GotAViper
Enthusiast
looks great. Looking forward to the 3 peice top!
RT10 hardtop market
- Thread starter Jmch
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Autoformsteve
Viper Owner
Just stepped out of the paint booth after applying the primer to these tops and thought I would post a picture of the bottom side...I don't think there has been one posted yet....and one more of the top on a car...BTW I know this top it is not for everyone, but I am really proud of this one. Pictures just can't capture what it looks like in person. (maybe better after I get one painted) I have thought about doing a top that would work on both the GenI and GenII car for years...but, I had a feeling that the engineering side would be difficult...and it was...I hope this will give the older roadster owners another good option.
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viperman4125
Enthusiast
Hi all!
I have my GEN I top on order with Steve.The pictures look great! In about 4 weeks I'll have it, there working on making my windows. I will post the top when I get it, but don't dely, order now. I had a Mopor Hardtop, that was nice, but this one is more stylish, and more head room.
Dave
I have my GEN I top on order with Steve.The pictures look great! In about 4 weeks I'll have it, there working on making my windows. I will post the top when I get it, but don't dely, order now. I had a Mopor Hardtop, that was nice, but this one is more stylish, and more head room.
Dave
sanguissaevus
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Both the spoiler and the top are great. Plus one for a 3 piece gen 2 top. Post #89 says it will work with the autoform roll bar. Does this include the 3 piece? Will it work with other roll bars?
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Autoformsteve
Viper Owner
The lowest point of the liner of this new top which is in the center of the car is about 3/4 above the stock sport cap pad and there is more room above the head/ hemet areas. I think that other roll bars will fit as well.
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Autoformsteve
Viper Owner
Also, I think I may need to try and clear things up about a three piece version of this top...I have designed this top to work as a three piece, meaning I have taken into account what size pieces will fit in the trunk, how to attach these pieces as well as how to drain water...but it is and it isn't going to be a three piece top like the one that is already out there.
My plan is to make this more of a...I hate to say it this way...but a T-top style...help me with a better term. The main structure will attach at the windshield points as well as the rear attachment points just like what we are doing now. Then the two sections that are directly over the seating areas will be easily removable and stow-able in the trunk. So there will still be a piece of the top that will be attached to the windshield and a piece that is over the sport cap area and it will be connected from front to back with the center section. I feel that this will be a strong, good sealing option that will be very quick and easy to install and will not require any modification to your car.
This piece will be able to come of easily as well. but will not fit in the trunk. It is going to involve more engineering and many more molds. I guess I am willing to put more into this project if there is a real market for this but would need to have a solid list of customers willing to help support something like this. It defiantly won't happen until later this year and we probably won't see any of these tops until next summer. Here are pictures of where I think the cut lines will approximately be.
My plan is to make this more of a...I hate to say it this way...but a T-top style...help me with a better term. The main structure will attach at the windshield points as well as the rear attachment points just like what we are doing now. Then the two sections that are directly over the seating areas will be easily removable and stow-able in the trunk. So there will still be a piece of the top that will be attached to the windshield and a piece that is over the sport cap area and it will be connected from front to back with the center section. I feel that this will be a strong, good sealing option that will be very quick and easy to install and will not require any modification to your car.
This piece will be able to come of easily as well. but will not fit in the trunk. It is going to involve more engineering and many more molds. I guess I am willing to put more into this project if there is a real market for this but would need to have a solid list of customers willing to help support something like this. It defiantly won't happen until later this year and we probably won't see any of these tops until next summer. Here are pictures of where I think the cut lines will approximately be.
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ILLKing
Viper Owner
Those lines look great! They retain the curves of the car wit a bit more aggression
GotAViper
Enthusiast
I am 100% in for a 3 piece top that fits in the trunk. That's the whole appeal of the 3 piece top. However, I am not a big fan of the T-Top idea. With the trunk being so small, a true 3 piece top seems to only be the best option. Removing 2 small pieces (t tops) is less appealing then going completely *******.
The only way to fit all 3 pieces in the trunk due to size constraints is to make flat tops that fit down between the windshield frame and the pad on the rear bar .. which is already available. keeping the shape of this top it is too large to use the same principle. So we have to take this route. It still has the versatility of trunk stowed parts for the nice but "just in case scenarios" .. hassle free full top removal, or complete weather protection with no aesthetic compromise.. the only "compromise" is the t-top type panels.
viperman4125
Enthusiast
Steve,
I love that idea! A t-top that will fit into the trunk, easy to get in & out, fast, I live in Fl. where you can see the rain coming, 1/2 mile away. I pull over, put my top on, away I go! This will work for me! I will take 2 tops, when you make them. One in my viper Red, and one in Black, it's nice to have different colors! The soft top really looks good in Black!, It's just a cheap design !
I love that idea! A t-top that will fit into the trunk, easy to get in & out, fast, I live in Fl. where you can see the rain coming, 1/2 mile away. I pull over, put my top on, away I go! This will work for me! I will take 2 tops, when you make them. One in my viper Red, and one in Black, it's nice to have different colors! The soft top really looks good in Black!, It's just a cheap design !
GotAViper
Enthusiast
There is only one 3 piece top available (mach 7 motorsports) and its $3000 painted. That is just too much money. When this thread first started it sounded like you guys were going to go with a 3 piece top for around $1500 (half the price!). T-tops means you have to leave an ugly t-bar roof on at all times. I think most viper owners only drive their cars on nice days , and want the option to take the car somewhere and install their top thats in the trunk. Leaving a huge permanently attached piece on the car at all times is not something that sounds very appealing. Camaros and firebirds are t tops, not vipers.
The "t bar" roof pops off just as easily as the normal top.. dont have to leave it on at all times. Going all the way back to the beginning I said I was aiming for a 2000 dollar single piece but a three piece was going to be more.. the only original goal not met was time frame. And honestly our 3 piece is not going to be super inexpensive. I guess it is what it is. Could always build your own if you dont like whats available.. we are only like 10 months into the project here.. 
Ya know I did have a 3rd gen t-top Z28 when I was a youngster ... it was pretty cool..
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Ya know I did have a 3rd gen t-top Z28 when I was a youngster ... it was pretty cool..
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Could not have said it better myself!
still.. I never said I'd have a 1500 dollar 3 piece.. what you guys want is already available elsewhere and no not everyone likes this idea which is cool.. buy the one you want and like the most... but we are committed to this route which we feel is best.. Sorry.
sanguissaevus
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The current 3 piece offered won't fit any of the roll bars, that I'm aware of, plus the need for lower seats. I don't think many run roll bars but the fact remains. In addition, and probably the biggest point, the current 3 piece doesn't offer the double bubble that Vipers are known for. The current 3 piece does have a fan base, but many don't like the way it looks. I think the reason most are drawn to the current 3 piece hardtop is that whether they like the way it looks or not it is still aesthetically better than the soft top and less cumbersome. In other words, I believe there is a market for a trunk stored double bubble 3 piece hardtop that fits over roll bars and doesn't require lowering the seats, even with what is already offered.
So, are you saying that any double bubble 3 piece design will verifiably not fit in the trunk or are you saying the design you are working with won't fit? I mean, is the 3 piece your working on a by-product of the 1 piece that was engineered or is it it's own beast completely designed from the floor up to be a three piece. To expound, was the primary original goal of your 3 piece to fit inside the trunk and you realized that could never happen and so went to this t-top design, or did the t-top materialize because the project started as a 1 piece that you decided to also make modular as best you could? Not trying to sound like an ass here, just genuinely interested in the possibilities of a true "fit-in-the-trunk double-bubble 3-piece".
There is a compromise to be made somewhere to fit any top in a viper trunk . to make a double bubble that fits the personality of the car the entire roof line has to be utilized, it cant stop at the sport pad or it will look like the turbo bump on the hood of an old eclipse. So now that the top is long enough so it doesn't look out of place there is no way to section it to fit all 3 pieces in the trunk.. believe me.. we tried. So since there is already a 3 piece that has its own compromises we took the other route, we still have headroom (I'm 6'6 and fit with no seat drop) the top is actually an aesthetic enhancement and its a piece of cake to install or remove, and would fit the roll bar. The t-top is our only feasible option, without making it a basic replica of the other available 3 piece and it was all designed at once knowing the look we were after and what we would have to do to section it for fitting panels in the trunk. As for sounding like an a** you dont... those are intelligent observation/questions. I'm usually the a** so I would know ..
Biff Brown
Enthusiast
It's impossible to produce/manufacture a 3-piece Double Bubble hardtop that will fit in our trunks.....Been there, done that and it won't work..... I personally like what they've done with this new top, looking forward to seeing the windows.....Great job guys!!.......we almost did a "T-Top" as well........ANY top will have it's positive and negative points, as consumers we simply have to determine whats more important.......Biff/Vipermania
Autoformsteve
Viper Owner
Thanks Biff...Respect
Taking the above conversation into account, has anyone thought/tried to make a RT/10 sport cap (not the black sport bar removed for the Mach 7 3-piece) that WOULD be more compatible with a 3 or 4 piece removable bubble top AND a internal roll bar? The Sport cap determines the overall height on the RT/10 so that can be raised to include a integral roll bar, as well as the rear latching point of the roof. Obviously it would not be cheap to make/design.
Before I had my first RT/10, I had a 1990 Nissan 300ZX T-top, and I did not mind the T-Bar too much, but I do love the open cockpit of the RT/10.
It looks like the bottom of the Sport Cap is stuck on with adhesive (according to the service manual), so installation would be hair-pulling, trying not to break the stock piece. You can even keep the stock door stanchion latches.
There is great talent on the VCA, the sole Viper GTX (that was on that other website); the Street Serpents, Autoforms' fascias and wings, the SRT-10 Convertible to Hard-top conversions, even Dave666's front and side splitters, plus many more I can't recall right now. We even have the Diamondback hoods (the most expensive stock Viper part of all).
I love the RT/10 the most because it is open, and I love the stock Sport Cap design, but it looks like this one piece limits so much. The windshield can't be changed, the door stanchions can't, the rear windshield does not need to be, the third brake light can be changed to LED's. But it seems the most limiting piece (Sport Cap) can be changed, but so far the only different one I have seen was the Autoform Double Cockpit one.
I have the Mach 7 3 piece Truck Top, and I love it, and when I installed it I found out the Sport Cap is hollow and not a roll bar (After looking at other Viper's I found the sticker my Viper did not have.)
I remember in 1992 when I was 12, I TOLD people that there was a roll bar in it! I looked at the magazine's I had from that time, and it appears I made it up, and believed it myself until I installed my 3-piece.
I love the design being presented, and it is good looking, the wing (defiantly a purchase for me) as well, so I am not being negative about it. But it seemed like a good time to bring up my questions. Besides you guys would be the most likely candidates to do this different design, so I put it here for you to read!
Heck just Google Miata Fastback let's get the RT/10 Trunk involved too! Now that would be something, and before it get's asked/told I don't want a GTS.
Before I had my first RT/10, I had a 1990 Nissan 300ZX T-top, and I did not mind the T-Bar too much, but I do love the open cockpit of the RT/10.
It looks like the bottom of the Sport Cap is stuck on with adhesive (according to the service manual), so installation would be hair-pulling, trying not to break the stock piece. You can even keep the stock door stanchion latches.
There is great talent on the VCA, the sole Viper GTX (that was on that other website); the Street Serpents, Autoforms' fascias and wings, the SRT-10 Convertible to Hard-top conversions, even Dave666's front and side splitters, plus many more I can't recall right now. We even have the Diamondback hoods (the most expensive stock Viper part of all).
I love the RT/10 the most because it is open, and I love the stock Sport Cap design, but it looks like this one piece limits so much. The windshield can't be changed, the door stanchions can't, the rear windshield does not need to be, the third brake light can be changed to LED's. But it seems the most limiting piece (Sport Cap) can be changed, but so far the only different one I have seen was the Autoform Double Cockpit one.
I have the Mach 7 3 piece Truck Top, and I love it, and when I installed it I found out the Sport Cap is hollow and not a roll bar (After looking at other Viper's I found the sticker my Viper did not have.)
I remember in 1992 when I was 12, I TOLD people that there was a roll bar in it! I looked at the magazine's I had from that time, and it appears I made it up, and believed it myself until I installed my 3-piece.
I love the design being presented, and it is good looking, the wing (defiantly a purchase for me) as well, so I am not being negative about it. But it seemed like a good time to bring up my questions. Besides you guys would be the most likely candidates to do this different design, so I put it here for you to read!
Heck just Google Miata Fastback let's get the RT/10 Trunk involved too! Now that would be something, and before it get's asked/told I don't want a GTS.
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bcviper123
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What's the price for the gen 1 top with windows? What are the Windows like? How do they open? Tinted?
hold that thought.. I will finalize pricing on the options with Steve and we will post that all later today...
thanks
J
aviatorone
Enthusiast
Hey, regarding the one piece, for the gen1....have you had time to do the rain test? w/ the windows...
thx
thx
Ok.
As for prices... were doing an introductory base price of $1995 for a gen 1 top including windows. That is gelcoat ready for paint. for a painted one with a stand it will add 500. Then shipping is dependant on where you are. The windows are just like the original style AF window with the same sliding section but shaped accordingly for this top and to integrate the A-pillar without it being on the top itself. The windows look awesome on the car and even add to the aggressive look we went with. We haven't actually driven around in the rain yet but since Steve has made about 10000 window sets I wouldn't anticipate any issues with weather sealing for those of you who like to slide around during monsoon season .. you'll all stay dry. But the next rain storm we'll give it a spin... haha.. We'll get some window pics up within the week. ..for you gen 2 guys introductory price of 995. Paint and shipping still the same.
As for prices... were doing an introductory base price of $1995 for a gen 1 top including windows. That is gelcoat ready for paint. for a painted one with a stand it will add 500. Then shipping is dependant on where you are. The windows are just like the original style AF window with the same sliding section but shaped accordingly for this top and to integrate the A-pillar without it being on the top itself. The windows look awesome on the car and even add to the aggressive look we went with. We haven't actually driven around in the rain yet but since Steve has made about 10000 window sets I wouldn't anticipate any issues with weather sealing for those of you who like to slide around during monsoon season .. you'll all stay dry. But the next rain storm we'll give it a spin... haha.. We'll get some window pics up within the week. ..for you gen 2 guys introductory price of 995. Paint and shipping still the same.
aviatorone
Enthusiast
LifeIsGood
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I got my Autoform Carbon Fiber Lip spoiler installed this week...
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sanguissaevus
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If I understood your post correctly you are saying you have to remove the sport bar to utilize that 3 piece hard top? Is it a "remove and reinstall" or "remove and discard"? Sounds harsh.
Your idea of reinforcing the sport bar sounds like a good idea if it could be done seamlessly and render a roll bar unnecessary. Adding a roll bar in an rt-10 is intrusive and not, in my option, attractive. However, if you like racing your Viper regularly it is a must. This would make all hardtops a viable option while racing.
yeah theres a lot of work involved in that sorta thing.. but honestly there are some other very exciting pieces in the works as well as the top that started this thread .. so stay tuned for other fun stuff because there will be some surprises coming out of AF in the future ... AF is gonna step it up another notch yet but first a whole lot of work through the winter... I'll post sporadically on whatever I can ... stay tuned...
