Okay...having had a few days to mess around with the doors and then drive it here are my thoughts and experiences for anyone thinking of installing a set of these.
1. The brackets that mount to the windshield (that I fabbed with some 3/8" pipe and flat bar) are critical to fitting the entire door. The directions say 4" from the top of the windshield frame. That is exactly right. This is 4" from the TOP of the vertical hinge piece, not the center of it. The mounting of this hinge dictates placement of the door from there on out. Everything keys off that one hinge, so make sure that it is placed and mounted properly.
2. The directions say that the distance between the windshield frame and the back of the insert needs to be 33.75 inches. This is also critical for proper fit, however that is not always an easy measurement to get to. I measured from the back of the insert to the weatherstripping channel. The directions were unclear on how where to measure from, so I chose the middle of the windshield frame as my point. I was about 3/4 of inch too short, so I loosened the bolts in the dash, let the frame swing free. Now the directions say to install washers as shims between the dash and the frame, and this should add some distance (assuming your measurement is too short) I however too a different route. I already had a set of the stainless windshield supports that I got from BCBroncos, and I simply adjusted these to give me the needed 3/4" of an inch on each side. I then tightened everything else back up, and began the install.
3. With the upper hinge mounted properly and the proper gap set between the frame and the insert, I put the first frame, minus the fabric, onto the truck. This is the hard part...drilling the hole for the hinge in the bottom of the insert. How I did this was, I got a feel for where the hole needed to be drilled, but placing the lower vertical pole up against the rocker with the upper pole already inserted into the hinge. I then lifted the back of the frame by the door hinge to kind of see where the latch would go. The latch utilizes the vertical door rod on my Supertop to hold the door shut. This gave me an approximate idea of where the lower hole needed to be drilled. So I marked the lower shaft's position on the outside of the rocker with a Sharpie, and then I placed the small 1" square steel plate center mass on the mark and moved it into position, about 1/8" from the outside of the rocker. I marked the center of the large hole with a Sharpie, this gave me a rough idea where to drill the necessary 9/16" hole for the lower shaft. Now here is the interesting part that I learned. A slight movement of this lower shaft (front to back) can greatly impact the fit of the upper corners of the door, so you want to give yourself some play here. Drill the 9/16" hole first, there will be some play in the door frame when you put it in and try to fit. It will swing from front to back, this is good. Now figure out where it is best fitting the rear corner and then mark it center mast with a Sharpie on the rocker. You can then use the steel plate that is provided to "lock" it into that prime spot. Since the plate has a smaller hole it will do keep it in the right spot. You should be able to swing the door freely at this point.
4. Bending the frame...Now the fun really begins, the frames that I got were used, and fit to another Bronco at one time so I had to refit them to my Bronco. The driver's door was not too bad, so it wrapped around the insert pretty well. The passenger door needed (and still needs) some finesse to get it to seal properly. The steel is soft and bendable by hand, so this process is not hard in the sense of actually bending the frame, but it takes a lot of bends here and there to get one section properly aligned, and that process may impact another part of the frame so there is a lot of back and forth when fitting the frame to the door.
5. Once the frame is fit properly, then you can put the fabric on. I did this in the late afternoon in November so I did not have a lot of flex in my material, but it did work out okay. However the front parts of the door were inches away from where the should have been. I kept double checking my measurements to make sure that I had them installed correctly, and I did. I had about three inches of open space between the lower half of the door and the front of the insert where the channel goes! Here is how I solved it...
Step 1. Prop the door open as far as you can to relieve stress on the material.
Step 2. Install the aluminum channel onto the fabric.
Step 3. Place the square rod into the fabric and then into the rain gutter on the windshield frame.
Step 4. Tap the rod and fabric into the gutter with something plastic as to not rip the material.
Step 5. Once it is in the gutter, use some self tapping screws to install two small 90 degree brackets to hold this into the gutter. This is critical. I picked these up at Lowes in the "Hobbies and Projects" bin in the fasteners aisle.
Step 6. Mark and drill the hole for the center snap on the front three snaps.
Step 7. Snap the center snap down. Drill and snap the other two.
Step 8. Pull the aluminum channel forward. It fits a certain way, but you need to make sure that the channel part (not the flange) is facing the back of the truck. You should be able to see how this fits, and with the door open and no pressure on the fabric install the top screw (or rivet, however you decide to fasten these) and work down from there. I installed 4 screws for this.
Step 9. Carefully close the door. You will hear the material stretch as you do this, but these are supposed to tight on the frames.
6. Now you should be able to install the latch and close the door for good. The latch is kind of lame as even if shimmed it still flops around when you open the door, but the pressure created by the stretched material keeps them closed tightly.
7. Go back and install the snap on the bottom front of the door. This snap will pull any wrinkles out of the door near the bottom so measure it carefully.
Overall it was a pretty painless install. I am still working on the kinks, but the doors work and seal perfectly. I was fortunate enough to get a set with the windows in the lower half, I always liked these on Jeeps when I was a kid, so I am happy to have these on.
I would be happy to answer any questions, I did a lot of research on these and other doors for the past year, so I think that I may have some useful info.
Key take aways...Measure everything, hinge must be 4" from top of windshield frame, and gap between back of insert needs to be close to 33.75" if not exact...Then use your eye to see the fit from there.
Good luck...
Rich
