter than aluminum, insulating for both thermal and sound, and easy to bond with glass tape.

So_Cal_Tay_12

I plan to line it with a rubber seal for sure as well as the noise reducing headliner, it'll help with the sound quality of the radio as well. Looks like Im gonna have to start making some templates, oh boy, I cant believe im actually going to be attempting this.

rutdigger

I don't think you are going to like the Aluminum idea. It's a pain in the ass to weld unless you are setup for it. Welding with Aluminum is not as forgiving as metal is. Also, the rain is gonna drive you nuts. If you even been in an old house with a tin roof when it rains, it's gonna sound like that.

I still think your best bet is gonna be fiberglass. You can do it easily in your garage and it will be plenty strong enough. I'm not sure if I can post it or not but check out www.fiberglassforums.com and look at some of the sick stuff they build there. It's a great place to learn also.

chaos_construction

Aluminum really isn't that bad to weld dispite common misconception.. As far as it being loud I can't imagin it being very loud at all being a less dense metal than steel or "tin" as your referring to on metal roofed houses. Also being rubber lined and sound dampened would most likely be much quieter than most vehicles. I'll give credit that fiberglass can be very versatile but the prep work and everything else is just a messy PITA. Don't get me wrong it's good stuff but just incase something unevediable were to come in contact with his top its a heck of a lot easier to beat metal out strait and re paint than it is to try and patch fiberglass to make it look like it never happened. Jus my $.02