• Notice for iPhone users: DO NOT use the image size reduction option when uploading photos to the forum. This causes portrait images to post as landscape. We have added a warning to the image insert pop-up as well.

DJ5x2 Metal Hard Top

Post #600 on Pg40 has your hardtop to windshield attachment and post #659 on pg44 has the square to round door conversion for anyone else interested in this.

Thank you once again!

I did a thread about the door fillers many years ago: https://www.cj-8.com/forum/showthread.php?10056-Door-corner-fillers-for-Postal-tops&p=346063. That thread is about adapting standard round-corner CJ doors to a World Cab that requires square-corner doors, so the corner fillers you'll need for your project are different, but the same technique could be used. I also did fillers to fit round corner doors on the CJ10-derived half cab for my Retro Wrangler pickup, those are a bit more elaborate. They're in this thread somewhere: https://www.cj-8.com/forum/showthread.php?18796-OT-Retro-Wrangler-Willys-Pickup-(long)

A little more about the price of getting safety glass windows cut, all 7 of the windows in my Safari Cab are flat safety glass installed with rubber gaskets; the glass place charged me about $350 to do cut the glass for all 7 windows and the rubber gaskets were included in the price.

BlackNATO3_zps27841c18-1.jpg
 
No need to search around for some used windows that might or might not fit, most auto glass places can cut custom flat windows for you out of safety glass and provide the gasket to mount the glass in. When I did the LJ Safari Cab, I took paper templates down to a local auto glass place and had them cut safety glass for me to match the templates. It wasn't very expensive.

For my current JK fiberglass hardtop project, I'm doing prototype windows in plexiglass, and when I'm ready to have the final glass windows made I'll bring the plexi windows to the glass place for them to use as templates.

WindowsDriverSide1_zps1fce3854-1.jpg

Jeff, is that a world cab oem flip vent window on the JK concept ?! :bow: :drool:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1435804875.827816.jpg
 
Jeff, is that a world cab oem flip vent window on the JK concept ?! :bow: :drool:

View attachment 49155

The flip-out windows are from a Toyota FJ40. Years ago when I was first doing the LJ Safari Cab design, I ran across an FJ40 hardtop very cheap so I picked it up to study how it was constructed. I still had the Scrambler back then, so one day I compared the FJ windows to the World Cab (it must have been a frosty winter morning because the FJ windows are covered in frost in this photo). It would be possible to install FJ40 flip-outs in a postal World Cab with a little metalwork. The Toyota main side window isn't long enough for the side of a World Cab, but if I remember correctly the height of the windows is pretty good, so you could install the flip-out and then do a main window from flat safety glass. Oh and if anyone's wondering, the radius of the curved corner windows is much too big to work on the Jeep.

FJSideWindows-1.jpg


And actually, the flip-out window in my JK Safari Cab photo is a plexiglass mockup for now - I didn't want to take a chance on breaking the rare Toyota flip-out glass during the Safari Cab project, so the original glass is stashed away safely while while I have the plexiglass stand-ins mounted on the FJ hardware until I'm ready for final install of the original glass.

AlpineMockup1_zpsudvxkcbe-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
So I've come across a little bit of a dilemma. Picked up my old windshield frame today and mated it to the top. The measurement of the reinforcement tubing on the inside of the front of the top is 57 1/2" the top of the windshield is 54 1/2". I knew the full doors curved in on the top, but I didn't figure it into this project for some reason.






So now I have two options as I see it.
Option 1: Cut the top in half and take 3" out of the middle, try to either curve or bend the sides, reform the rear corners.

Option 2: Leave everything from the vertical roll bar leg to the back completely square and try to form the 6" or so from the roll bar forward to conform to the doors and windshield.

Both have their own challenges and I'm not sure which one would look better. I think option 1 is going to make for some funky rear corners with the rounded corners becoming sharper at the top than the bottom. As long as the rear door opening remains square, the barn door will still fit.

I think option 2 is going to have some funny angles between the door and the completely straight section. I'm not sure how its going to go over the doors either trying to narrow by 1 1/2" from the roll bar to the windshield.

Thoughts and opinions are absolutely welcome!
 
I got the gutters cleaned out today as well. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep them as there is some serious cancer and rot. Some genius thought they could seal the seam between the top and the gutter with household silicone caulking which absorbed moisture, bubbled up and trapped water underneath to sit and eat at the metal.

Left side

Worst spot

Right side (bad side)

Worst spot (but there are several)


I think that I am going to have to cut a patch for the top on the right side. There's just too much cancer to try to mess with. It's all below the curve so I should be able to just use some 16ga sheetmetal and fix it
 
Here's what I am picturing. Sorry for the poopy sketches. This is how I work things out in my head. Nothing is remotely to any scale anyone has ever thought of.

Option 1 is on the left top view and top side view (I'm not even sure at what angle to sketch this to capture what's going on behind the door.)

Option 2 is on the right top view and bottom side view



I hope this helps make sense of what I'm talking about. I'm not even totally sure on this.
 
So I've come across a little bit of a dilemma. Picked up my old windshield frame today and mated it to the top. The measurement of the reinforcement tubing on the inside of the front of the top is 57 1/2" the top of the windshield is 54 1/2". I knew the full doors curved in on the top, but I didn't figure it into this project for some reason.






So now I have two options as I see it.
Option 1: Cut the top in half and take 3" out of the middle, try to either curve or bend the sides, reform the rear corners.

Option 2: Leave everything from the vertical roll bar leg to the back completely square and try to form the 6" or so from the roll bar forward to conform to the doors and windshield.

Both have their own challenges and I'm not sure which one would look better. I think option 1 is going to make for some funky rear corners with the rounded corners becoming sharper at the top than the bottom. As long as the rear door opening remains square, the barn door will still fit.

I think option 2 is going to have some funny angles between the door and the completely straight section. I'm not sure how its going to go over the doors either trying to narrow by 1 1/2" from the roll bar to the windshield.

Thoughts and opinions are absolutely welcome!

I have a recommendation for solving the difference between the windshield and the roof. I'll do some sketches for you, might not get to it until later tonight or tomorrow though.
 
So I've come across a little bit of a dilemma. Picked up my old windshield frame today and mated it to the top. The measurement of the reinforcement tubing on the inside of the front of the top is 57 1/2" the top of the windshield is 54 1/2". I knew the full doors curved in on the top, but I didn't figure it into this project for some reason.






So now I have two options as I see it.
Option 1: Cut the top in half and take 3" out of the middle, try to either curve or bend the sides, reform the rear corners.

Option 2: Leave everything from the vertical roll bar leg to the back completely square and try to form the 6" or so from the roll bar forward to conform to the doors and windshield.

Both have their own challenges and I'm not sure which one would look better. I think option 1 is going to make for some funky rear corners with the rounded corners becoming sharper at the top than the bottom. As long as the rear door opening remains square, the barn door will still fit.

I think option 2 is going to have some funny angles between the door and the completely straight section. I'm not sure how its going to go over the doors either trying to narrow by 1 1/2" from the roll bar to the windshield.

Thoughts and opinions are absolutely welcome!

This is exactly what I thought could happen if that w frame u were talking about was not the early one .. :wave: What you can do is to convert your scrambler to a 1975 and earlier windshield frame setup. That one doesn't "curve in" at the top. It's just an idea but if u do it should mate up to this top much easier. It will also change the look though considerably and your wiper motor will have a bulge to the outside
 
I really want to make the top fit the jeep, not the jeep fit the top. I would imagine there would be door fitment issues with using the pre 75 windshield frame.

It's an option, but not one I really want to pursue.

What did you mean by Loom?
 
Look was a typo for loom

Yes doors will be an issue of u don't want that , that pretty much kills that idea
 
This is exactly what I thought could happen if that w frame u were talking about was not the early one .. :wave: What you can do is to convert your scrambler to a 1975 and earlier windshield frame setup. That one doesn't "curve in" at the top. It's just an idea but if u do it should mate up to this top much easier. It will also change the look though considerably and your wiper motor will have a bulge to the outside

Since the CJ doors angle in towards the top, having a windshield frame that doesn't angle in will cause the doors not to mate properly with the windshield. The amount the windshield angles in towards the top is the same amount the doors angle in.

I'm working on some sketches to show a solution, hope to have them posted shortly.
 
I see two ways to go about this:

Option 1. Narrow the entire roof. The complication this causes is that the side panels will need to be modified to angle in at the top the same amount the doors angle in. This requires taking a pie cut out of the rear corners so you don't have to angle the barn door opening as well, and a bend along the entire side panel. This would be at the top of the door body, which is where the window hoops on the doors start angling in.

Option 2. Just narrow the front of the roof. If this were my project, this is what I would do. The roof is fairly easily narrowed at the front by taking pie cuts out of each side. You drew part of this option in one of your pencil sketches. Here's what it would entail:


I'd pie-cut the roof back to the rear of the doors. In the front, the widest part of the pie slice would be roughly 1.5", but you'd get the actual measurement by comparing the width of the roof (less drip rail) with the width of the top of the windshield; you want the roof very slightly wider than the windshield. So in the front it looks like this (before and after):

PostalFit1_zpsuvwlnyft-1.jpg


Viewed from the top back, the pie cut would look like this next set of images. You'd want to do the pie cut as close to the edge of the side curve as possible so you don't get a bend in the cross-recesses in the roof as you join the cut parts back together. You'd probably have to cut the curved side in order to get it to bend, and likely a small cut on the inside of the drip rail (more on the drip rail later).

PostalFit2_zpsgwdg8vl4-1.jpg


So that gets the roof matching up to the windshield, now we've got to get the door surrounds to work right, because the CJ doors require that the sides angle in towards the top about 1.5", and the Postal sides are completely vertical. The correct shape for the door surround is for it to bend at the top of the door body and from there angle in towards the top 1.5". When mated to the straight vertical Postal side panels, this will result in a "step" between the door and the outside shell of the side panel, increasing towards the top, but I think that will look fine - it's not an uncommon design element of truck tops. Might look something like this:

PostalFit3_zpsmyrkntkv-1.jpg


This next photo shows what you want the door surrounds to look like, it's a Safari Cab door surround clamped to a Safari Cab side panel, they're both just out of the molds so they haven't been trimmed yet. Notice how the side panel angles inwards starting about 7" from the bottom; your Postal sides don't angle in so at the top there will be a "step" of about 1.5" between the surround and the side panel. I think it'll look fine, and because you need the surround to angle in to fit the door, if you don't like the step the alternative is angling in your Postal sides the same as this fiberglass side panel is angled.

Side10_zpshzpjzitm-1.jpg


This illustration shows what the "step" would look like; the red dashed line shows the outline of the drip rail of the roof after it's pie-cut.

PostalFit4_zpsn5geuvxb-1.jpg


About the drip rail - the Postal drip rail is excessively wide because it needed to cover the sliding door, which was outside the sides of Jeep. Since you've said the drip rail is rusty anyway, why not remove it completely and replace it with new sheet metal, maybe sticking out 1/2" or so? The super-wide Postal drip rail will detract from the final look of your top, so it's worth narrowing anyway.

Anyway, all of that is what I'd do. I think it's the method that promises the best chance for success, and the best look when it's finished.
 
One other dimension you should check is the height of the sides you cut off the Postal. Here's a photo I took years ago of a Postal door in the rear door opening of the Safari Cab - the door is a little short to fit in the opening. The bottom of the drip rail is the correct height to fit the front doors/door surrounds, so if the Postal sides are roughly the height of the Postal door, you may have to make them a little bit taller to sit properly on the top of the CJ tub and provide enough room for the front doors to fit under the drip rail.

PostalDoor_zpsme8rhtp0-1.jpg
 
Your option 2 was what I had an inkling of, but I was picturing compound angles and all sorts of whizbang stuff at the joint. Your idea is simple and effective and probably what I will go with.

I don't think your option 1 will work as I look at the side panels and the placement of the windows. I've only got 5 1/2" from the bottom to the window opening and the panels are cut long until I do final fitting. I don't want to move the windows up because they match the window placement on the barn door at the moment.

I completely agree about the drip rail being excessive for my application. Even before I got eyes on the extent of the rust, I was already kicking around the idea of shortening them to match the rear, which is 1" and looks perfectly normal. I do like the idea of the drip rail and, I think, done properly, I can make it so it is not a haven for water and rust.

Thank you, once again for the insight. I'm going in the blind on this project and learning a lot as I go. Your help, Jeff, is greatly appreciated.
 
One other dimension you should check is the height of the sides you cut off the Postal. Here's a photo I took years ago of a Postal door in the rear door opening of the Safari Cab - the door is a little short to fit in the opening. The bottom of the drip rail is the correct height to fit the front doors/door surrounds, so if the Postal sides are roughly the height of the Postal door, you may have to make them a little bit taller to sit properly on the top of the CJ tub and provide enough room for the front doors to fit under the drip rail.

PostalDoor_zpsme8rhtp0-1.jpg

I think you're absolutely right. I cut them at 26" for the sides and I think I'm going to have to add about 1 1/2" to the top of the sides to make it work right. I'll double-check the measurements again when it's not so late and my brain isn't foggy.
 
Today was a parts run to Harbor Freight. Picked up some welding magnets, a spot weld cutter and a flange/hole cutting tool.


This should help out some with fabrication and further teardown.

Back at it tonight. Seeing if I can remove the remainder of the windshield skin from the top. I'm putting this spot weld cutter to use!
 
Seeing as this post was just referenced for windshield angle...is there any new progress or updates on this project?
 
Any update on this project? I've been thinking of doing something similar, I have a spare DJ top sitting in the backyard waiting for a purpose. I was going to shorten it for a half cab, or maybe leave it full length for a 3/4 cab.

20160124_170804-1.jpg
 
Back
Top