Cheers,
Im fairly new to this forum, but I've been told there's a great bunch of guys here that suffer from the same affliction as I. My build has been a bit of a slow one but it's picking up speed currently. I have a 2011 Ford E350 v-10. The plan is to build as much of the van myself in order to save on cash. Follow along, feel free to ask questions or provide some insight if you se I'm doing something wrong. Here's a few pics to get y'all up to speed on the progress.
Here's a pic of the top fitment, overall I'm happy with it. I like that it has style to the side profile and it's relatively flat in order to make it into a pop top.
Preliminary cutout, I was contemplating just doing a small cutout, but ultimately decided to do a full cut.
Here's what I came up with for the pop part of it. I'm fairly familiar with both Sportsmobiles and CCV tops and the pros and cons of each. There were a few things I wanted to address with my design. First I wanted it to be completely different than anything I've seen done I also wanted to make it as safe as possible, next I wanted to reduce the overall weight so I decided on aluminum as my choice material. I wanted to address the leaky canvas material and mosquito bug screen material that always tears away, and lastly I wanted a top the raises, lowers and sits evenly.
I think I'm on the right track, let me know what you guys think.
May the force be with you!