Just wondering what the difference would be in the structure of the 92+ tops compared to the earlier ones without the shoulder harness. I would think there has to be some support there.

Also, does the inside of a lined top appear the same as the unlined ones?

 

The whole top is pretty much all fiberglass. I don't believe there is any real extra support in the 92+ models.

What do you mean lined/unlined roofs?

 

First, with no different support....how strong is the shoulder harness upper mounting in the '92 and up?

Lined or not....my '93 EB has a factory headliner in the removable top. A '90 top I am thinking of grabbing for a project has no headliner...it comes from an XLT.

 

My XLT had a liner, most people prolly just rip them out. I prefer my bikini top over a standard hard-top.

I haven't personally yanked on the seatbelt, but i know they have a metal threaded insert. beyond that I don't think there's much support. My bikini top has the belt bolts so I'll look closer tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure its just all fiberglass.

 

I like your bikini top for sure. I was looking at the snap on soft tops that slope from the main roof to the tailgate. They say an adult can ride in the back seat but I wonder. I am thinking of modifying one so I do not have to put attaching snaps into the body.

 

I too like the bikini top but i think i like my 78s tinted windows more. As for the whole belt situation i don't know cause i only have laps in the back but i assume it is strong enough to keep you from getting too badly hurt in an accident. BTW does anyone know if the 78 tops came with bolt cover trim on the sides and top row of bolts? There is a bronco at my local junk yard that has the porno red interior and it has all the plastic trim to cover the bolts and i was thinking i could snag them and paint them white and throw them on my top when i get all my hardware.

 

Ive read somewhere they do make belt conversions, where you can take the factory shoulder strap and convert to lap belts, as for the shoulder straps, theres a threaded metal piece that screws into the top its a bolt, i dont remember what size....and i had a factory headliner in my old top, and i have one in my new top, so i imagine they start sagging and people just rip them out

 

An easy conversion would be getting the lap belt from a 70s from a junk yard and integrating it into yours Mine has 4 belts in the back and 2 up front. There was supposed to be 2 retractable ones in the back with one normal middle one but one retractable is broken so the PO took the middle one from the front and moved it to the back. Not a terrible idea seeing as i have no way for the retractable ones to stay where people can reach them easily. I also have 4 receiver things, 2 on the outside of the back seat and to middle belt ones in the middle. So i have many choices of unsafe restraint system for my fellow passengers :P

 

Junk yard grey belts are the route i took from backseat of just about and car out there. I know the top is coming off my bronco and even if its not legal for passengers in the back seat post 92' eith the top off i dont see too many cops knowing the facts... in michigan over the age of 16 a seatbelt isnt required for occupants in the rear seat... can we ask what the concern is if the tops are structered differently?

 

Nevermind read over again realized you are looking for a project top....

 

you guys sure they aren't? When I go through a carwash with a blower my top bows in pretty badly (it's actually sorta scary), it's weaker than really thin sheet metal and I don't see how it could support a seatbelt.

I was once told the tops have a steel reinforcement X beam in later models

I plan on swapping in a later top into mine.. I want the third brake light, and also just recently found out they had head liners. Mine resonates like crazy when I tap it, I'm guessing it's why my dang truck is louder with the top ON than off.

 

Hmm ErrorS maybe yours is kind of hollow on the inside, mine (78) is solid fiberglass, that sucker ain't going nowhere anytime soon. With it bending in the car wash as you described it might already have that X bar thing but it just allows it to flex or something. as for the seatbelts, being that they are on the "corners" of the top i would imagine it has some strength to it but i don't know much about the system so i am going by guesses. Next time i go to the junkyard i will look around for one with the seatbelt top and see what it sounds like inside and i will try to hang from the belt (215-220 lbs) to see what happens. Now as for the law of riding in the back, here (washington) you have to have a seat belt but if it is a pickup truck like my 88 ranger singlecab, if the cab is filled with the youngest of the group you can have passengers in the bed as long as they remain seated on the bed floor not the wheel well arches and they keep limbs withing the bed. I drove about 15-30 miles on the freeway going 80 with my friend and his girlfriend in the back coming home fro the fair, it was fun except when my buddy picked up a soda can i had back there and the wind ripped it from his hand into the cab through the back window and into my face... Scared the living crap out of me and i told him to stop throwing stuff at me. They didn't like it too much though cause they were getting pelted with road debris like sand and small rocks. I had fun though

 

The fibreglass tops didn't change in physical appearance/construction between 1980 and 1996... albeit the 1992 and up units had the high-mount stop & cargo lamp combo above the back glass that appeared above the back glass of the F-Series pick-ups. The top is constructed in fibreglass laid over a steel frame. The steel only exists above and below the side windows and in the three arches that make the front, rear, and rear window channel. When Ford added the Federally mandated high-mount stop lamp for the late 1991 model year, they added a tab to the steel frame to accommodate the shoulder harness anchor. They also began using t-40 "tamper-proof" Torx hardware to mount it to the bed rails. The top has nothing more than an 1/8" of fibreglass across the ceiling between the visible seams on the exterior. Check my gallery "Old TOPic new twist" for photos. The ceiling can be punched through with a nail gun or a hard fist if you are into that kind of masochism. It was the addition of the shoulder belts and the stop lamp that prompted Ford to remove the instructions for removing the top from the owner's manual and changing the mounting hardware in 1992.

As to the idea of a "retrofit" option for lap belts in place of the shoulder harnesses, there is no such thing to the best of my knowledge. Why would it be necessary? Just find a set of lap belts from any Bronco prior to 1992 and mount them in place of the shoulder harnesses if you really want to go backwards. Most folks I've encountered are trying to go the other way and find a newer top and add the shoulder belts which can also be done either by dropping a newer top on it or adding a roll bar/cage and providing a mounting location and the shoulder harness belts. the shoulder harness belt retractor mounts to the top of the rear inner fender and the lower anchor is on the floor near the rear corner of the rear seat.

The top mounting hardware locations did not change when Ford changed the type of hardware used nor did the interior trim. Depending upon which option package you got, the top may or may not have had a headliner up through the end of production. But the headliner was at least an option from the mid 80's on. Base models and government service vehicles frequently did NOT come equipped with the headliner to save on costs and the Parks Service, Border Patrol, and various LE agencies really had no need or want of any additional fabric in a "rough service" vehicle.

 

While I believe you on everything else you said, you're wrong on the interior trim. I pulled covers for the back from an 80s that would not fit my Bronco. All the holes were in the wrong spots, the older ones obviously used a different method to mount the trim. I also had some issue getting it to fit right but that might have been due to the plastic being old and molding itself to the truck sitting in the junkyard or something, i dunno.

sorta off topic, but the rear panels were also about a half inch too short for my Bronco. I got them to fit, though not perfectly.

 

Interesting. I can see how thats possible, considering that the later models have the majority of the trim actually mounted to brackets that are held in by the top mounting hardware. I honestly haven't had as many older units apart as I have later ones.