Note: I've been meaning to post this for some time on Chris' behalf and am finally getting around to doing it. Photos below are provided with his approval. Please
DO NOT duplicate or distribute them without his permission.
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One More for the Road(ster): The Making of the Taylor Mesh Top Conversion
Chris Taylor and his Taylor Mesh Top Conversion (TMTC) shown here installed on a 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5 Sport.
I met with Chris earlier this year to see if he'd consider coming out of "retirement" to make one more TMTC for my Roadster. It turns out he hadn't officially wrapped up the mesh top fabrication business but had stopped actively promoting and producing the TMT after selling his Elise and, in the process, losing his "jig" for fitment testing. He still has plenty of the mesh material left as well as the templates and tooling to make TMTs but without a way to properly test fit things, it didn't make sense for him to continue.
TMTCs on the other hand were even harder to justify producing as you needed to first source the Lotus Elise soft top side rails which are difficult to find pre-owned. Assuming you can find a set, he still needed a jig as mentioned. To address this, I offered to leave my car with him and he went to work.
What follows is my recollection of the process. For those wanting to attempt the conversion yourselves, be advised this is not a 1-day DIY job. It requires extreme patience, attention to detail and intolerance for imperfection to pull off correctly; particularly with the final sizing and fitment adjustments.
Step 1: Removal of Old Top Material
Chris first removes the old canvas material (and insulation if it's a Touring top) by cutting and peeling it away. It's sewn, glued and riveted in place and unfortunately, according to him, there's no way to save it for reuse so make sure you either have a deteriorated donor core or are at peace sacrificing a perfectly good soft top to the Car Gods.
Step 2: Hardware Prep
Once the top is removed, the painstaking process of removing the old adhesive from the side rails begins. Chris also assesses the condition of the tension cables and, if bad, substitutes them accordingly with corrosion resistant stainless steel replacements. After the prep is completed, he turns his attention to the mesh itself.
Step 3: Mesh Sizing + Cable Placement
The now-removed old canvas top provides a good initial sizing from which to start. Chris cuts an oversized piece of mesh and marks the lines where the cables will run with a grease pencil (see Fig. 1).
Figure 1. TMTC mesh fitment in progress. Passenger's side front edge at bottom right. White grease pencil lines drawn to illustrate where tension cables will run. Note attaching strip already riveted in place.
Step 4: Riveting the Attaching Strip to the Side Rail
In addition to adhesive, the side rails incorporate a metal attaching strip that gets riveted through the mesh to hold the top material in place (see Figs. 2 - 3). If adjustments are needed, the rivets are drilled out and the mesh repositioned before being re-riveted (see Figs. 4).
Figure 2. Quality checking the passenger's side attaching strip and mesh mating points.
Figure 3. View of full mesh top under construction with Tesla Roadster "jig" in the background. Driver's side front edge at bottom right.
Figure 4. Drilling out an attaching strip rivet following QC inspection.
Step 5: Fitment and Preliminary Tautness Testing
Once the preliminary sizing is complete and the top material affixed to the side rails via the attaching strips, it's time to test fit. Chris attaches one side rail to the car and does a stretch test rolling the opposite side rail into place to ensure he has a) the cable tension just right and b) the width correct for the center lateral portion of the top (see Fig. 5).
Achieving the perfect level of tautness requires much trial and error so this is where patience is needed. This process is critical as any incorrect sizing or tension will result in cosmetic anomalies. Too loose... and the top will sag. Too taut... and the strain on the top bows and mesh material could lead to premature wear/failure. If adjustments are required, the top is removed and Steps 4 - 5 repeated until the correct results are achieved.
Figure 5. Test fitting the TMTC on a LHD U.S. spec Tesla Roadster. Note the front and rear mesh material remains unaffixed.
Step 6: Attaching the Front & Rear Mesh
Even harder than the center lateral adjustments, achieving ideal front and rear mesh tautness can be vexing. It takes Chris numerous attempts to get this dialed in as he has to account for both side-to-side tension as well as fore-aft tautness. To complicate matters there's a slight taper and curve to the side rails and top placement on the car he has to factor in. Again, a very inexact science is employed that requires many trips to the car and back to the table for adjustments.
Once the desired corner to corner top tautness is achieved, the excess mesh material is removed. The remaining flaps are then looped over the tension cables and sewn and glued into place (along with the side rails which receive glue as well). I can't recall the specific machine or thread Chris uses for the sewing but his adhesive of choice is
RH Products HH-66 Vinyl Cement which is specifically formulated for vinyl product adherence and is liquid proof (see Fig. 6). Chris must insure everything is exact before this is done as it's a messy, time consuming and pain staking process to undo and redo if not. Worst case, he has to scrap the job and start the project over from scratch.
Figure 6. RH Products HH-66 Vinyl Cement shown in 4 oz. container.
Step 7: Adhesive Curing and Final Fitment
The vinyl cement is fast-drying but since the material it's meant to hold will be under constant tension, Chris opts to let it dry completely for a full 24 hours minimum. Under cooler ambient temps, a longer curing time is obviously recommended.
"Final" fitment often isn't. In my case, all four corners exhibited a moderate to severe sagging which both Chris and I agreed was unacceptable. Based on his previous TMTC fabrications, he suspected a slight tightening of the cables might do the trick. So after removing the adhesive and thread to access the tension adjusters, he tightened the cables and ran another test fit. This time, the corners smoothed out nicely and the finished product was ready for use (see Fig. 7).
Figure 7. The final product completed and mounted to the car.
Conclusion and Acknowledgments
We took the Roadster and its new lid out for a test drive on Big Tujunga Canyon Rd. and it was a blast (see Fig. 8)! He missed his Elise but felt the Roadster was definitely able to hold its own through the twisties. As for the TMTC, having previously used an original TMT with its small gap between the top of the windows when rolled up, the noise levels in the car were now noticeably quieter since the windows now meet the bottom edge of of the side rails. We were able to carry on a conversation without having to raise our voices while getting to enjoy the sunshine with an ideal amount of glare and heat mitigated by the mesh.
Figure 8. Chris test driving the Tesla Roadster with TMTC installed.
HUGE thanks to Chris for taking the time and consideration to work on this top for my car. He's created and developed what I believe is arguably the
perfect top for our vehicles. Roadsters are meant to be enjoyed topless and after a few hours cruising, esp. in places like SoCal where the sun mercilessly shines 340+ days a year, having a TMTC takes the edge off what can often become an oppressive driving experience. Paired with
JdeMO (and
OVMS for addl. peace of mind), IMHO there is no better combination to discover and enjoy the world around you in a Roadster. Happy trails!
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Epilogue
It's been nine months since Chris completed the top and it's holding up great. From the moment I left his house and throughout the Spring and entire Summer... including the SoCal Roadster Meet Up in August (see Fig. 9) it remained on. I only just removed it a few weeks ago when the threat of rain was felt and now I can't wait for the weather to improve so I can put it back on again.
Chris is in the process of relocating out of state for his job and said that this particular TMTC would be "the last one ever." While I sure hope that isn't the case, baring witness to the work involved in creating one makes this understandable. If these cars and their related accessories eventually become collectible, I predict this top along with the Visium will be highly sought after by collectors. However, if you're going for rarity, I'm genuinely thankful to Chris for accommodating my wish to become a member of his exclusive TMTC Club.
Figure 9. Roadster 2.5 Sport with TMTC at the 10 Year Anniversary Roadster Round-Up outside the Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, CA.
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