Bucky66
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
- Messages
- 550
Sorry this wrie-tup does not have the pic included. I can't figure it all out. I do have a full write up with pics saved that I can email to you guys if you wish to check it out.
Installing a sliding ragtop into my 1966 EB hardtop came with lots of thought. Once you do it you can never go back without loads of work. With each season I would change out from hardtop to soft-top and back again getting ready for the next season. It was sort of a PIA. I really enjoy the openness of a soft top down and cruising. The only thing was, I really wanted to leave my hardtop on for good, but still have an open feel to the drive. This is what I came up with allowing me to have my cake and eat it too.
I am now greeted by a great looking hardtop and something unique. Not everyone has one of these installed on their Early Bronco. In fact, I had only seen a couple pictures of one truck with this.
My ragtop is 40”x70” by recommendation of where I ordered from. This size is the best fit to have the largest opening to see the sky through. The sliding ragtop is a Legacy product and provided/purchased by WWW.sunroofsource.com
They were great to work with and were a great help. The link below is the instructions on their website to a 40”x40” ragtop install. It was a great source but not specific to the 40”x70” ragtop and not for an Early Bronco specific. It is great to read and informs you what all is involved before I show you what I did. There can never be to much research before cutting a huge hole in the middle of your roof.
http://www.sunroofsource.com/content/2014JAN04LEGACY-40x40InstallationGuide-WEB.pdf
Please use this write up as a guide only. I cannot take responsibility for anything that happens with your install. I have no idea if the product I used has been changed or if modifications have been made by the manufacturer.
I would recommend removing the hardtop to make the work easier, but this is not a necessity.
1. When the kit arrives everything is there except the instructions printed out. You have to go to the link I placed above. Lay it all out and take a big look.
2. Put the frame together since you will be using this for a reference in a short while. The two sides are the longer sections with tracks and then you have a front and back. The front has a rectangle hole for the securement when it is closed. This is different from the rear, which has no hole. The four 90 degree brackets are what will connect it all together. These brackets will be on the inside roof surface, bolting to the frame that will be on the outside during final install.
3. Measure your hole to be cut. Now transfer these measurements onto your hardtop. My hardtop has, what I believe are, some sort of clips on the front and back of the sides.
I believe I popped my front line across the front 1”behind the front drip rail clip. (This is the flatter section of my roof).
4. What I found easiest since I was by myself for the install, I marked my measurements on the drip rails on both sides (driver and passenger) and ran a “pop string” from one side to the other and popped my line for the front and repeated for the back line. Note: In the pic above the pop string is not where the final line was popped. It was popped about 1” behind the clip you see.
To make sure it is even, use a flexible tape measure (flexible 100’ tape is what I had). Measure from the front drip rail back to your front pop line. Make sure it is equal. I measured the right side, left side. Then I rechecked again and again.
5. Its time to set your lines for the sides. Mark the exact center on the front line. Take your hole width measurement and center it on the front line you popped. Mark your width. Do the same for the rear. Now pop your lines front to back on each side.
6. Make sure your marked hole lines are true. Make sure your width is the same through out from front to rear of the hole to be cut out and make sure your length is the same through out.
Make sure your lines are square. Measure on the diagonal. Right front corner to left rear corner and left front corner to rear right corner. This has to be the same measurement to be square. If it is not square the top will not work.
7. Lay your assembled frame onto your top and make sure it lines up and is going to work.
8. Prep to cut the hole. Just on the inside of all four corners drill a 5/32” hole to help prevent any future tearing of the sheet metal. To protect your paint put multiple layers of tape on each side of the lines. Also take any further precautions you think you may need to protect the paint.
9. Remove your roof supports. I cut mine but wish I would have removed to use later to hang speakers or something. Once your ragtop frame is in, it will stiffen up your top back up.
10. Cut the hole. The previous posted link is a great source for this. Choose your weapon of choice. Jig-saw (electric or pneumatic) or metal shears are best in my opinion. If I had to do it over I would use both. For a starting point drill a hole to your liking near the edge of your lines. I did this on all four sides. ¾-1” hole is good. I used a step bit. Using metal shears I started cutting the hole. Metal shears were ok and I would use again for the straight lines and then jig saw for the corners.
11. Support the cut section with something so the rest of the metal doesn’t get bent to torn while cutting the rest.
12. Set your assembled frame into the hole to check the fit. With your frame in place, mark all the holes around the frame you will need to drill for the bolts
13. Remove the frame and drill the mounting holes. A 1/4” hole should be drilled. Start with a smaller pilot hole then the 1/4” drill bit. You are not done drilling just yet.
14. Reinstall the frame now and bolt it down and use the 90 degree brackets on the inside surface of the roof to connect everything.
Putting the ragtop into the frame. - Unscrew the rails from the sides. Slide the rails you removed from the frame and slide the ragtop slide guides into the rails. Now reinstall this together back into the frame and bolt into the frame. This will allow you to mark the holes to be drilled for the rear support post. I marked by firmly pushing down on the rear corners to push the post down to leave a mark. I believe I drilled a 3/8” hole for these. Remove everything and drill these holes.
While it is all in, open and close the top to test it out. You can put the handle on to make sure you can open and close it.
15. Ready to start final install. Take the ragtop and slide rails out of the frame. You can leave the rails on the ragtop. Unbolt the frame from the hardtop to remove everything.
16. With the provided sealant lay down about a ¼ inch bead all the way around the opening and mounting holes (except the rear 3/8” holes you drilled). You will seal these later from the inside. Let this set up a little.
17. Now carefully set all for sections of the frame into the hard top and gently secure in place also using the 90 degree brackets in the corners. Make sure the front section of the frame is in the front and not the back. Once the sealant is set up go ahead and finish bolting the frame down. Some of the sealant may run out. If it does, leave it there and don’t touch it until it dries, then use a razor to carefully remove it. Otherwise you will just smear it and make a mess. Note: in the pic below the slide rails are still in the frame. They should be removed by now.
18. Once everything is dry and ready, put the rails and ragtop into the frame and bolt it down. This may be where you may need help to hold things in place while you bolt things down.
19. Now you can seal the rear post holes with more sealant or what ever you want to put in the hole and around the post.
20. Put your handle on now and you have a brand new ragtop.
If you have the headliner option on your ragtop you will have to secure the back of the headliner to the frame.
1. You are provided with an aluminum strip with the holes already drilled. This is what will hold your headliner up and secure it to the frame.
2. I placed some 3m double sided tape used for automotive molding on the backside of the strip to help hold the fabric in place behind the strip after it is installed using the self tapping screws.
3. Hold the strip up in front of the rear section of the frame with the fabric behind it and screw the self tapping screws through the holes in the strip, through the fabric and into the frame.
4. Cut the excess fabric and DONE.
LET THE LIGHT SHINE IN AND THE WIND BLOW.
I HOPE THIS HELPS WITH YOUR INSTALL – please let this write up be a guide. I can not be responsible if your top or ragtop is different than mine. Please make all your own measurements to make sure yours is installed correctly.
Installing a sliding ragtop into my 1966 EB hardtop came with lots of thought. Once you do it you can never go back without loads of work. With each season I would change out from hardtop to soft-top and back again getting ready for the next season. It was sort of a PIA. I really enjoy the openness of a soft top down and cruising. The only thing was, I really wanted to leave my hardtop on for good, but still have an open feel to the drive. This is what I came up with allowing me to have my cake and eat it too.
I am now greeted by a great looking hardtop and something unique. Not everyone has one of these installed on their Early Bronco. In fact, I had only seen a couple pictures of one truck with this.
My ragtop is 40”x70” by recommendation of where I ordered from. This size is the best fit to have the largest opening to see the sky through. The sliding ragtop is a Legacy product and provided/purchased by WWW.sunroofsource.com
They were great to work with and were a great help. The link below is the instructions on their website to a 40”x40” ragtop install. It was a great source but not specific to the 40”x70” ragtop and not for an Early Bronco specific. It is great to read and informs you what all is involved before I show you what I did. There can never be to much research before cutting a huge hole in the middle of your roof.
http://www.sunroofsource.com/content/2014JAN04LEGACY-40x40InstallationGuide-WEB.pdf
Please use this write up as a guide only. I cannot take responsibility for anything that happens with your install. I have no idea if the product I used has been changed or if modifications have been made by the manufacturer.
I would recommend removing the hardtop to make the work easier, but this is not a necessity.
1. When the kit arrives everything is there except the instructions printed out. You have to go to the link I placed above. Lay it all out and take a big look.
2. Put the frame together since you will be using this for a reference in a short while. The two sides are the longer sections with tracks and then you have a front and back. The front has a rectangle hole for the securement when it is closed. This is different from the rear, which has no hole. The four 90 degree brackets are what will connect it all together. These brackets will be on the inside roof surface, bolting to the frame that will be on the outside during final install.
3. Measure your hole to be cut. Now transfer these measurements onto your hardtop. My hardtop has, what I believe are, some sort of clips on the front and back of the sides.
I believe I popped my front line across the front 1”behind the front drip rail clip. (This is the flatter section of my roof).
4. What I found easiest since I was by myself for the install, I marked my measurements on the drip rails on both sides (driver and passenger) and ran a “pop string” from one side to the other and popped my line for the front and repeated for the back line. Note: In the pic above the pop string is not where the final line was popped. It was popped about 1” behind the clip you see.
To make sure it is even, use a flexible tape measure (flexible 100’ tape is what I had). Measure from the front drip rail back to your front pop line. Make sure it is equal. I measured the right side, left side. Then I rechecked again and again.
5. Its time to set your lines for the sides. Mark the exact center on the front line. Take your hole width measurement and center it on the front line you popped. Mark your width. Do the same for the rear. Now pop your lines front to back on each side.
6. Make sure your marked hole lines are true. Make sure your width is the same through out from front to rear of the hole to be cut out and make sure your length is the same through out.
Make sure your lines are square. Measure on the diagonal. Right front corner to left rear corner and left front corner to rear right corner. This has to be the same measurement to be square. If it is not square the top will not work.
7. Lay your assembled frame onto your top and make sure it lines up and is going to work.
8. Prep to cut the hole. Just on the inside of all four corners drill a 5/32” hole to help prevent any future tearing of the sheet metal. To protect your paint put multiple layers of tape on each side of the lines. Also take any further precautions you think you may need to protect the paint.
9. Remove your roof supports. I cut mine but wish I would have removed to use later to hang speakers or something. Once your ragtop frame is in, it will stiffen up your top back up.
10. Cut the hole. The previous posted link is a great source for this. Choose your weapon of choice. Jig-saw (electric or pneumatic) or metal shears are best in my opinion. If I had to do it over I would use both. For a starting point drill a hole to your liking near the edge of your lines. I did this on all four sides. ¾-1” hole is good. I used a step bit. Using metal shears I started cutting the hole. Metal shears were ok and I would use again for the straight lines and then jig saw for the corners.
11. Support the cut section with something so the rest of the metal doesn’t get bent to torn while cutting the rest.
12. Set your assembled frame into the hole to check the fit. With your frame in place, mark all the holes around the frame you will need to drill for the bolts
13. Remove the frame and drill the mounting holes. A 1/4” hole should be drilled. Start with a smaller pilot hole then the 1/4” drill bit. You are not done drilling just yet.
14. Reinstall the frame now and bolt it down and use the 90 degree brackets on the inside surface of the roof to connect everything.
Putting the ragtop into the frame. - Unscrew the rails from the sides. Slide the rails you removed from the frame and slide the ragtop slide guides into the rails. Now reinstall this together back into the frame and bolt into the frame. This will allow you to mark the holes to be drilled for the rear support post. I marked by firmly pushing down on the rear corners to push the post down to leave a mark. I believe I drilled a 3/8” hole for these. Remove everything and drill these holes.
While it is all in, open and close the top to test it out. You can put the handle on to make sure you can open and close it.
15. Ready to start final install. Take the ragtop and slide rails out of the frame. You can leave the rails on the ragtop. Unbolt the frame from the hardtop to remove everything.
16. With the provided sealant lay down about a ¼ inch bead all the way around the opening and mounting holes (except the rear 3/8” holes you drilled). You will seal these later from the inside. Let this set up a little.
17. Now carefully set all for sections of the frame into the hard top and gently secure in place also using the 90 degree brackets in the corners. Make sure the front section of the frame is in the front and not the back. Once the sealant is set up go ahead and finish bolting the frame down. Some of the sealant may run out. If it does, leave it there and don’t touch it until it dries, then use a razor to carefully remove it. Otherwise you will just smear it and make a mess. Note: in the pic below the slide rails are still in the frame. They should be removed by now.
18. Once everything is dry and ready, put the rails and ragtop into the frame and bolt it down. This may be where you may need help to hold things in place while you bolt things down.
19. Now you can seal the rear post holes with more sealant or what ever you want to put in the hole and around the post.
20. Put your handle on now and you have a brand new ragtop.
If you have the headliner option on your ragtop you will have to secure the back of the headliner to the frame.
1. You are provided with an aluminum strip with the holes already drilled. This is what will hold your headliner up and secure it to the frame.
2. I placed some 3m double sided tape used for automotive molding on the backside of the strip to help hold the fabric in place behind the strip after it is installed using the self tapping screws.
3. Hold the strip up in front of the rear section of the frame with the fabric behind it and screw the self tapping screws through the holes in the strip, through the fabric and into the frame.
4. Cut the excess fabric and DONE.
LET THE LIGHT SHINE IN AND THE WIND BLOW.
I HOPE THIS HELPS WITH YOUR INSTALL – please let this write up be a guide. I can not be responsible if your top or ragtop is different than mine. Please make all your own measurements to make sure yours is installed correctly.
