Only for the very brave! Building your own pop-top is a hefty undertaking – that first cut into the roof of your beloved van will bring your heart into your mouth! Still, some have attempted it, and some have even accomplished the feat! A few of these projects are listed below. Given the price of pop-top installation from the companies above, you could save some serious money by installing your own top.

For commercial poptop installers, please read the main Pop-tops page.

VW poptop on a Ford

A guy from the Sportsmobile forum found an old VW pop-top mechanism at the junk yard. He combined it with a slice of an old fiberglass high-top and installed it onto his Ford van. The full thread (including pictures of his incredible self-built interior) is at http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=2650.

VW poptop on a Sprinter

Doktor A (Andy Bittenbinder) is well-known among Sprinter owners as a bit of a mechanical genius. He’s solved many of the Sprinter’s more arcane problems, offers valuable advice on the forums, and provides service and repairs from his home workshop. He also put together a pretty incredible campervan, using a Volkswagen poptop on his low-roof Sprinter.

These pictures come from a thread on sprinter-source.com: Andy’s Pop-top. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to uncover a build thread.

VW poptop on a Chevy Express

Again on sportsmobileforum.com, this time on a Chevrolet Express van platform.

There’s a good build thread: Installing Westfalia Pop-top in a Chevy Express