Ok, folks. I have my roof rack sketched out. Items I’m going to need. Building will start in a few days.
The biggest headache I am facing is, how do I attach it to my roof?
My car didn’t come with any type of rack bars, so any ideas on how to attach the rack to the car?
Thanks for looking.
-Robert
Check out the ectostang’s thread. I use these big suction cups called instant roof rack. Now I’ve adapted it so the roof rack is attached to the lightbar on the front and on two of the cups on the back.
Hey Ecto96,
Thanks for the advice. I think those suction racks are on Ebay, I’ll definitly look into getting a set.
How well do they hold and how do they hold? As in, what makes the suction stick?
This really gives me a good starting point on the mounting.
Thanks again.
-Robert
Those cups rely on levers that mechanically force the suction, pretty cool actually.
My recommendation would be to design yourself a rack and actually build it onto your roof, screws and all. You can then use this to mount your ecto rack, and when you don’t want your ecto rack up there… shoot, I dunno, skis?
My rack weighs just slightly upwards of 100lbs, and that doesn’t include the front lightbar. I would definitely encourage a STRUCTURAL means of support if your rack is going to weigh more than, say, 50lbs.
The suction cups should hold a lot of weight (and I mean A LOT), but if your rack flies off and someone runs over it with their car… you’re gonna get your ass sued six ways from sunday.
Thanks for the advice Boomerjinks,
How does one mount the rack into the roof? I mean, where do i drill and such?
I was looking into that option, but I wasn’t sure how to do a permenant mount.
Thanks again for all the comments.
-Robert
Well… figure out where your cars support struts are. This will likely be a huge pain in the ass.
If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to drill all the way through the roof, then BOLT the rack on there.
Your worst enemy is going to be lots of pressure on a small area, that’s when stuff breaks. That’s when magnets fail and crap starts flyin off. I’d recommend… I dunno, my rack is three long black pads running fron-to-back in the center, with a raised outer railing. Technically, I set my ectorack INSIDE my cars roofrack. This prevents it from sliding side-to-side and front to back.
This is the route I would take since you never know if you’re going to want your rack up there permanently. Just the other day I took mine off for cleaning, repainting, and maintainence. When modifying a car, versatility=good!
Ok, got it.
I have someone that does modify and repairs cars. I’ll ask him on the best spot to put a permenant mount and then mount the roof rack to that.
Thanks again.
-Robert
Good idea. Everyone in the world is a possible resource for ecto construction… 
I forgot to mention.
Important safety tip, Thanks Boomerjinks.
I’ll try to at least get pics of what items I have assembled and then show how I modify them for the rack.
BTW, loved your trashcan idea. I got something similar.
-Robert
bing
Oh, man. Am I just stoked!!!
Thank you Boomer. bows to you
I was looking at you other pics and wonder what you had built.
I talked to my friend today, he said I get the materials, he’ll install the permenant mounts, then I can just attach the roof rack when it gets built.
This project is moving better then I expected.
Thank you again for the breakdown of your roof rack. That is so awe inspiring.
-Robert
Tons more pics in the my ecto’s thread… go check them out.
I did, yes I did.
Me is one happy camper and now starting to flood with ideas.
The base of your rack is wood, right? then you have metal parts attached to it?
I thought that is what it looks like.
Here is a really really bsic idea of the roof rack. moe will be added as it is built. Sorry for dual postng.
What is the base of your rack? Thw white parts? Wooden box? And is the dish a…well…dish?
The base is a 37x32x9" wooden box.
The dish is a 28" tri-function Dish Network reciever that I got off of ebay brand-new for… I’d say $35
I dunno.. Drilling into your roof will cause alot of problems, including drafts and leaks. The roof rack suction cups carry about 200 lbs per cup, so a total of 800 can be held. I had a little trouble with them during the cold of winter, but other than that they work great. You just have to pop em off once in a while and clean their cups and the top of your roof it’s a good dust collection spot. As for me, my lightbar is 75 lbs, and my rack is probly another 30, give or take, but my roof is in the shape of an arch, which was a pain in the arse for mounting but also a blessing, it’s very strong. However my lightbar mounts to the roof just like most lightbars mount to police cars, as well as how the Ecto-1’s lightbars attached to her. They stand on rubber-capped feet, and pull themselves down onto the roof by way of gutter mounts. When you look at a pic of the Ecto, that’s those chrome bars coming down to the windows. Hope we’re helping.
wow… i never even noticed that b4
Yup yup.. that was the curse of my car, because it has free-doors… no border above the window.
Which is actually a pretty cool feature on a car. So… nevermind, it rocks.
You can easily seal any holes drilled in your roofwith plugs or stoppers around the bolts you use.
The thoughts I had in order to plug up any leaks was to drill the hole. place some kind of rubber mat under the plate, between the plate and roof, nut on the underside. Goop it to hell with silicone seal and anything else for plugging, then put another nut on top, rachet everyting down. That way when I place the Ecto-Rack on top, I just use one more nut and tadah, it’s done.
Visual---->>
Bolt—> |
|
Nut—> –
|
Nut—> –
|
Roof–> __
|
Nut—> –
|
Hope this makes sense. 
C-ya
-Robert
correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe they make removable roofracks that would save you the need to drill.