Prototyping a "Modular" Turn Offroad Hard Top...

[TheBroncolorian]

Hey all, I've had my @Turn Offroad hard top for quite a while now, and have always glanced at it with the envy of APG/ADV beta tops. By no means am I throwing any abject disdain towards the wonderful folks at Turn, I LOVE their products and am seriously satisfied by the performance of their hard top.

My only "gripe" has always been the targa panel above the driver and passenger section. While I can appreciate the superior weather and noise sealing, it's unfortunately not conducive to storage and travel onboard. Then I had an idea...

What if the Ford panels could marry up to the Turn rear section? "The results may surprise you!"

So far, the only obstacles I need to address are as follows:
1. The painted driver panel sourced lacks the required weather stripping to seal against the outer roll bar (should be an easy fix)
2. The locator pins that align the panels to the outer edges of the hard top prep kit plates had to be unscrewed, due to the Turn cap utilizing those holes for screws. This makes the twist lock next to the driver's and passenger's headrest not as effective.
3. There is a decent sized gap where the edge behind the driver/passenger meet the Turn cap, due to a variance in weather stripping used between Ford's design and Turn's targa panel design (will need to workshop a thicker, more robust strip to seal that section with)
4. Turn and Ford have two different lock philosophies in play, which need to be remedied for the compression at the junction point between the front panels and the rear cap. The respective twist locks align perfectly with Turn's latch receiver, which would've been a great spot for the twist lock receiver. I'm wondering if I can replace the twist lock from #2 with the compression latch to kill two birds with one stone.


More pics, and certainly more details to come as I science the out of this:

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[Brian_B]

I’ve thought hard about seeing if I could make the Putco clear top mate up with my Rallytop. Looks like you are making great progress with the Turn top!

 

[CaliRaptor7201]

Hey all, I've had my @Turn Offroad hard top for quite a while now, and have always glanced at it with the envy of APG/ADV beta tops. By no means am I throwing any abject disdain towards the wonderful folks at Turn, I LOVE their products and am seriously satisfied by the performance of their hard top.

My only "gripe" has always been the targa panel above the driver and passenger section. While I can appreciate the superior weather and noise sealing, it's unfortunately not conducive to storage and travel onboard. Then I had an idea...

What if the Ford panels could marry up to the Turn rear section? "The results may surprise you!"

So far, the only obstacles I need to address are as follows:
1. The painted driver panel sourced lacks the required weather stripping to seal against the outer roll bar (should be an easy fix)
2. The locator pins that align the panels to the outer edges of the hard top prep kit plates had to be unscrewed, due to the Turn cap utilizing those holes for screws. This makes the twist lock next to the driver's and passenger's headrest not as effective.
3. There is a decent sized gap where the edge behind the driver/passenger meet the Turn cap, due to a variance in weather stripping used between Ford's design and Turn's targa panel design (will need to workshop a thicker, more robust strip to seal that section with)
4. Turn and Ford have two different lock philosophies in play, which need to be remedied for the compression at the junction point between the front panels and the rear cap. The respective twist locks align perfectly with Turn's latch receiver, which would've been a great spot for the twist lock receiver. I'm wondering if I can replace the twist lock from #2 with the compression latch to kill two birds with one stone.

More pics, and certainly more details to come as I science the out of this:

I was wanting just a single piece to remove that covers all four seats.
I have been wanting to contact Turn Off-Road.

 

[TheBroncolorian]

I was wanting just a single piece to remove that covers all four seats.
I have been wanting to contact Turn Off-Road.

Turn's style of top is about as close to a one-piece as you can get in the market currently. The targa panel is so hefty, I treat it like a one-piece and rarely remove it.

 

[CaliRaptor7201]

Turn's style of top is about as close to a one-piece as you can get in the market currently. The targa panel is so hefty, I treat it like a one-piece and rarely remove it.

But there’s are a two piece right?
Just one buck piece. I barely ever take my top off. Hell I would get solid top.

 

[TheBroncolorian]

Update 1: Procured the Ford latch receiver plate (2) and test fit the angle against the built in "hump" of the Turn seal section:

It looks like the angle should work and not overly stress the fiberglass portion or the MIC panels in any way when locked. No I-75 wind tunnel testing done yet to verify that theory.

Also measured out the channel for a new weather seal strip, looks to be about 1.75" - 2" in width necessary to close that gap. I estimated the length to be about 5.5 ft (don't mind trimming excess gradually). Pics of it fully locked in for test fit:

 

[TheBroncolorian]

Update #2: Ended up using Ford's midsection seal, and modifying it to work in the valley of the Turn hardtop (shout out to Turn Offroad for keeping the mold so close to the OEM top). The excess material where the side seals wrap around at the rear passenger windows were removed completely.

The interesting thing about Ford's seal is the underside has a channel built in to slot the panel into:

I wound up having to trim a gap in the underside of the Ford seal channel where the Turn latch points start for a better fit (essentially cut an upside down U into it).

Once the seal was positioned semi-permanently, I drilled the holes for the latch receiver plates and screws. Once panels were locked in for a test fit to my satisfaction, went back over the seal with the 3M backing removed in addition to some automotive grade sealant for extra measure. Final result:

 

[TheBroncolorian]

Update #3: Started the day with the first water intrusion test. Driver side passed, passenger side failed with several drops. Re-seated new seal on passenger side and followed up the entire underside with JB Weld.

While not final, wanted to at least make it close to the same colorscheme for road testing (and while I wait for the rhino liner spray to arrive) with black plastidip

First road test was about an A- on the grading scale. Panel fitment is 99% there, meaning
1) nothing blew off into traffic
2) nothing rattled in place (tested with several speed bumps and bad stretches of road)
3) there is a very small but noticeable air gap between both panels right above the upfitter switch console, which leads to some noticeable wind noise without the radio

Next Steps:
1) figure out how to enhance or replace the Ford passenger panel seal with something more robust from edge to edge lengthwise.
2) rhino line both panels to match the rear Turn top.

More pics:

 

[TheBroncolorian]

Update #4:
Reapplied some more JB Weld to the passenger side (touch up to make the seal sit a little better). Now is the time to finish this thing up:

In-Progress:
Repainting the driver panel from white to rhino liner black
320 up to 800 grit

Will apply a second coat tomorrow, and start prepping the passenger panel for the same process.

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