bobzdar Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I just picked up an '84 series 3 109 MoD FFR with stock soft top. As part of the deal, a full santana defender hard top was included. I'm looking to retrofit the top to the series 3, is there any difference I'd have to account for other than the windshield frame? I'm thinking I can make a filler panel to make up the gap there. It's also a 5 door top, but has the rear sliding windows, which I like, and most of the 3 door sides I've seen don't have the sliding windows. My thought is to make a filler panel for the top of the windshield and then put some locking cabinets in where the rear doors would be.I'm in the US so 109 parts are not easy to come by and if you can find them, shipping is usually prohibitive on something as large as a roof.Has anyone done this before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 The top will fit, as you said, except for over the windscreen. But what about the sides? You'll only have the rear 60% of each side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzdar Posted August 11, 2017 Author Share Posted August 11, 2017 I plan to put blank panels with locking cabinets in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Fabricating the side panels is not going to be as easy as you imagine. They have numerous bends for the top and bottom flanges and reinforcing channels inside, and the folds for the B-pillar need to be part of the side panel, not attached, for strength for the seat belt mount, You can't cut the C-pillar from the existing sides to move them forwards without very careful consideration of how to strongly attach the new side panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon White Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Just fit the defender screen and frame also. It greatly improves the visibilty. I run a defender screen on my 88 and have cut a 110 roof down to fit. jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 We did it the other way around... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Arjan, just out of curiosity, did the windscreen clamp upper bolt hole line up with the hinge bolt hole in the SIII frame? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzdar Posted August 13, 2017 Author Share Posted August 13, 2017 (edited) 17 hours ago, Snagger said: Fabricating the side panels is not going to be as easy as you imagine. They have numerous bends for the top and bottom flanges and reinforcing channels inside, and the folds for the B-pillar need to be part of the side panel, not attached, for strength for the seat belt mount, You can't cut the C-pillar from the existing sides to move them forwards without very careful consideration of how to strongly attach the new side panels. I'm not sure I fully understand the seatbelt issue as there are currently no sides (soft top) and they're attached. I plan to make a square steel frame and then cover in sheet metal with a large cutout for the cabinet. 7 hours ago, Jon White said: Just fit the defender screen and frame also. It greatly improves the visibilty. I run a defender screen on my 88 and have cut a 110 roof down to fit. jon Problem with that is finding a defender windscreen and frame Edited August 13, 2017 by bobzdar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV8R Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 (edited) 22 hours ago, Snagger said: Fabricating the side panels is not going to be as easy as you imagine. This depends on Bobzdar's garage skills. If he has acces to a large sheetmetal brake , shears and a clean sheet of aluminium ( I prefer 6061-T6) it's not that big of a deal. There's no compound curves in the panel, all straight flanges. Make up the internal profiles, bond and rivet together. Done. If your equipment is limited to tin snips and a B&D workmate it will be near impossible to do a tidy job Edited August 13, 2017 by AV8R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Bonjour ! On the inside, it is more or less in lint and you can fit the clamps. On the outside, you need to make a new bracket to accept the hinge from the Series windscreen (for which we did not have time yet,,,) The windscreen gutter needs a small grinding session but nothing drastic. The holes for the windscreen and roof line up - as do most of the other. We just needed to drill some extra holes for the upper seatbelt bracket. The funny thing is most people do not notice the Series roof & windscreen on a 110. Next thing is to fit early lift up doors... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzdar Posted August 21, 2017 Author Share Posted August 21, 2017 (edited) Here's a test fit of the top, not sure how I'm going to attach it to the windshield frame but the nice thing is that it just clears the soft top header so I can probably leave that making swapping tops a little easier. I'll have to build a b-pillar to support the front half which looks fairly straightforward, but I won't be able to easily put cabinets in without removing the cross bar that also holds the shoulder belt guides. That or I'd have to build the cabinets really shallow, which might be better anyway so it won't be a hazard to the front seat occupants' heads. Fabrication I'd have to do to mount this properly is build some sort of attachment to the windshield frame, B-pillar support, door seal guides, and then skin the open space (I'm thinking RV windows instead of cabinets). Then I'd also have to add hinges for the matching rear door I have, but those seem to be fairly readily available. Still deciding what to do as I may just build a frame to hold the roof rack above the soft top instead and buy a new canvas with side windows as I'm really not a fan of the windowless sides. As this is an FFR truck, it has the big side antenna mounts which I can repurpose into mounts for the roof rack. Then I'd have to add front and rear mounts, but that shouldn't be too bad. A little less work than making the hard top fit and a little less necessary precision. Edited August 21, 2017 by bobzdar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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