Updated pics of the Gullwing? - LotusTalk

plesset · 01-02-2005, 07:09 AM

Does anyone know if there are any updated pics of the Gullwing top floating around. Specifically I am looking for pics of the locking mechanism and latch. I would love to see exactly how the top locks down and where the release mechanism to open and close the top is located. I can't wait to see if someone mods it so it opens and closes automatically when you open or close the door. Obviously that would add a whole bunch of issues not to mention costs but it would be really neat to see someone do it. This top can not come sooner. If it takes much longer to come out I may just bust out the Rotosaw and cut the damn thing myself so I can store the hardtop in the boot.

Stan · 01-02-2005, 07:57 AM

I tried out a hard top car recently and did not care for it. Sure the tops can store in the trunk. But to do that the size of the opening from windshield to roll bar is significantly reduced. The actual opening is not large. So I bumped my head pretty hard on the front portion of the frame near the windshield as I got out. Something like three or four inches of space is lost in that area. And some more by the roll bar. Although the gullwing doors are removed, the frame for the unit stays in place. So there is a section that goes across the top of the windshield, the central "T" element and the portion that transverses the roll bar area. When the piece is fitted the roll bar cover is removed, all the way back to the sail panels. I think that a trim piece for the bottom of the upper portion of the roll bar needs to be added too, maybe that is on the way. I'm sure one could develop a different ingress/egress style to avoid this issue I "ran into". But this may be a concern to some.

Johnny B · 01-02-2005, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Stan
I tried out a hard top car recently and did not care for it. Sure the tops can store in the trunk. But to do that the size of the opening from windshield to roll bar is significantly reduced. The actual opening is not large. So I bumped my head pretty hard on the front portion of the frame near the windshield as I got out. Something like three or four inches of space is lost in that area. And some more by the roll bar. Although the gullwing doors are removed, the frame for the unit stays in place. So there is a section that goes across the top of the windshield, the central "T" element and the portion that transverses the roll bar area. When the piece is fitted the roll bar cover is removed, all the way back to the sail panels. I think that a trim piece for the bottom of the upper portion of the roll bar needs to be added too, maybe that is on the way. I'm sure one could develop a different ingress/egress style to avoid this issue I "ran into". But this may be a concern to some.

Those were some of my concerns. That the opening isn't large enough, plus my instinct tells me that the gullwing top with the panels removed doesn't give the same open air feeling as no top at all.

plesset · 01-02-2005, 09:42 AM

With the Hard Top on it is harder to get in and out. With practice though it really isn't an issue. I like the look of the hard top better than the soft top. The roof does not fit in the trunk though. That would be impossible. The Gullwing solves the issues with the hard top though. It looks like the hard top when on, flips up to solve the ingress and egress issues, and since it is in two pieces it will fit in the boot. I don't see how having the t-bar will take away from the open air feeling. i mean how wide could this bar really be? Unfortunately we don't have any really good pictures to go on with the Gullwing. I am sure that a lot of the misconceptions with this solution will be solved once more detailed pics become available. Sector111.com can you chime in here and give a better description if you do not have any pics yet?

Stan · 01-02-2005, 09:44 AM

>>>Those were some of my concerns. That the opening isn't large enough, plus my instinct tells me that the gullwing top with the panels removed doesn't give the same open air feeling as no top at all.<<<

Much of this is not right or wrong per se...folks would have to decide for themselves. I'd suggest that you try it out if possible. For someone my size (5' 10" 175) I can get in and out just fine and the extra headroom for this is of no help compared to the loss of front to rear space.

Ridgemanron · 01-02-2005, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Stan
>>>Those were some of my concerns. That the opening isn't large enough, plus my instinct tells me that the gullwing top with the panels removed doesn't give the same open air feeling as no top at all.<<<

Much of this is not right or wrong per se...folks would have to decide for themselves. I'd suggest that you try it out if possible. For someone my size (5' 10" 175) I can get in and out just fine and the extra headroom for this is of no help compared to the loss of front to rear space.

Isn't a gull-wing car at HRM? Saw one of Ivan's photos at the recent HRM pre-Christmas gathering that
showed the car. Perhaps Mark Starr can post photos of the car with the sections off, as well as some showing entry, exit, and the latching mechanism.

Stan · 01-02-2005, 06:44 PM

>>> The Gullwing solves the issues with the hard top though. It looks like the hard top when on, flips up to solve the ingress and egress issues, and since it is in two pieces it will fit in the boot. I don't see how having the t-bar will take away from the open air feeling.<<<

* The hard tops I have seen lack the indent of the stock hard top. This design element ties into the "spine" aspects of the front and rear of the car.

* With the hard top pieces off the car on some of the units there is significantly less open air above you than stock.

* Ingress/egress may be improved in the up & down direction but it can be much worse front to back. This can be a bit hard to tell from the photos as the units replace the whole top of the car...not just the hard top. In other words it includes the bodywork over the roll bar too and this extends back over the side sail panels.

* I'd suggest that folks try them out if possible. You might get sorta locked in with the install effort, removing the old upper bodywork, paint matching and so forth. The way I get in and out of my Elise, I *need* the few inches behind the windshield. Maybe my approach could be changed...I guess I was just surprised that getting out was harder than stock for me. Maybe for taller folks it could be a very different story.

* I'm still looking for a stock Saffron Yellow hard top...ANYONE?

plesset · 01-02-2005, 07:51 PM

Stan,

Maybe I am confused but was the car you were referring to getting in and out from in your original reply a Gullwing? I am not sure I understand how with the Gullwing up there is less room to get in and out of the car. Are you saying that with the Gullwing you lose two or three inches from the lip of the Gullwing by the windshield? Was the t-bar more that say 5 inches in width? Ugh....I really wish there were more detailed pictures around!

plesset · 01-02-2005, 07:58 PM

Never mind

I just realized what you were saying from looking closer at the pics on sector111.com. You lose a lot of space. BUMMER!!! Possible dealbreaker. Well I guess I may just have to cut the damn roof in half then. I am not sure from an engineering perspective why they designed it this way. Why the need for that much overhang on the lips?

Stan · 01-02-2005, 08:00 PM

>>>Maybe I am confused but was the car you were referring to getting in and out from in your original reply a Gullwing? I am not sure I understand how with the Gullwing up there is less room to get in and out of the car. Are you saying that with the Gullwing you lose two or three inches from the lip of the Gullwing by the windshield? Was the t-bar more that say 5 inches in width? Ugh....I really wish there were more detailed pictures around!<<<

Yes it was a gullwing car. The distance from the windshield header to the roll bar area, the open space, was less than stock. I noticed this after I bumped my head pretty hard on the frame. With about 8000 miles of Elise experience, all I did was get out of the car the way I get out of my own. So at least for me the extra vertical headroom was offset by the loss of horizontal headroom. PICs would help!

plesset · 01-02-2005, 08:07 PM

Thanks Stan. Was the t-bar obtrusive? Did you bang your head on the front or rear?

ivan1 · 01-02-2005, 08:08 PM

here is a pic with Stan, before he hit his head

Notice the area marked in red behind the windshield

Stan · 01-02-2005, 08:18 PM

Here is a doctored up PIC. For many the top will be a cool option that is just what they need. I'd suggest a trial fit though, don't mean to cause any alarm here. The white star shows where I bonked my head...and saw stars...

plesset · 01-02-2005, 08:18 PM

Ivan1 you rock buddy! Thanks for the pic. That looks like it would really not be very fun to bang with your head. Man that is disappointing. It also appears to detract from the lines of the car when the panels are removed. I really do not understand the need for this much of a lip. Well I guess I am just going to have to move to a warmer dry climate and ditch the top all together.

gotapex · 01-02-2005, 08:19 PM

This thread is useless without pictures of Stan's head, after.

plesset · 01-02-2005, 08:23 PM

Even clearer now Stan! Damn you work fast

. I guess with practice banging your head will become a non-issue. I just hate what it does to the lines of the car when it is off. I'll probably still end up getting one and hope that down the road someone will make one without the massive lips.

ivan1 · 01-02-2005, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by gotapex
This thread is useless without pictures of Stan's head, after.

Stan · 01-02-2005, 08:28 PM

>>>Thanks Stan. Was the t-bar obtrusive? Did you bang your head on the front or rear?<<<

Cool..we wound up with a couple of explanatory PICs. The T-bar itself seemed fine. The gaskets you can see on the door panels squeeze against the stay in place portions of the t-bar roof panel. There is no gutter around them. Supposedly it is pretty tight in terms of air noise and water leaks. The tops remove by hand by unclipping the front and rear gas struts (top opened up)and then lifting the top out, which unclips the hinge. Pretty simple.

I think the idea is that the tops themselves had to be smallish so that they could easily fit into the small trunk. Larger tops would provide a larger opening but then might not fit into the trunk...

Stan · 01-02-2005, 08:48 PM

Found another shot...BTW...does anyone have an aspirin?

Ridgemanron · 01-03-2005, 08:10 AM

Anyone suffering from 'hit head-gull wing'
syndrome is cordially invited to apply for entrance into The Autism Institute. Not
even the most uncontrollable patients there have any problems with navigating even smaller (than gull-wing) areas of open space that is made available to them during intitial examination. You would 'definately' be in the running for
Autistic Poster Person Of The Year.

01-02-2005, 07:09 AM	#1 (permalink)
plesset Its too hot now! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 213	Updated pics of the Gullwing? Does anyone know if there are any updated pics of the Gullwing top floating around. Specifically I am looking for pics of the locking mechanism and latch. I would love to see exactly how the top locks down and where the release mechanism to open and close the top is located. I can't wait to see if someone mods it so it opens and closes automatically when you open or close the door. Obviously that would add a whole bunch of issues not to mention costs but it would be really neat to see someone do it. This top can not come sooner. If it takes much longer to come out I may just bust out the Rotosaw and cut the damn thing myself so I can store the hardtop in the boot. __________________ 91 BLK NSX 05 BLK Range Rover 05 BRG Elise 03 Segway HT

01-02-2005, 07:57 AM	#2 (permalink)
Stan - Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,927	I tried out a hard top car recently and did not care for it. Sure the tops can store in the trunk. But to do that the size of the opening from windshield to roll bar is significantly reduced. The actual opening is not large. So I bumped my head pretty hard on the front portion of the frame near the windshield as I got out. Something like three or four inches of space is lost in that area. And some more by the roll bar. Although the gullwing doors are removed, the frame for the unit stays in place. So there is a section that goes across the top of the windshield, the central "T" element and the portion that transverses the roll bar area. When the piece is fitted the roll bar cover is removed, all the way back to the sail panels. I think that a trim piece for the bottom of the upper portion of the roll bar needs to be added too, maybe that is on the way. I'm sure one could develop a different ingress/egress style to avoid this issue I "ran into". But this may be a concern to some. Last edited by Stan : 01-02-2005 at 08:03 AM.

01-02-2005, 09:42 AM	#4 (permalink)
plesset Its too hot now! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 213	With the Hard Top on it is harder to get in and out. With practice though it really isn't an issue. I like the look of the hard top better than the soft top. The roof does not fit in the trunk though. That would be impossible. The Gullwing solves the issues with the hard top though. It looks like the hard top when on, flips up to solve the ingress and egress issues, and since it is in two pieces it will fit in the boot. I don't see how having the t-bar will take away from the open air feeling. i mean how wide could this bar really be? Unfortunately we don't have any really good pictures to go on with the Gullwing. I am sure that a lot of the misconceptions with this solution will be solved once more detailed pics become available. Sector111.com can you chime in here and give a better description if you do not have any pics yet? __________________ 91 BLK NSX 05 BLK Range Rover 05 BRG Elise 03 Segway HT

01-02-2005, 06:44 PM	#7 (permalink)
Stan - Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,927	>>> The Gullwing solves the issues with the hard top though. It looks like the hard top when on, flips up to solve the ingress and egress issues, and since it is in two pieces it will fit in the boot. I don't see how having the t-bar will take away from the open air feeling.<<< * The hard tops I have seen lack the indent of the stock hard top. This design element ties into the "spine" aspects of the front and rear of the car. * With the hard top pieces off the car on some of the units there is significantly less open air above you than stock. * Ingress/egress may be improved in the up & down direction but it can be much worse front to back. This can be a bit hard to tell from the photos as the units replace the whole top of the car...not just the hard top. In other words it includes the bodywork over the roll bar too and this extends back over the side sail panels. * I'd suggest that folks try them out if possible. You might get sorta locked in with the install effort, removing the old upper bodywork, paint matching and so forth. The way I get in and out of my Elise, I need the few inches behind the windshield. Maybe my approach could be changed...I guess I was just surprised that getting out was harder than stock for me. Maybe for taller folks it could be a very different story. * I'm still looking for a stock Saffron Yellow hard top...ANYONE? Last edited by Stan : 01-02-2005 at 06:51 PM.

01-02-2005, 07:51 PM	#8 (permalink)
plesset Its too hot now! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 213	Stan, Maybe I am confused but was the car you were referring to getting in and out from in your original reply a Gullwing? I am not sure I understand how with the Gullwing up there is less room to get in and out of the car. Are you saying that with the Gullwing you lose two or three inches from the lip of the Gullwing by the windshield? Was the t-bar more that say 5 inches in width? Ugh....I really wish there were more detailed pictures around! __________________ 91 BLK NSX 05 BLK Range Rover 05 BRG Elise 03 Segway HT

01-02-2005, 09:44 AM	#5 (permalink)
Stan - Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,927	>>>Those were some of my concerns. That the opening isn't large enough, plus my instinct tells me that the gullwing top with the panels removed doesn't give the same open air feeling as no top at all.<<< Much of this is not right or wrong per se...folks would have to decide for themselves. I'd suggest that you try it out if possible. For someone my size (5' 10" 175) I can get in and out just fine and the extra headroom for this is of no help compared to the loss of front to rear space.

01-02-2005, 07:58 PM	#9 (permalink)
plesset Its too hot now! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 213	Never mind I just realized what you were saying from looking closer at the pics on sector111.com. You lose a lot of space. BUMMER!!! Possible dealbreaker. Well I guess I may just have to cut the damn roof in half then. I am not sure from an engineering perspective why they designed it this way. Why the need for that much overhang on the lips? __________________ 91 BLK NSX 05 BLK Range Rover 05 BRG Elise 03 Segway HT

01-02-2005, 08:00 PM	#10 (permalink)
Stan - Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,927	>>>Maybe I am confused but was the car you were referring to getting in and out from in your original reply a Gullwing? I am not sure I understand how with the Gullwing up there is less room to get in and out of the car. Are you saying that with the Gullwing you lose two or three inches from the lip of the Gullwing by the windshield? Was the t-bar more that say 5 inches in width? Ugh....I really wish there were more detailed pictures around!<<< Yes it was a gullwing car. The distance from the windshield header to the roll bar area, the open space, was less than stock. I noticed this after I bumped my head pretty hard on the frame. With about 8000 miles of Elise experience, all I did was get out of the car the way I get out of my own. So at least for me the extra vertical headroom was offset by the loss of horizontal headroom. PICs would help!

01-02-2005, 08:07 PM	#11 (permalink)
plesset Its too hot now! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 213	Thanks Stan. Was the t-bar obtrusive? Did you bang your head on the front or rear? __________________ 91 BLK NSX 05 BLK Range Rover 05 BRG Elise 03 Segway HT

01-02-2005, 08:08 PM	#12 (permalink)
ivan1 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Bedford, NY Posts: 6,279	here is a pic with Stan, before he hit his head Notice the area marked in red behind the windshield Attached Images

01-02-2005, 08:18 PM	#13 (permalink)
Stan - Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,927	Here is a doctored up PIC. For many the top will be a cool option that is just what they need. I'd suggest a trial fit though, don't mean to cause any alarm here. The white star shows where I bonked my head...and saw stars... Attached Images

01-02-2005, 08:18 PM	#14 (permalink)
plesset Its too hot now! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 213	Ivan1 you rock buddy! Thanks for the pic. That looks like it would really not be very fun to bang with your head. Man that is disappointing. It also appears to detract from the lines of the car when the panels are removed. I really do not understand the need for this much of a lip. Well I guess I am just going to have to move to a warmer dry climate and ditch the top all together. __________________ 91 BLK NSX 05 BLK Range Rover 05 BRG Elise 03 Segway HT

01-02-2005, 08:19 PM	#15 (permalink)
gotapex Perpetual Wait Lister Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 528	This thread is useless without pictures of Stan's head, after. __________________ http://www.nobleforums.com Black/Black, sports, touring, hard top. Ordered, but delivery took 1.5 years too long.

01-02-2005, 08:23 PM	#16 (permalink)
plesset Its too hot now! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 213	Even clearer now Stan! Damn you work fast . I guess with practice banging your head will become a non-issue. I just hate what it does to the lines of the car when it is off. I'll probably still end up getting one and hope that down the road someone will make one without the massive lips. __________________ 91 BLK NSX 05 BLK Range Rover 05 BRG Elise 03 Segway HT

01-02-2005, 08:28 PM	#18 (permalink)
Stan - Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,927	>>>Thanks Stan. Was the t-bar obtrusive? Did you bang your head on the front or rear?<<< Cool..we wound up with a couple of explanatory PICs. The T-bar itself seemed fine. The gaskets you can see on the door panels squeeze against the stay in place portions of the t-bar roof panel. There is no gutter around them. Supposedly it is pretty tight in terms of air noise and water leaks. The tops remove by hand by unclipping the front and rear gas struts (top opened up)and then lifting the top out, which unclips the hinge. Pretty simple. I think the idea is that the tops themselves had to be smallish so that they could easily fit into the small trunk. Larger tops would provide a larger opening but then might not fit into the trunk... Last edited by Stan : 01-02-2005 at 08:59 PM.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

01-02-2005, 08:48 PM	#19 (permalink)
Stan - Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,927	Found another shot...BTW...does anyone have an aspirin? Attached Images

01-03-2005, 08:10 AM	#20 (permalink)
Ridgemanron Ridge Man Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,268	Anyone suffering from 'hit head-gull wing' syndrome is cordially invited to apply for entrance into The Autism Institute. Not even the most uncontrollable patients there have any problems with navigating even smaller (than gull-wing) areas of open space that is made available to them during intitial examination. You would 'definately' be in the running for Autistic Poster Person Of The Year.