tonneau cover for the baja

[Scoobybob]

Hi all,
I purchased a 2003 Subaru baja 5 speed a couple of weeks ago... Love the thing.
I was driving down the road, and saw a 2005 baja for sale. Looked pretty rough, auto turbo. I noticed that the 2005 baja had a stock tonneau cover. Even though we had a big down pour of rain in NC, when I lifted the tonneau I noticed the bed was completely dry. I noticed he was also selling on eBay. I txt the guy if he wanted to sell the Stock Subaru Tonneau cover I would give him $400. He agreed, and before I knew it, I was out in the rain on my back pulling this thing off. There are some issue that I want to address.

Tonneau is faded, I guess I will get a semi gloss black paint.
The lock for front and back, the handles are missing, and under side the cable / bar are gone and the plastic part where the cable goes to the locking mechanism to the handles are gone
I hope it fits my 2003, looks like I might have to drill a hole in the bed liner right under the roll bar and hope there are threads for a bolt under the bed liner. I have to cut a small triangle in bed liner on the side about 3" behind rear window.
I guess I got a good deal, hope I can find handles, and cables. If I can get parts, with paint and if fits it will be sharp.. There are a lot of "if's", but it was a leap of faith. LoL..

Any thoughts? Any experience? Was it a bad deal? I

[kamesama980]

$400 damaged, missing many parts, and you didn't get the plastic with mounting holes... overpaid IMO but that's not what matters. Do YOU think you got a good deal considering what you need to put into it to make it work?

[Scoobybob]

i got all the hardware.. I didn't take the bed linner, if thats what you mean.. do I need to get Bed liner.. it's just a whole.. do you know where I can find a complete stock cover?

[Scoobybob]

Ok, I found more information for you tech guys. It is a stock subaru fiberglass cover, 91261AE28A, Looks like the missing rods and and locks are still available, (cost Pennies) and I can get it painted (No big deal). I will be very happy with this set up if I can retro fit it.
The question is Subaru only has tonneau cover listed for 2005 - 2006 Turbos (Which I took it off a 2005 Turbo), Looks like everything can fit. (Almost). I will have to drill a 2 holes, one under each roll bar, and 2 small rectangle with a dermal . The parts 2005 baja, I did take a picture of the man drilled hole. Has anyone tried this? If there are no bolt threads behind the man drilled hole once I drill, then that will be the only hiccup that I can see, or as I see it, a temporary set back..

[Guacamole]

All Baja bed covers fit all Baja models, regardless of year- the beds are the same. Lucky you managed to even find a bed cover, but unluckily it's the most complex one, & Subaru themselves didn't even sell it separately because it was such a pain in the *** to install.

The scoobytruck library does have a parts diagram (http://www.scoobytruck.com/pdf/Subaru-B ... t-Diag.pdf), but not an installation guide for this model. Actually, I don't think there even is an installation guide as these were all factory-installed bed covers. Personally, I have absolutely no knowledge of how the hell this thing is installed, but this guy recently installed one, maybe send him a friendly PM for help?
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3380&p=18900

Either way, I hope that helps.

[Scoobybob]

Thank you. I love the cover, and I love my truck. I will start and finish within the next few weeks. Any information is greatly appreciated, and I will share mine as well..

Bob

[sfeather11]

Hi Bob,
I am very interested to see how this turns out. I wasn't even aware that Subaru offered a factory hard tonneau! I thought only the soft was offered. It's nice to see they are still available too (although expensive). I had resigned to making my own later this summer, but now I'm reconsidering...

BTW, I currently have my car in the garage for an overhaul. I have all of the inside bed panels off the vehicle right now. If you'd like, give me a better picture with the location of where you need to drill/cut the holes, and I can tell you if there are threads behind it in the sheet metal or not. Might save you some work, eh?

Peace!
Scott

[Scoobybob]

Sounds great..
If you follow the rear roll bar from the top and follow it down to the bed, then put it in line we the other bolts..
Hard to explain, but take a picture of your bed under roll bar..

Thanks
Bob

[bajaguy]

The factory fiberglass one was actually manufactured by Snuglid in case anyone was wondering. They do look the best. A guy at my undergrad had one but it had a big crack down the middle. Careful you don't overload it.

[sfeather11]

Hey Bob,
I did look at that area late last week, but no pic yet...

It looks like that particular hole is a threaded hole used as 1 of 3 to attach the lower roll bar bracket to the body. My guess would be that since it is hidden behind by the plastic liner, you cut a hole, get a longer bolt and use that as attachment point for the tonneau too?

Peace!