First ever T-Top Bronco

[smooth]

I posted this over on fourdoorbronco.com, but thought I would share it here as well.
I don't know if this would be considered a build thread or not, there is more to come for this truck, engine, axles, etc. but either way, thought you all might enjoy it.

So, here it finally is. I'd say I am 95% done, but I figured it was enough to go ahead and post up what I've been working on in the past 8 or 9 months. I have converted my 88 Bronco to a functional T-Top.
First, let's get a few things out of the way:
1. No, I haven't rain tested it yet, but it's bound to have problems as there hasn't been a single part of this project that has worked the way 'it's suppose to.' But, from what I've gotten so far with a hose, is promising, and I'm addressing the issues as I find them.
2. No, it's not air tight, I haven't even tested that and I can tell you that as a fact. But again, I still have a little work to do, and I believe I can get it as good as a soft top is.
3. No, my welding ability is not that good. Luckily mine and my wife's livelihood doesn't depend on it. But, in my defense, all of it involved sheet metal which has a nasty tendency to burn through then just be welded, but I dealt with it as best I can.
4. No, it's not going to win any car shows, up close, it's not the prettiest thing in the world. There are some areas that could use some more smoothing, some more bondo, and everything needs fresh paint, but I'm okay with that, this is a off-road truck, that fact that it has a kick-ass T-Top just makes it all the more fun!
5. Also, I want to give recognition to my buddy Shane Durham, another Bronco enthusiast. A couple of the ideas on how to make this happen were his ideas, and without them, the project probably wouldn't have been realized; Thanks!
With those anticipated considerations out of the way, I will proceed with the write up.

Everything I did began with me testing some theories on my parts bronco. A black 88 I got from Donald Dickerson for the 460efi, C6, 205 that were in it.

First, the starter pics:







So, the first obstecle to overcome was whether I could make the window frames removable (Shane's idea, I was going to try and graph the inner section of the window frame to the body and to the T-Top so the window closed up against them. Shane's idea was better and easier).



I tried to maintain the body line. (kinda silly to be taping off the paint considering it is peeling up everywhere).


Here I added a plate to the top of the window frame on the door. It's hard to tell but I left a hole on the right side, where the post will go (you'll see in a minute).


Here's the plate on the door, notice the hole on it. (I know, booger welds, but that's what a grinder is for).


Here's the plate on the top of the removable window frame, with the post mentioned earlier. The post comes from a heavy-duty door latch. With some grinding, it fit into the hole in the window frame still attached to the door perfectly!


Plate and post on the bottom of the window frame. In that hole in the earlier pic, where the plate is over the door, I graphed in the receiver that the post was designed to go into. It helps stabilize the frame once it slides down in there.


Here's the point of no return, once I did this, there was no option but to finish. Now, keep in mind, I already did this to a parts truck, so I knew what to expect and had a good expectation that everything would work as I wanted it to.



All out. I left the part of the roof where the door closes against it for measurement purposes when it came time for the Lexan.


Next came the window guides as we will call them. This was the other idea by Shane that made this happen. Until he recommended them, I was trying to conceive a way of building a traditional T-top, that rests on the top and latches into place. I still believe that is possible, though probably a lot more work. Shane's idea was easy, practical, and added additional sealing to the Lexan that I otherwise may not have had. Now, it was my idea to use the window guides from Ford trucks, what you see below, is the same guide our windows run up that is in between the window and the wing-window. They worked great, and were easily obtained. The only downside I found with these is, since they have a slight bend in them, when I went to straight them out, they produce a curve where, once mounted they bowed out in the middle, but it was not enough to cause a great problem.





I decided on pop rivets because it wasn't as permanent as welding, and the welding wasn't coming out as clean (I tried it on the parts truck).

[smooth]

Speaking of Shane, here he is assisting with a little work. He was nice enough to drive in for a weekend, and helped me on a few projects, but namely, bending the lexan (NOT FUN!)



My first attempt at bondo.



So, I cut the remainder of the roof out.



I started plated in the rest of the body.



Here's some finishing pictures. Notice I redid the seal so it extended out to the outside of the door.



I riveted the inner roof to the window guides.






Here, you can see the head of the bolt attaching the latch receiver to the door, the hole next to it is for the mounting screw that screws into the post to hold it in place. There is one for the upper mounting point as well.


Here's the headboard. Much harder then the Cent's headboard. It's foam, and broke into 4 different pieces plus I had to rebuild the corners. Notice all the duck tape.


Here's the fabric all on.


carefully mounted into place.

[smooth]

So here's the finish product, I'm very happy with the outcome!


The lexan is attached to the roof section the door closes against so they go in and out together.



You can see here, the back of the roof that attaches to the Lexan. I'm going to create some trim to cover those holes, and I'm also planning on attaching latches that will allow me to anchor those parts of the roof to the rest of the roof, this will allow me to position them exactly where I want them in relation to the door when it is closed.


From the outside (yes I know the moon visor is crooked, I need to redo a bolt or two to get it straightened out).









So, there they are. Everything you saw was done by me, with some help from my buddy Shane, and my wife. The only thing I couldn't do myself was the tint on the Lexan, but not for a lack of trying. Those people earn there money!
I think I've addressed everything that I think is obvious, so any other thoughts, questions, critiques, etc. I'd love to hear them.
If there are any specific pictures you want to see, let me know and I'll see if I can get them.

Everything can be seen here: http://www.supermotors.net/clubs/2bigbro...2526/65982

MoMo

[Ogeechee 4x4]

Wow!!

[chuzie]

That is way cool. Pardon my ignorance, but why was there a hammer connected to your welder?

[smooth]

That is way cool. Pardon my ignorance, but why was there a hammer connected to your welder?

No reason to Pardon, what you see there is the very little heard of fabrication technique whereby you attach the welder to the head of the hammer, and magically, perfect beads are formed from the claw side for the perfect weld. It even creates a handle by which you can better manipulate this new found art-form. You see, I was unaware of this until Shane came up, hense why my welds look so bad.

:hysterical:

That was funny, I didn't notice that until you pointed it out.

MoMo

[DeTowman]

that's a 1st....looks good though.......:xyxthumbs::rebel:

[AUBronco]

That is different. Does it leak now?

[broncomania]

props to you buddy. thats pretty cool.

[smooth]

That is different. Does it leak now?

Funny you should ask, I drove it to work today and I think they're calling for rain. I had a couple of leaks at the corners where the tops meet the inside part of the roof once they're secured. I used some silicon in the corners, that atleast passed the water-from-a-cup test.

I still have a problem where the lexan bends down to the door. There are gaps there between the lexan and the window guides I used. Lexan is very, very hard to work with, so the bends are not perfect to the line of the guides.

This pic shows the areas I'm talking about.


You notice I had to trim off the top part of the window guide since the Tops have to slide in, there was no way to have the curved part of the Tops be completely sealed top and bottom. I was thinking on my way in on how to seal that up, it's got to attached to the lexan (if it's attached to the truck, it would obscure the top from sliding in). I have to play around with it and see what I can come up with.
The good news is, I don't think it's going to let in that much water, if any, since the seal is still below it. The only problem is, it creates wind noise going down the road.
What was nice was I got to drive it during the warmer months, which was my pay-off and I loved it. :xyxthumbs:

MoMo