I was wondering how best to mount something to the roof of a car I’m looking to do a potential conversion of. The big reason I’m asking is because this is going to be my normal car for everyday use, so I can’t have it looking like the Ecto all year round. I’ve got some ideas for how to construct everything, but not so much an idea as to how to actually attach it to the roof.
I read a few threads and noticed that there was some discussion of using magnets to mount the lightbars on the roof, and I thought that may be a good route to take on this one since I’d be able to attach/detach those as needed. I could use any advice on those as needed also. I’ve tried hitting up every hardware store in town, and absolutely zero carry any magnets at 95 lb. or higher, so it’s looking like I’d have to order those online. I’ve been able to find a few places that list the 95 lb. magnets, so I could probably order from there.
I also thought of attempting to attach the main box on the roof using magnets, but I’m not sure how well this one would work. I’m open to any thoughts or advice on this one also. The car is lacking a luggage rack, and I’m not quite sure how else to attach that part without a luggage rack.
This is all new territory for me so any advice or suggestions are appreciated.
There are luggage racks that mount in your car’s door frames, and are held in place without being bolted permanently. Here’s an example for a Dodge Magnum. Be prepared to spend about $200-250 new for those. That’s about what I’m considering for my daily driver.
I made some calls this week and I was able to find some of the 95lb magnets in town, and they can order more for me for cheaper than online. So i will probably have to make a stop to get them. I also found a pretty reasonable price on some Code 3 lights. I know a lot of people use the whelen’s, but they are a little outside of my price range. In addition, the style of the Code 3 just gives me more of a throwback feel to the original car. I also found out that if I intend to put a rack in the trunk of it, it’s probably going to have to be a custom build. Aside from that, I’ve got some ideas for all of the other parts and have gotten out to do a little bit of pricing.
As for using it for a daily driver, that’s probably not going to be passable with everything permanently mounted. Would be nice if it was, but there’s not really any way that’s going to happen. I have to keep a bit of a sense of “professionalism” with work, and I’m going to have to use this to commute to and from there so the appearance will matter. In addition, there are a few other factors that really aren’t worth mentioning here. It’s just my current situation that makes it pretty mandatory that all modifications be temporary. I will say though that I do intend to make all of the modifications permanent once my situation changes.
All in all, a lot of this is starting to line up a bit for this.
The ones I was considering are definitely not the low profile ones. They’re newer, but they still have the same retro look. I’m guessing this means that they won’t work to be mounted magnetically.
Sadly, I can’t put a hard mounted roof rack on my car at the time. Both because I don’t have one at the moment, and it’s going to be a few months before any body shop could get me in to do the work. The best I could do is use tie-down straps to hold a rack onto the roof. Even those though aren’t the heavy duty ones.
I’m really starting to wonder if this will work much at all.