DIY Extended tophats

[twisterfelix]

Ok so I extended my tophats for my RT4WD civic and here are the pics. Hope they help out. They are not hard to do I recomend you guys do them, the car rides great despite being lowered.

Step 1 remove the tophats. And take off the bolts by placing the tophat on table or ground, and hitting the top of the bolt till it comes off. Make sure u dont hit the thread
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc504/twisterfelix/IMAG0003.jpg

[twisterfelix]

Step 2 mark and cut the tophat at desired location. U can use hacksaw or grinder.
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc504/twisterfelix/IMAG0006.jpg

[Chuck Chainz]

umm... then what? :roll:

[twisterfelix]

Step 3 weld piece of 2" pipe to top part of top hat then the bottom. (In the front i hear u can go up to 1 1/2 inches tall and still clear the hood)
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc504/twisterfelix/IMAG0008.jpg

http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc504/twisterfelix/IMAG0009.jpg

[Rufus]

Huh, that's the end?

[twisterfelix]

Step 4 grind off excess welds (i went alittle over to take of paint, i did it with a flap disc)
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc504/twisterfelix/IMAG0011.jpg

[twisterfelix]

STEP 5 Primer and paint.
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc504/twisterfelix/IMAG0019.jpg

[twisterfelix]

STEP 6 Put studs back in place. Easiest way to do this is by sliding stud back in hole. Then install 2 washers, and the nut on the stud and tighten away. It will pull the stud back in place.
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc504/twisterfelix/IMAG0026.jpg

[twisterfelix]

now thats the end. It took a while cause I was uploading it from my phone.

[failedabortion]

weld the bottom from the inside...don't have to grind down so much.

Do your shock bodies fit inside?

[twisterfelix]

Yeah they fit

[gunsup0331]

Or call aaron garcia and he'll make you a sick set for a good price!

[twisterfelix]

Well this is for guys on budget who cant afford ebay or aaron like me. Spent less than $10 on all four.

[projectaccord]

The finished product looks good. :thumbup:

[twisterfelix]

The finished product looks good. :thumbup:

Thx man. This was my first set. The last one I made required less grinding ands looks just as good finished.

[TucsonEuroCamry]

why would you do this? like what does it accomplish?

[nyenye09]

why would you do this? like what does it accomplish?

x2...?

[that one da]

why would you do this? like what does it accomplish?

x2...?
gives your stock strut more room when your lowered on coilovers and such so your shock isnt bottoming out everywhere resulting in blown struts and shitty riding suspension

[SloDezl]

it allows the shock body to basically travel past the top of the shock tower allowing you to have a better ride while the car is slammed. depending on the car you can add up to 2 in of added travel without having to shim the hood.

[C.R.A.Y.]

Your control arms will hit your shock towers before your strut gets near going inside the tophat

[SloDezl]

Your control arms will hit your shock towers before your strut gets near going inside the tophat

depending on the car thats not true, on my wagon it made a huge difference in ride doing extended tophats, because it would bottom out on the strut before even coming close to the upper arm hitting the body

[twisterfelix]

What happens when you drop you car is you lose shock travel. So If you drop you car 2" you lose 2'' of shock travel. Thus making your car ride shitty and potentially blowing your shocks. So lets say you extend you tophats 2" and drop your car 2". It would feel like you were ridding on stock height.

[C.R.A.Y.]

What happens when you drop you car is you lose shock travel. So If you drop you car 2" you lose 2'' of shock travel. Thus making your car ride shitty and potentially blowing your shocks. So lets say you extend you tophats 2" and drop your car 2". It would feel like you were ridding on stock height.

this. I made 2.5 inch tophats for the front and 3.5 for my rears just to get the preload back on my springs. THATS what make the ride quality better

[twisterfelix]

i did 1.5 on my wagon all around rides great.

[nyenye09]

i see.

[TucsonEuroCamry]

hmmmm thats interesting and something everyone should consider doing. ill look into it for my car, thx

also, do you need the extended top hats when you have an adjustable suspension or is the top hats just for the shocks

[failedabortion]

hmmmm thats interesting and something everyone should consider doing. ill look into it for my car, thx

also, do you need the extended top hats when you have an adjustable suspension or is the top hats just for the shocks

Drop springs and adjustable coil sleeves yes...not always needed but they help. If you're going full body coilovers they aren't needed and most likely wont fit.

[twisterfelix]

Drop springs and adjustable coil sleeves yes...not always needed but they help. If you're going full body coilovers they aren't needed and most likely wont fit.

True

[pr1nc3s5]

great right up how much did u spend granted buying a grinder and welder to?

[twisterfelix]

Well i already have the grinder and welder cause of my work. But i spent less than 10 bucks on material

[Bill Cosby]

Am i the only person that thinks ops 6 separate posts were uncalled for?

[mook]

he said in the above post that he was posting from a phone^^^^^^^^but nonetheless yeah!!!!

[NARU]

Best DIY ever, makes a great improvement in ride quality!

[NARU]

Autozone sells the small pieces of metal tubing that are the perfect diameter for about $2 each.

[EFinyouup]

They look pretty good

[Efsedan08]

Great DIY

[failedabortion]

Autozone sells the small pieces of metal tubing that are the perfect diameter for about $2 each.

I had my last set done with stainless tubbing...looked better than aluminzed exhaust pipe.

All_motor_mike made them up for me. About $60 to do all 4 and I just supplied the stock tophats.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6780263655_03852eed55.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780263655/)
IMG_9977 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780263655/) by Tyler_Okuly (http://www.flickr.com/people/tyler_okuly/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6780260723_2a9d5a8eab.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780260723/)
IMG_9998 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780260723/) by Tyler_Okuly (http://www.flickr.com/people/tyler_okuly/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6780266281_e9304a59f8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780266281/)
IMG_9984 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780266281/) by Tyler_Okuly (http://www.flickr.com/people/tyler_okuly/), on Flickr

[azn8v]

nice i have old top hats and some material laying around gonna try and see how it wrks, good diy

[savg_buneh]

Will this work if the piping is 2 1/4 inch stainless steel piping? I have the 2" pipng aswell only differnce is one is stainless steel the other is exhaust piping

[savg_buneh]

I had my last set done with stainless tubbing...looked better than aluminzed exhaust pipe.

All_motor_mike made them up for me. About $60 to do all 4 and I just supplied the stock tophats.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6780263655_03852eed55.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780263655/)
IMG_9977 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780263655/) by Tyler_Okuly (http://www.flickr.com/people/tyler_okuly/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6780260723_2a9d5a8eab.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780260723/)
IMG_9998 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780260723/) by Tyler_Okuly (http://www.flickr.com/people/tyler_okuly/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6780266281_e9304a59f8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780266281/)
IMG_9984 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyler_okuly/6780266281/) by Tyler_Okuly (http://www.flickr.com/people/tyler_okuly/), on Flickr

Y do u have 3 rear top hats ot does the oval make no difference. Jus wonderin

[failedabortion]

I had no fitment problems with them, I lost one and all I had was a spare rear.

[savg_buneh]

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/Savg_bunneh/20120626_095502.jpg
http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/Savg_bunneh/20120618_140038.jpg
My fronts came out decent the rears had to be remade case i made em a wee bit to tall

[ceyazzie]

looks nice.... great DIY..

[Smashinhatch]

Just did this. Now my upper control arms are on the body already but it rides way better. Only problem is I switched from 55 tires to 50 in front on a fat drop. My EF bumper with barley any lip is like 1¼ off the ground and I can't slide my key under my header:smackself:

[EGMATT]

Just did this. Now my upper control arms are on the body already but it rides way better. Only problem is I switched from 55 tires to 50 in front on a fat drop. My EF bumper with barley any lip is like 1¼ off the ground and I can't slide my key under my header:smackself:

Pics or you're lying

[SoB NiG]

Hahaha ^ i would like to see the slammed ef aswell!

[badasstegy]

Me too

[SoB NiG]

tiiiick toooock tiiiiick tooooock

[Chef]

Just got a extra set of top hats..... anyone interested in helping a track junky out and making me some i can supply carne asada and beer ;) lol

[failedabortion]

Deadbird can't make them?

I could if you wanted to drop them off at my work tonight and would have to find the right size tubing tomorrow and pick them up from my work Sunday( I live in surprise and work in Glendale which is probably closer for you). Also wouldn't be tig'ed like the ones all_motor_mike did for me in the pics above though.

[EVOKLR]

If I don't have the tube is scrap at my work I'll be buying some next week. I will be making 2 sets. One fOr the db7 and one for extra/sale. If your still in need chef contact me next week and I'll see what the plan is and if I can help out.

[ILUVMYDC2]

this method worked really good, got great results thanks for the post!

[Chef]

Anyone bored and wanna help me out making some of these?

[honduh_head]

there are a TON of good fabricators in the valley... stop being cheap and go to them to get it done.

[Nando1]

I'm gonna try this on my 5th generation Accord .....

[Nando1]

Will this also eliminate having to cut your rubber bump stop when you lower your car ?

[juniorej1]

Nice ima have to give this a shot good right up bud

[EGMATT]

Nice ima have to give this a shot good right up bud

get ya 25 on

[MikeDC4]

Damn nice one can you make some for my dc

[Phillie]

Where else dan you buy the steel tubing?

Any metal scrap yards on the westside by Goodyear?

[the77dude]

are you able to do this with full coilovers from k sport mine dont let me drop my hatch to tuck my wheels idk why