Made my own side strikers for hard top

[Anonymous]

Just a couple of observations.

First of all, no one except the OP maybe, has any idea of the type of steel that's been used, so any assumption as to the strength of the brackets can only be an assumption. Although if the brackets have been formed using only a 2lb hammer, without the application of heat, then the structural strength of the steel at the bends will probably be reduced.

Secondly, I agree that £150 for side strikers from Mr.T does seem excessive, but what are you getting for your £150? Peace of mind - the original part has been designed and manufactured to perform a specific task. And in addition, they usually sell for a healthy price second hand - so you would probably recoup a significant part of the £150 when/if you decided to re-sell.

All good points but with the VAT it comes to over £170,I stated in my original post that these will at least buy some time for me to source some reasonably priced used ones.

[Anonymous]

The trouble is they simply won't, as they not substantial enough to hold a hardtop on. You'd be better off leaving the top at home and saving for a pair of proper ones if you don't want to make BryanStrikers MkII.

[enid_b]

having recently removed mine prior to sale, i can vouch for 2 things at the very least

1, these smallish pieces of metal which hold the top to the car are very heavy and substantial pieces of metal indeed. so much so that i was surprised at their (weight) mass when i removed them.  i handed them over to the courier who collected them on friday, and again i was astonished at how heavy they are.

2, as has been stated, they have been designed and constructed like that for a reason.  car manufacturers are not in the habit of using 'more than necessary' when it comes to making cars.

3 (for luck)  the photos that you posted depict a flimsy piece of metal.  i have not felt it, i have not seen how hard it was to fashion it, and i know not of which metal grade you have used. however, it does not look substantial enough.


as i said in my earlier post, good effort at designing and fashioning, but from what i have seen in the photo, that should not be on your car on a public road.


group hug anyone?

[markiii]

right hopefully a couple of non provocative points

1. Toyota didn't sell the hardtop in the USA

why? because it wouldn' pass their crash testing

In the EU test those posts are an essential part of passing the crash regs, crash the car and thats going to break loose and do you a lot of damaage

2. going around any form of bend at speed is going to have a huge amount of kinetic energy stored in that hardtop which need controlling with the proper brackets

it will bad enough if comes loose and hits a car in both damage to teh top and damage to the other car. Not to mention your head if it comes loose and hits you whilst leaving the car

If it hits a motorcyclist they will end up dead so it won't be you getting teh darwin award it will be you getting charged with manslaughter

I hope you don't intend to drive it with those in place

if you do well,  I for one am certainly driving no-where near you.

[Anonymous]

right hopefully a couple of non provocative points

1. Toyota didn't sell the hardtop in the USA

why? because it wouldn' pass their crash testing

In the EU test those posts are an essential part of passing the crash regs, crash the car and thats going to break loose and do you a lot of damaage

2. going around any form of bend at speed is going to have a huge amount of kinetic energy stored in that hardtop which need controlling with the proper brackets

it will bad enough if comes loose and hits a car in both damage to the top and damage to the other car. Not to mention your head if it comes loose and hits you whilst leaving the car

If it hits a motorcyclist they will end up dead so it won't be you getting the darwin award it will be you getting charged with manslaughter

I hope you don't intend to drive it with those in place

if you do well,  I for one am certainly driving no-where near you.

Essentially what i got modded for saying, with a few more salient points.

[Wabbitkilla]

Well I think everyone's made their points and Bry has taken them on the chin and is going to look at a MKii, can we leave it now until he's had a chance to think about a new design? Or found some at a more reasonable price?

Thing about rules is someone will complain there're too many rules or they're too limiting when they don't suit their personal values.

[Anonymous]

nice idea but i do agree with the others and that they will not be strong enough so an idea to help you.

1. make sure your using at least 2mm thick metal

2. weld some sides to them. this should stop it from bending out of place.

hope this helps.

richard

[Wabbitkilla]

nice idea but i do agree with the others and that they will not be strong enough so an idea to help you.

1. make sure your using at least 2mm thick metal

Having seen them - they are over 2mm thick   s:) s:)  

2. weld some sides to them. this should stop it from bending out of place.

Actually that's a darned good idea, if they're triangulated and decent material bolted in the right places then they could actually be pretty good alternatives.

hope this helps.

richard

I'm sure from your constructive opinion that it will   s:D s:D

[muffdan]

I don't know how you could triangulate them given how the catch encompasses the striker. It'll be interesting to see if that's possible.

[markiii]

I don't know how you could triangulate them given how the catch encompasses the striker. It'll be interesting to see if that's possible.

I tend to agree, the catch actuall surrounds it on 3 sides, I would have though if you triangulate then the catch won't close

[Anonymous]

good point but if it can be done it should hold.

[markiii]

good point but if it can be done it should hold.

the latch might

Im equally concerned about teh length where it attaches to teh car which is going to be prone to sideways forces

I would expect there is a good reason why teh oem piece is nearly 10mm thick

[Wabbitkilla]

True Mark, I'm probably thinking what you're thinking in that the amount of work required to produce an alternative to the Toyota items would likely cost as much as the Toyota items to produce. Saying that, there's very little harm in exploring the possibility.

After all the Toyota centre brace is patheting n comparison to the corky-esque items the majority of us have fitted.
What we need is a cheap supply of titanium   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[markiii]

I was musing to Nige yesterday that my best idea would be to mill it from a solid block of ali

even then I'm not sure its strong enough, trouble is, buy teh Ali, find a machine shop, pay for their time, and unless you happend to own a cnc machine your looking at a cost thats no cheaper or worse more expensive than teh Toyota part

this is one part I think we are going to struggle to DIY

[Wabbitkilla]

I suppose it depends on the grade of Aluminium, aircraft grade might do it - but again pretty pricey stuff.
And  a magnesium based alloy would be around the same price probably - but this is an interesting idea, it's got me thinking now.

[Anonymous]

look at mki version i think you can weld a side on to make the mkii and maybe another flat bit to make the part that bolts on thicker and run it up over to make a sealed sort of triangle. this by the pics should leave enough for the latch to hook on and should be small enough for it to go over. from the block and cnc it down would be more than its worth unless your doing it in bulk. so maybe someone could make a batch of cheap alternative fixing kits. should be a market for it.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how you could triangulate them given how the catch encompasses the striker. It'll be interesting to see if that's possible.

I have taken a look and it is possible as the catch only grabs it after the hole at the very end,i have also got hold of the metal for my MK11 version.

[muffdan]

my concern is that it will bend at the thinnest point which is where the hole is widest, I can't see how this part can be reinforced.

[Anonymous]

my concern is that it will bend at the thinnest point which is where the hole is widest, I can't see how this part can be reinforced.

The first set were not the full width of the latch so with a thicker wider metal this isnt an issue.

[muffdan]

A better design would be to redesign the strikers and the catch. Ok, so it's not going to be as pretty or perhaps functional but the HT goes on once once a year right  s;) s;) . Simplest approach (and the stongest/safest) is to create a bracket that mounts to the car where the striker does on one end, then bolts to the HT where the present catch does. That should be strong enough. Ok, so it'll look a bit off with the hard top off (if you don't remove the new bracket) but I bet the next step would be something that allows the top and bottom halves of the bracket to be split, say with couple of strong bolts. The weakness in the current design is that the metal merely needs to bend to be detached. Using a custom catch and striker can avoid this flaw, but admittedly at the cost of fitting convenience.

[philster_d]

For a thing as important as this Im sure you should be calculating by maths rather than trial and error. I know that is easier said than done. But at high speeds and hard cornering forces will be multiplying the practical weight
of the hardtop and therefore the stresses on the clips/mount points.

Also what happens if you roll the car and these strikers fail sheering the roof sideways etc.

On that note will you tell the insurance company you homemade a bracket for the roof in case it falls off on someone or disconnects in a crash?

Phil

[Anonymous]

Can someone post a pic of the original strikers in side on profile and from the top?

[Anonymous]

Just a suggestion but why don't you get two windscreen strikers from a scrap yard and attach them to a suitable substantial bracket?   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Les

[Anonymous]

Just a suggestion but why don't you get two windscreen strikers from a scrap yard and attach them to a suitable substantial bracket?   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Les

I did already think of that but they have a funny angle with them that i would have to overcome and i wanted it to be one piece really.

[DannyN]

I've taken some and they are uploading to photobucket as I type but I need to go to football so I'll link them in about an hour