Hoop Covers

[Ron565]

I recently took over the hoop cover manufacturing from Mike. For those of you that have installed them did you find any problems with your installation? What could I do to make it better? Anything. Or what would you like to see as a option?



Your insight would be appreciated.

Thanks, Ron

[DaleG]

Uh, hoop covers? I'm sure most must know what you are talking about, but...are you refering to Forte's drive shaft hoops?

[crash]

Uh, hoop covers? I'm sure most must know what you are talking about, but...are you refering to Forte's drive shaft hoops?

He is referring to a kit of fiberglass pieces that go over and cover up the roll cage on the interior of GTMs. It is a nice bunch of pieces to help finish off the inside of a GTM.

[VD2021]

Ron,

For the Gen2 (and I expect the later Gen1s) the bars are being welded in a different position/location. I had to remove, IIRC, ~.5" from each side of the main piece (in the area directly in front of you head). Even still there are area that needed addition fg to fill the area between the piece and the body. The passenger side A pillar piece is ~.5" short on the dash end.

The pictures of the piece in the Gen1 are beautiful, but the pieces requires some work to get similar results.

In general. It would be nice to see the piece cover the remaining exposed areas, where the pieces are installed. like the area between the piece and the top inner windshield roof area and around the pillar pieces.

I am actually almost finished reworking the entire piece.

I added a lip to the front edge (between the piece and the upper windshield line) to cover the exposed roof.

The shape, in the area where the driver's A pillar piece and main piece meet, does not match the roll bar and roof very well. I reshaped it with fg.

I re-made both A pillar pieces to cover the entire body area from the windshield line to the door piece (that used to be attached to the door on the Gen1).

The main piece does not meet the roof (so you can trim to fit) on almost the entire main piece (with the areas in front of you your head, being more than the rest). With the exception of the center section, which is good. Since I will be adding cc foam I just created a gap around the entire area.

[Ron565]

Thanks guys keep it coming Ron


http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i134/Ron565/gtm007.jpg

[Ron565]

I have come up with an alternative for the fiberglass hoop cover. My main intention is to reduce shipping cost and the hoop cover cost.
I have received a PVC prototype and it looks really good. The best thing is we can roll it up to save on shipping big time.
All edges will be lengthen by about 1/2 inch. Just file and fit.

I still have to fit it to a gen one and two check fitment.

If any guys are building a Gen one or two in the bay area please let me know. One good thing is you can heat it up with a hair dryer to reshape it if need be. We can also do a GTM logo on the center section.

What do you guys think? Any insight you guys have would be greatly appreciated, Happy Building, Ron

[sk7500]

Making these covers from something thermoform-able is a great idea to overcome the uniqueness of each car. If you could vacuum form abs with the texture already on the surface, you really would have something usable right out of the box. But you would not get around the fact your trying to ship a big box.

[rev2xs]

How much do you estimate the price for shipping would come down for the new hoop covers?

[Ron565]

I'm still in the prototype stages. The price point should be cheaper. Still waiting for a GTM in the bay area to use for fitment. I just learned that the Gen 2 is different from the Gen1.

The fiberglass hoop covers are costly to produce at 395.00 and it was a fair price but the shipping is the biggest downfall.

Ron