Chopping the Top on my BII

[meskater132]

I have a 1990 Ford bronco II 2.9ltr 5spd mitshu tranny

So today I started the process of chopping the top on my BII so far started to gut the interior pulling carpet roof liner, and driver side body panneling. tommro i will start to pull the pass side, my plans are to

-gut the interior and rhino line the entire interior drill holes in all the low spots to drain rain and mud,
-weld up some nice sliding brackets for my plastic bucket seats (already have temp installed they rattle around some)
-remove the rear windows pull the rear hatch
-install a ranger tailgate,
-put some 2x4 wood bracing along the B pillars
-chop the top sawsall and Grinder,
-then i was going to use 1/4in angle iron welded to run along the "bed" and up the B pillars across the roof maybe stitch weld it every foot,
-bondo all along the seam and sand it down paint it all john deer green with accents of yellow.
-have the canvas shop i work with make up a soft top.

If i have anything wrong i would greatly apperciate any ideas and tips, I have been a fly on the wall reading alot of other chop top stories.

to all those chop top nay sayers, 1st off my truck hit a tree along the pass side and door hardly opens and 2nd some idiot took a sawzall to the exhaust and fenders to cut them up to put bigger tires on so the body is no where near close to nice condition it is my daily driver and toy, i love it and intend on doing it right. i hope

 

[meskater132]

I live in Fairbanks, AK going to have 2 rear windows coming out in one piece hopefully the bolt in ones so if someone wants them they can have them just email me,

 

[PetesPonies]

Bondo on the seam will look good for 23 days, then it will crack and never get better, only worse. Understand what materials can do for you, their limitations etc. From your description I don't get the idea that this "seam" will be completely welded? I mean, I use bondo over welded seams when I replace a panel, but it is 100% structural, plus I seal both sides, before any filler goes on.

 

[meskater132]

you weld like 6in strip then move a foot then 6in then move a foot and so on, i was told that that is what you do with a thin sheet metal by the welder at my work and it will be plenty strong. is that wrong? the angle iron will "frame" the cut out section so as to help keep the frame from warping. so are you thinking i should just weld the angle iron all the way up the b pillars across the roof and down the other side b pillar? i just figured bondo would look nice then again the giant dent along the right front quarter pannel make this idea pointless

 

[PetesPonies]

Sheet metal should be a continuous bead. I am not saying you don't move around, but when done it is continuous. I weld about 1" apart, then half way again, half way again and continue doing that until it is continuous. You need to grind some along to way to make sure you can do good spot beads in between. My actual welds are no longer than 1/4" at any time. Most of shorter. It takes time to do sheet metal correctly. Now I'm talking about exterior exposed areas. You may be able to do somewhat less if it will be covered. Buy my Sherrod piece to cover it up But anyway, welding sheet metal is tedious.

 

[sbsrlewis]

Please post pictures as you go.


Steve

 

[country0001]

Pics, pics, and more pics

 

[1986broncoiister]

what they said lol

 

[meskater132]

sorry i cannot find the camera charger looking for it. im new at this how do i upload pics, i am more competent with a wrench and welder than i am with a computer

 

[TexCaliBII]

Are you going to use the rear hatch for anything? Is it in anything close to useable condition? I've got a spare left fender for a gen II if you happen to need it. I'd like to meet up since we are so close to each other. I've lately seen quite a few BIIs running around Fairbanks and North Pole.

 

[meskater132]

CHopped the toppppp

i did it i chopped the top, used angle iron and steel tube for bed rails and B pillar support

 

[Surrey]

How is the tube and angle attached to the bed/b pillar?

 

[meskater132]

post and angle

i took the steel tube its 1/8th in thick, i took a grinder down the whole lenght of it to cut a slot, when i chopped the top i left the _I_ lip the rear windows were attached to on the bottom and used a hammer to persuade the slot over the lip and then took some smaller rect sections of steel on the inner bed and welded them to the bed , the angle iron took forever to weld along the roof seam welded more along the angle iron and let the heat melt the sheet metal roof into the bead tons of small beads did the chop last year survied an alaskan winter so far. in the pic you can see one of the plates at the rear holding it together.