Hi,
I hope the length of this does not
put you off putting a soft top on your 90/110/Defender, it really is
quite simple. This is just a collection of my experiences and (after)
thoughts and having seen similar questions on forums, I thought I would
take the time to be thorough so that I could cut and paste the link
when the questions are posted again.
I have put a soft top on my 90, but cheated by starting off with a truck cab, drop down tailgate and bonnet mounted spare.
I went for the Exmoor Trim truck cab
soft top as it is easier to roll back and secure just the cab top
rather than remove the whole roof if the sun shines. It required a full
stick set.
If I was starting from a van or
SW/CSW I would go for the cut down normal rear door and swing-away
spare carrier rather than a drop down tail gate (although it’s
great for sitting on) as I would not need to weld the hinges to the
rear cross member or put in top fixings / chain stays and it would be
easier to swap back again for winter / resale.
My tyres were originally 750r16 on
the original steel wheels, when I bought 235/85r16 ATs on new 8 spoke
steel wheels they weighed a LOT more. I could still put the spare on
the bonnet, but a crease started to appear in the bonnet so the spare
is now strapped the load bed (pending a swing-away carrier if the extra
few inches in vehicle length will fit in my garage), also, it needed
one person to push the bonnet up and one to pull the bonnet release to
open it as the spring was not strong enough. The extra width of the
tyre did limit the visibility a little, and the soft spare wheel cover
blew up like a balloon when the speed reached double figures. I tried
mounting the spare vertically to the middle bulk head as is now
standard for truck cabs, but rear visibility was bad and it clashed
with the soft truck cab top.
Although security is not very good on
a 90/110/Defender, changing to a soft top is going to make it even
worse, my soft top was expensive so I would rather the scumbags
realised their was nothing worth nicking by opening the unlocked door
instead of slashing the hood. I changed the cubby box for a locking
steel one (also from Exmoor Trim), installed a hidden isolator switch
and got a ‘Disklok’ for Xmas. I also make a habit of
locking the steering in ‘full lock’ before setting the
‘Disklok’.
I used 3-point inertia reel seatbelts
(with the reel mounted behind the seats) as it would not effect the
type of roof or roll bar. If the seat was reclined fully it would jam
the seatbelt. I was going to put a door stop between the middle
bulkhead and back of seat to stop this, but now realise it would clash
with the press-studs at the back of the truck cab version of the soft
top (not the full soft top).
I changed (bodged) my single garage
canopy door to a ‘top hung’ hinge to give extra head room
(that’s another story involving lots of blood), it worked for the
original hard top truck cab, but the hoops for the soft top are taller
(DOH!). A change to ‘side hung’ doors cured the problem.
I spent months thinking about the
best position for the courtesy light that was originally in the roof,
in the end I just cut it out. I might connect it to a map light next to
the clock if it becomes a problem when the days get shorter but for now
I keep a torch in the vehicle.
I told my insurance company (Adrian
Flux) that I would be changing to a soft top. They sent me a modified
vehicle form to fill in (I also mentioned the 235/85r16 ATs and the
200TDi, swapped for a diesel n/a), but they did not charge me anything,
not even an admin fee.
The V5 shows the
“Model/Type” as “LR 90 4C REG” (4 cylinder,
regular body)” so it did not need changing, although the vehicle
may not have been a truck cab originally.
I had to remove the foremost tonneau
lashing point to reuse the rivet hole for a fixing for the soft top, I
don’t know what I will fix a tonneau to in future if I get one.
I thought I would miss the excellent
visibility of the rounded rear quarter lights of the truck cab. But I
didn’t (possibly because I am used to driving a van for work).
I had to drill four holes through the
bodywork above the windscreen using the supplied header rail (used to
clamp the soft top to the top of the windscreen) as a template, these
were the only holes I had to drill and would not prevent the hard top
being replaced. The whole frame (not including header rail) is held on
by six bolts plus hood straps.
My doors are of the push-button /
wind up window type, but could be swapped to the old sort so that the
side windows and frames could be removed completely (not much point if
keeping the hood stick set on).
In my experience, the soft top is
quieter and warmer (less condensation) than the hard top (without the
smelly, dropping lining).
Those who think they need a roll bar
because they now have a soft top should google for pictures of hard top
90/110/Defenders that have rolled (I’m not saying you don’t
need a roll bar, just that you had very little protection with a
standard hard top).
You may have people (who are just
jealous and have no experience of soft tops) that tell you to get the
top off if the sun is shining, they do not understand that it is
sometimes cooler just to open the back and stay in the shade,
especially if you have vinyl seats and are driving in slow moving
traffic, for which I can only say BETTY SWALLOCKS. Bead seats help
but I am still looking for the Recaro mesh seats shown in a certain
magazine at the beginning of 2006.
The swing-away spare carrier,
seatbelts and cubby box could be done before the soft top conversion.
If your rear door is sagging, doors locks inadequate and seat belts
fraying it might be a good idea anyway.
I didn’t think that my vehicle
would be a f***y magnet, but it’s far, far
worse….it’s a d**k magnet. Often I get back to the car
park to find blokes walking / looking round it, no fit females, ever.
Perhaps I need stickers, spots, hi-lift jack, waffles, front mounted
child maiming ground anchor and a winch or two.
Here are some pics of the bits that puzzled me before I did the conversion:-
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/HoodSticksExplodedDiagram.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/3PointSeatBeltAndHoopFixing.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/3PointSeatBeltBoltAndSpreaderPlate.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/3PointSeatBeltHoodStrapAndHookBehindSeat.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/FrontOfDrainChannelHeaderRailAndBlackCam.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/RearOfDrainChannel.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/SelfTappingPressStuds.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/SideCoverAndHoopFixings.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/SideCoverFixings.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/HeaderRailClamped.jpg
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/HeaderRailUn-clamped.jpg
Note the difference between the two
‘Header Rail’ pics, the rail is higher when unclamped, the
black lever is pointing down and you can just see the spring separating
the rail from the top of the windscreen surround, the leading edge of
the soft top goes over the top of the rail and tucks in underneath the
front of the rail, (see the ‘cat hammock’ pic below) the
rail is then clamped down using the four black levers. The type of
header rail varies depending on the age of the 90/110/Defender.
The metal work is all standard Land
Rover stuff (except for the 8” longitudinal bar shown in the 5th
pic which comes with the hood).
http://www.allwheeltrim.co.uk also have info on their site.
Both http://www.allwheeltrim.co.uk and http://www.exmoortrim.co.uk
sell the Land Rover hoods/sticks/fixings etc. and their own hoods. Bits
like the rear door and wheel carrier would have to be sourced elsewhere.
The roof also makes an excellent cat hammock:-
http://www.fozzie.plus.com/softtop/CatHammock.jpg
Don’t worry if the rain gets in, it will run out when you open the door.