Fullcab to Halfcab Mod

[njy229]

I wanted to turn my 76 into a halfcab but also retain my rollbar. Instead of buying a good halfcab top and cutting it up I decided to modify my old top that had been sitting outside and rusting away. I don't have time to post everything at once so I'll just post a few pics ever few days when I have time.

First step after a good power wash was the first few cuts after spending too much time studying pics of half cabs online. Lots of rust and evidence of the previous owners repairs, my initial thoughts were to give up on this project. The only thing I had to lose was time so I proceeded.

 

[DirtDonk]

This is great. We haven’t seen a discussion like this in a long time.
Especially with pictures as it progresses.
Thanks for starting it.

Hope it doesn’t turn out to be a study in frustration, because of something like the roll bar being too close to the passengers or something like that.
You can run out of room pretty quickly with a half-cab.

 

[Speedrdr]

I wanted to turn my 76 into a halfcab but also retain my rollbar. Instead of buying a good halfcab top and cutting it up I decided to modify my old top that had been sitting outside and rusting away. I don't have time to post everything at once so I'll just post a few pics ever few days when I have time.

First step after a good power wash was the first few cuts after spending too much time studying pics of half cabs online. Lots of rust and evidence of the previous owners repairs, my initial thoughts were to give up on this project. The only thing I had to lose was time so I proceeded.

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You doing something like this???

Randy

 

[njy229]

You doing something like this???

Randy

Similar but there will be no glass on the back of the top, it will be open so the rollbar can stay. I think I came across a couple of those pics you posted when looking for ideas on how to do it. Here is a pic showing where I was trying to figure out the size and shape of the sides.

 

[njy229]

More trimming and mock up.

 

[FordBronc]

I bought this a while back for cheap, took the back folding glass off, popped out the side glass and just need to mod it a little more to fit my roll cage better. I still have the soft top w/s frame riser bracket on there.

 

[BronCowie]

I bought one a friend made a few years back. It is very cool.

 

[Speedrdr]

I bought one a friend made a few years back. It is very cool. View attachment 908282 View attachment 908283 View attachment 908284

Love the triangular “side lights” you fixed in there.

Randy

 

[half cab]

I bought one a friend made a few years back. It is very cool. View attachment 908282 View attachment 908283 View attachment 908284

Always did like that one Mark !

Back around 1990 I bought a '66 out of a junkyard that had a fullcab converted to a halfcab and I don't know who did the fab work but you couldn't hardly tell it was ever a full cab originally til you seen the hinges on the back window.

 

[njy229]

I bought one a friend made a few years back. It is very cool. View attachment 908282 View attachment 908283 View attachment 908284

That one looks great both inside and out. Mine should look decent on the outside, but the inside... not so much.

 

[njy229]

It made sense to cut up the back corners of the top and used those, just had to figure out what angle to have them at.

 

[bronkenn]

Going to look good. I would recommend one of these flange tools next time for butting metal panels together.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0066LMK7S/?tag=classicbroncos-20

 

[njy229]

Going to look good. I would recommend one of these flange tools next time for butting metal panels together.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0066LMK7S/?tag=classicbroncos-20

Great idea, I should have done that. I added some metal to the back to try and prevent blow through while welding, makes it look pretty ghetto on the backside but it won't be seen once everything is done.

 

[njy229]

Next step was sizing up the rounded portion of the back of the top. I made the seam right where the reinforcement brace is so when I welded two pieces together there would be a lot more strength and so you wouldn't see all the welds on the inside. The metal is pretty thin around the edges where the top meets the drip rail making it pretty frustrating trying to weld it all together.

 

[njy229]

A view from the top on how I connected the sides. I tried to ospho everything I could and work with what I had... it ain't pretty but it should hold.



A better look where the seam landed. I also had to connect the back two pieces. I used a piece of angle and then welded the best remaining pieces of drip rail I had left from the discarded portion of the top.



I wanted the bracing to sit flush with the top to help reinforce everything when welded together. To do that I had to cut the brace in half, this left a gap which was eventually filled with a chunk of the discarded brace.



Showing the size of the gap



Filled in



Starting to come together.

 

[njy229]

Front lip of the top needed some repair. I just welded a piece of 1/8 steel to it.

 

[njy229]

I wanted to enclose this part of the rollbar to give the top a cleaner look.



I used scrap pieces from the back of the top because it already had a decent curve in it.



Cut up a piano hinge from Home Depot and welded it to new curved portion. This piece is then attached to the top using nutserts since I need to be able to remove this part in order to remove the top.



Attached the front using nutserts as well.

 

[njy229]

With both sides mocked up, need to fill in the gap.



First attempt to put a nice even bend in the sheet metal as unsuccessful, the piece of leftover metal from the back of the top is too large and thick to bend with my DIY homemade roller.



Plan B, an old fence gate post that I thankfully haven't had time to remove yet. Used C clamps to secure the metal and tried to bend as evenly as possible.



An initial mock up.

 

[BradGP]

I bought one a friend made a few years back. It is very cool. View attachment 908282 View attachment 908283 View attachment 908284

That looks great! My uncle is retiring soon will have more time for his Bronco project. New tires from 4Wheelonline are getting installed this week. Guess he'll like that mod

 

[njy229]

Almost all of the fabrication is done, just needs a major cleanup before painting. The biggest issue I have is the fitment with the doors. For some reason the top of the door keeps hitting the bottom of the top. The doors were never fitted perfectly after I painted the Bronco, they were good enough and I just wanted to drive it so anyone who looked close could see they were not aligned. The hard top hasn't been on in many years and I've been using a bikini top so the fitment at the top never mattered until now.

After throwing the top on for a test fit the new curved portion looked a little too chunky for me.



Took that piece off and trimmed a little bit off.



Back on the Bronco



Another pic with Merle and the 2023