Soft top suggestions? (4 Viewers)

[igotta40]

Mine is also from Real Steel. I had it powder coated.

 

[Catching Neutral]

Initial impressions of the Citroa top.
It took longer than expected to arrive. I don’t consider this a big deal. It was packaged nicely and shipped in a secure wooden crate.
1. The soft top itself is very nice quality and is consistent with what I expected. I have it in place but I still have to install the Footman loops and the twist locks. Hopefully this weekend. You can see photos in my thread.
2. The stainless steel hardware for bolting the bows together was good.
3. The kit includes 12 footman loops and 8 twist locks. I was not crazy about their hardware for the foot man loops. The kit includes screws. I purchased stainless M3 nuts, bolts and washers from my local Ace To secure the footman loops. I also wasn’t crazy about the twist locks so I purchased OEM.
4. The bows came primed black however the primer was thin in places so I used self etching primer and sprayed everything again. The rear bow needed to be cut down 2.5 inches. Its good that it came with extra height.
The main issue I have with the bows involves the the pieces that form the top and the back of the door frame.
They both required some trimming and adjustments to make them fit. I spent a fair amount of time, trial and error figuring this out.
If I had to do it over again I would order the real steal bows and then the citroa soft top.

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Initial impressions of the Citroa top.
It took longer than expected to arrive. I don’t consider this a big deal. It was packaged nicely and shipped in a secure wooden crate.
1. The soft top itself is very nice quality and is consistent with what I expected. I have it in place but I still have to install the Footman loops and the twist locks. Hopefully this weekend. You can see photos in my thread.
2. The stainless steel hardware for bolting the bows together was good.
3. The kit includes 12 footman loops and 8 twist locks. I was not crazy about their hardware for the foot man loops. The kit includes screws. I purchased stainless M3 nuts, bolts and washers from my local Ace To secure the footman loops. I also wasn’t crazy about the twist locks so I purchased OEM.
4. The bows came primed black however the primer was thin in places so I used self etching primer and sprayed everything again. The rear bow needed to be cut down 2.5 inches. Its good that it came with extra height.
The main issue I have with the bows involves the the pieces that form the top and the back of the door frame.
They both required some trimming and adjustments to make them fit. I spent a fair amount of time, trial and error figuring this out.
If I had to do it over again I would order the real steal bows and then the citroa soft top.

Thank you for your feed back!

 

[405]

Initial impressions of the Citroa top.
It took longer than expected to arrive. I don’t consider this a big deal. It was packaged nicely and shipped in a secure wooden crate.
1. The soft top itself is very nice quality and is consistent with what I expected. I have it in place but I still have to install the Footman loops and the twist locks. Hopefully this weekend. You can see photos in my thread.
2. The stainless steel hardware for bolting the bows together was good.
3. The kit includes 12 footman loops and 8 twist locks. I was not crazy about their hardware for the foot man loops. The kit includes screws. I purchased stainless M3 nuts, bolts and washers from my local Ace To secure the footman loops. I also wasn’t crazy about the twist locks so I purchased OEM.
4. The bows came primed black however the primer was thin in places so I used self etching primer and sprayed everything again. The rear bow needed to be cut down 2.5 inches. Its good that it came with extra height.
The main issue I have with the bows involves the the pieces that form the top and the back of the door frame.
They both required some trimming and adjustments to make them fit. I spent a fair amount of time, trial and error figuring this out.
If I had to do it over again I would order the real steal bows and then the citroa soft top.

Thanks for the info. Considering going with a citroa soft top. Do the B pillars they include with the bows work on the later style doors?

 

[120mm]

Thanks for the info. Considering going with a citroa soft top. Do the B pillars they include with the bows work on the later style doors?

I'd seriously consider ordering the Real Steel bow kit, as he OP suggests, and then buying the soft top separately.

I do believe Real Steel is actually not far from where you live, to boot.

 

[405]

I'd seriously consider ordering the Real Steel bow kit, as he OP suggests, and then buying the soft top separately.

I do believe Real Steel is actually not far from where you live, to boot.

Thanks for the suggestion! I had no idea they were so close. Does their kit come with the correct B pillars for the later doors?

 

[red66toy]

Real Steel B pillars need to be cut and angled to work with post 65 hard doors ..

 

[Living in the Past]

Heritage Cruisers has the brackets.

Heritage Cruisers

Land Cruiser Sales, Restorations, & Parts

heritagecruisers.com

Not sure I would trust a company that can't even get the date for changes correct. The change for the base mount on the wheel did not change from four bolts to two bolts in 74. That happened earlier. My 10/69 has four bolts in the wheel well for that mount. I stripped a 71 FST of it's mounts that was in a wrecking back in the nineties. Bottom bracket was a two bolt style. Not sure the month in 71 but tailgate has six footman loops. Starting with the 72 model (9/71) tailgate only had four footman loops
Here is my 2/73 FST.

Thanks for that. I recalled seeing them somewhere earlier, but couldn't remember where.

I went ahead and got the footman loops from them and declined to order the base brackets, because those are for appearance only as far as I can figure out.

If your talking about the mount at the top of the wheel well that stabilize the back bow on OEM. Those end with just a straight pipe. I see aftermarket now have a plate welded on the bottom. I use nothing but OEM bows and use the bottom brackets.

 

[CondeCruiser]

Not sure I would trust a company that can't even get the date for changes correct. The change for the base mount on the wheel did not change from four bolts to two bolts in 74. That happened earlier. My 10/69 has four bolts in the wheel well for that mount. I stripped a 71 FST of it's mounts that was in a wrecking back in the nineties. Bottom bracket was a two bolt style. Not sure the month in 71 but tailgate has six footman loops. Starting with the 72 model (9/71) tailgate only had four footman loops
Here is my 2/73 FST.

Clint at Heritage is a good guy. So what if the dates aren't correct? If someone can't look at a picture and match it to what they have, they probably have bigger issues.
As far as brackets and footman loops go, my Dec '70 has 4 mounting bolts for the fender bracket and 6 footman loops on the tailgate.

 

[Living in the Past]

Clint at Heritage is a good guy. So what if the dates aren't correct?

If your in the business of selling parts think you owe it to your customers to sell them the correct part for the year of their vehicle. This has zero to do if someone is a good person or not. Good business practice is to provide good customer service including the correct part.

It obvious your 12,/70 has either a later frame or later rear frame member. While I still have the 71 tailgate the rear bow brackets were sold to @Coolerman years ago.

 

[CondeCruiser]

If your in the business of selling parts think you owe it to your customers to sell them the correct part for the year of their vehicle. This has zero to do if someone is a good person or not. Good business practice is to provide good customer service including the correct part.

It obvious your 12,/70 has either a later frame or later rear frame member. While I still have the 71 tailgate the rear bow brackets were sold to @Coolerman years ago.

Yes, I replaced the rear crossmember with a later one I had.

 

[CondeCruiser]

If your in the business of selling parts think you owe it to your customers to sell them the correct part for the year of their vehicle. This has zero to do if someone is a good person or not. Good business practice is to provide good customer service including the correct part.

It obvious your 12,/70 has either a later frame or later rear frame member. While I still have the 71 tailgate the rear bow brackets were sold to @Coolerman years ago.

Some people on here hold you in high regard. I will probably never know as much as you have forgotten, and have learned quite a bit from reading your posts. My point to the comment is this. When you say that you wouldn't trust them just because of some dates being wrong, that may deter some people from buying from them. Not sure why you would say that. Why not help them by reaching out and giving them the correct dates?
There are a couple businesses on here that I have not had great experiences with, but people defend them by saying they are great guys. I just don't deal with them anymore.

 

[120mm]

Not sure I would trust a company that can't even get the date for changes correct. The change for the base mount on the wheel did not change from four bolts to two bolts in 74. That happened earlier. My 10/69 has four bolts in the wheel well for that mount. I stripped a 71 FST of it's mounts that was in a wrecking back in the nineties. Bottom bracket was a two bolt style. Not sure the month in 71 but tailgate has six footman loops. Starting with the 72 model (9/71) tailgate only had four footman loops
Here is my 2/73 FST.
View attachment 3404498





If your talking about the mount at the top of the wheel well that stabilize the back bow on OEM. Those end with just a straight pipe. I see aftermarket now have a plate welded on the bottom. I use nothing but OEM bows and use the bottom brackets.

In all my research and questions about the subject, that is the first time I've seen how those brackets are used. I went ahead and plugged the four holes and redrilled mine to fit the aftermarket brackets. This is the opposite of a high stress part, so it really doesn't matter unless the owner wants exact accuracy, imo.

Real Steel B pillars need to be cut and angled to work with post 65 hard doors ..

My just purchased Real Steel B pillars fit my presumed 1969 doors just fine. Maybe they changed the design?

 

[red66toy]

In all my research and questions about the subject, that is the first time I've seen how those brackets are used. I went ahead and plugged the four holes and redrilled mine to fit the aftermarket brackets. This is the opposite of a high stress part, so it really doesn't matter unless the owner wants exact accuracy, imo.



My just purchased Real Steel B pillars fit my presumed 1969 doors just fine. Maybe they changed the design?

Interesting! Everything that I saw and read before indicated that the B pillars did not fit the non-corrugated hard top door well. Maybe they changed something?

 

[Catching Neutral]

Some photos of the (5/78) passenger door paired with the citroa bows. Driver door isn’t on yet
@405

 

[Catching Neutral]

A few of the soft top. Entire rear is finished. Twist locks still need to be installed.

 

[120mm]

I see from your pics and my windshield that I am going to have to fight clearance issues between the wipers and the top a long the windshield.

Bring it on! Lovely top.

 

[Catching Neutral]

I think the clearance will be ok.

 

[405]

@Catching Neutral Thanks for the photos! They look good. I've been following your build on the other thread and your truck is looking great. I've always liked the hard top look, but something fun about having the soft top and open air driving.

On your Citroa soft top, are there wrinkles or creases in the "windows"? Do you think they will come out in the heat? Interested in the clarity of the vinyl windows.

 

[Catching Neutral]

@405 Thank you for the compliment. And great question. The windows have a layer protective plastic over them to protect during shipping, etc. I was leaving it on as long as possible while working on the install. Its still on the three windows that I have rolled up. It pulls right off. Basically feels like saran Wrap. Here is a photo of the plastic removed and one of the rear side window without.