1989 HDJ74 FRP to FST conversion

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Rear bow and frame parts:

Rear bow 65809–90K01
Weatherstrip, fender to rear bow right 61667–90K01
Left 61668–90K00

Rear bow to fender bolts 90119–08479 ×8.

Four of those bolts are used to bolt the rear bow to the fender, two per side. Two more attach the side rails to the B pillar. The final two attach the front box to the door rails.

Right side rail on fender 65807–90K00
Left 65808–90K00

Outer bow to tarpaulin right 65805–90K01
Left 65806–90K01

Center top bow 65831–90K00 ×2
Front bow 65821–90K00

Nuts 90179–08123×8, 4 per side.

 

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Finally, the soft top itself:

Tarpaulin 65910–60160–A0

I unrolled it in the house to let it warm up for the past week. I have been trying to keep my kids and dogs out of the spare bedroom. It even comes with cute little plastic corner protectors, and tissue paper over the plastic windows to keep scratches off.

 

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And one zillion little fasteners:

90530–06003 ×14, 4 per rail above each door, six above the back door on the rear bow
90530–06004×2, one on each B pillar
90530–06005 ×4
90530–07001 × 4.

 

[FJ73Texas]

Did the soft top come with the metal bars that slide into the bottom of the flaps? Those are pretty important as well.

 

[OGBeno]

Did the soft top come with the metal bars that slide into the bottom of the flaps? Those are pretty important as well.

Yes. Comes as a “kit.”

 

[FJBen]

So does the "soft top" B pillar not use that plastic trim that covers it inside? Must be FRP only.

 

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Supplies for the next part of the adventure have arrived.

 

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@FJBen It does not look like it. Pictures from @OGBeno show bare metal. He sent me some measurements of the footman loop placement on the B pillar arch for me to replicate.

 

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I got to spend a couple of hours this afternoon working on the truck. The irony is not lost on me that I am building a convertible on the coldest day of the year in central Texas.

I used @shanko ’s capacitor discharge welder – a freaking cool tool – to weld some M6 studs on the inside of the B pillar arch. I drilled and slotted some holes in the top panel to bolt it on. I will panel bond it in addition to these nuts and studs. When the footman loops get here, I will drill and bolt them on, and then I will panel weld the bottom panel on to complete the B pillar arch.

 

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I then lined up the side bows and rear arch.

One snag - the rear horizontal bow interferes with the factory rollbar. The simplest solution may be just a cut an inch and a half or 2 inches out of the rollbar and re-weld it to the bases. The good news is that there are no weld nuts in the B pillar – I am guessing that factory soft tops did not have a rollbar? – So I can choose where to mount the bar on the B pillar. Luckily I’m not very tall so I don’t have to worry about it hitting me or my kids in the head.

 

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Finally, I think that I see how to line up the rear arch above the doors. Now I just need to put the soft top on to mock it up and make sure everything fits, and assuming that it does, drill and rivnut 4 bolts for the rear arch.

 

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I really, really love new hardware.

It’s interesting to me that all of the FST bolts are unique. They have a softly rounded head. I am assuming this is to not have a sharp edge that would cause fray or wear on the fabric top itself.

 

[coldtaco]

I love the detailed info on hardware and the installation process.

 

[JuanJ]

I really, really love new hardware.

It’s interesting to me that all of the FST bolts are unique. They have a softly rounded head. I am assuming this is to not have a sharp edge that would cause fray or wear on the fabric top itself.

Hello,

That is some attention to detail.

Keep up the good work.







Juan

 

[OGBeno]

Hello,

That is some attention to detail.

Keep up the good work.







Juan

Galen don’t **** around….

 

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@OGBeno trying to do it right, as best I can.

Today was pretty rewarding.

@Fern1109 was again a massive help. We got the soft top mocked up and used it to help set the location of the soft top bows and side rails. I drilled M8 nutserts and bolted the arch and side rails in place.

Happily, the middle soft top bow cleared the rollbar with a little persuading. We got it all together and locked it down. It fit like a glove!

 

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So many little details on the soft top itself….the corner and edge guards are perfect, and the way it wraps around the rear pillar is so cool. I did have a minor casualty as the inner wrap at the right rear tore. Oh well, I have kids and dogs…it won’t be the last hole, rip, or tear. At least I got the first one over with.

 

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Finally, I measured and drilled the rails above the doors for nutserts. The front bow uses an M8, and the fasteners are M6. The holes for the fasteners are just about 160mm apart. I measured the distance with the new FST outer rail that is as of yet incomplete. For fun I measured it a second time just eyeballing where the soft top snaps looked like they would fall…and each one was within 1-2mm of each other. I will tell you that this is absolute margin of error here- the soft top will NOT stretch any more than that.

 

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Voila. Soft top in place. I’m in love.

 

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To do list:

Install M5 rivnuts for the 4 footman loops to the B pillar, reassemble all of the panels and interior small parts, and wait for a shipment from @Japan4X4.