Rogue Hardtop kit, what do i need?

[Jrichards20]

Im looking to have a permanent hardtop on my car, the soft top will be stripped out.

I know a lot of the track day 2s use rogue mounting brackets.

What are the point of these compared to the normal fixings?

If I buy a hardtop without fitting kit, does the rogue kit provide everything? I.E what about the brackets at the back of the hardtop, do I still need these?

And how much is the rogue fitting kit? Trying to determine whether its worth buying a hardtop without the fitting kit and just getting the rogue stuff. Or whether I should just buy the standard lot.

  s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes:

[Anonymous]

It's not that straight forward I'm afraid.

If you remove the soft top, you lose the seat belt mounting points and the ability to have doors that close on your rear storage bins.

The rouge brackets replace the front and side brackets but you will still need to buy the rear (chrome) brackets for the hard top to mount on the rear scuttle.

I purchased these new from Toyota for around £80.

If you want to remove the soft top you will need to cut the frame so you can retain your seatbelt mount points and your cross bar which allows you to clip the storage bin doors to.

You can see the rouge mount here with the part of the soft top frame which you need to cut off and keep (both sides)

[Jrichards20]

Ok, a small issue then but not a killer. In terms of price it is cheaper for rogue. From what I understand £80 for brackets, £80 for chrome rear brackets = £160 vs £200 for fitting kit.

In terms of the modification to the frame, how difficult is it to modify to keep seatbelt mounting points and cross bar. Im not worried about the soft top being cut etc, the thing will be going in the bin anyway.

Is it relatively simple to see what bits needs to be removed and what bits don't?

[mr-ed_smt]

Rogue assured me that that rear chrome clips aren't required with their kit - they said barely any of the racers have them. After fitting mine (without the chrome clips) I agree in terms of how secure it is - it's not going anywhere! However, I do think the clips help "pull" it down to make a seal, so without the clips I think water might get in. Ok for a race / track car, maybe not for a road car. If your car is a road car and not a track car, I think you'd be mad to not splash out an extra hundred quid for the proper fitting kit - there's quite a lot of modification required to fit the rogue kit. Plus the proper kit will retain its value when eventually sold.

[cabbydave]

You don't need the rear chromes as you are bolting the hardtop down firmly any way. If you hood is in ok condition you can sell it to get some money back and iff you want the brackets off the hardtop ive got a pair. I could even have 2 sets after ive changed the hood on my daughters car.

[StuC]

Ok, a small issue then but not a killer. In terms of price it is cheaper for rogue. From what I understand £80 for brackets, £80 for chrome rear brackets = £160 vs £200 for fitting kit.

In terms of the modification to the frame, how difficult is it to modify to keep seatbelt mounting points and cross bar. I'm not worried about the soft top being cut etc, the thing will be going in the bin anyway.

Is it relatively simple to see what bits needs to be removed and what bits don't?

How good is your hood Josh?
If it's in good condition, you could swap with someone if you are just going to cut yours out. Then 2 people win!  s:-D :-D s:-D

[Anonymous]

Ok, a small issue then but not a killer. In terms of price it is cheaper for rogue. From what I understand £80 for brackets, £80 for chrome rear brackets = £160 vs £200 for fitting kit.

In terms of the modification to the frame, how difficult is it to modify to keep seatbelt mounting points and cross bar. I'm not worried about the soft top being cut etc, the thing will be going in the bin anyway.

Is it relatively simple to see what bits needs to be removed and what bits don't?

You need to hacksaw or angle grind the metal frame on each side. I didn't know what I was doing and took me about an hour.

It's actually quite logical when you see it. I could help you if you are worried about it.

I also smashed the rear screen while doing it so don't make that mistake - I'm still finding bits of glass in my back garden today  s:D s:D

[Anonymous]

Ok, a small issue then but not a killer. In terms of price it is cheaper for rogue. From what I understand £80 for brackets, £80 for chrome rear brackets = £160 vs £200 for fitting kit.

In terms of the modification to the frame, how difficult is it to modify to keep seatbelt mounting points and cross bar. I'm not worried about the soft top being cut etc, the thing will be going in the bin anyway.

Is it relatively simple to see what bits needs to be removed and what bits don't?

How good is your hood Josh?
If it's in good condition, you could swap with someone if you are just going to cut yours out. Then 2 people win!  s:-D :-D s:-D

That is exactly what I did

[StuC]

Great minds mark.  s;-) ;-) s;-)

[Anonymous]

Or fools seldom differ  s:D s:D

[Topdownman]

Wouldnt it be best to wait a bit before taking out the hood? You could still run a hardtop and make sure you are not going to miss getting the top down?

After seeing Marks car I was surprised by the space no hood gives you so can see that appeal but if you are doing European road trips etc you might miss the hood, especially if you dont have air con?

[Anonymous]

I would tend to agree, it would be nice to have the roof down now and again. All i can do is remove the hard top and leave it at home...only a brave man risks that in this country though  s:D s:D

[Jrichards20]

Hood has rips both sides In the usual place. Also ripped at the back where it's attached to the car and the join where the rear screen is. It would have to be repaired, and I would feel guilty giving it to anyone because it's a bit crap and some places of the hood seem to be rock solid, God knows why. So swapping softtop I don't think is possible  s:( s:(  unless someone has one in worse condition haha!

So if I was to want a soft top, I would need a new one anyway. I wonder if that would work, if I cut this one out, and if I do decide I miss the softtop can buy a second hand one, I'm only cutting the current roof so it wouldn't interfere if I wanted to put a new roof in?

And my idea was to make some sort of very thin ply cover so I could use the space behind. Just so it looked a bit nicer  s:) s:)  my main concern at the moment is weight, with a new engine I don't want extra weight otherwise it will change the feel of the car, I've taken out the spare wheel to save weight, and the battery is being moved upfront so that's some weight transferred forward, but I don't want an extra 40Kg sitting behind me as a soft top not being used. Or is it just me being silly lol!  s:) s:)

[Topdownman]

You dont have to fix the roof now if you get a hardtop. If you miss the soft top then you can get a new one fitted, if you dont you can rip it out as planned at a later stage when you are sure?

Just had a quick look at the component weights (all in lbs as american)

Spare wheel/cover 25
oem battery 28
battery mountings 2
tool kit 8
muffler 27.6

I dont think the weight will be an issue, there are some concerns about the front being lighter with no spare but by putting the battery in you are adding in more (I plan to look at putting my tool kit in there if possible).

The engine should only be 20kg heavier but with 10kg lost with the spare wheel and then a lighter exhaust hopefully shoudnt really be a problem?

If you take out the hood and come to sell in the future it may put some people off too maybe?

[Escy]

A little bump on this thread. Anyone been using Rouge mounts without the rear chrome catches on a road car? Any issues with water ingress?

[MilesH]

No issues at all with water. Ran them without the rear clips on all my track mk3's.