Djlarroc

So I wanted to give this "home made bikini" a shot. Big thanks to 4runnerx3 and 87AzRunner for the ideas. Also, my wife for the stitching, and my mom just because

Here's my list of materials

1 FJ top from TPI - $51 w/shipping
1 3/4" x 10ft electrical conduit from Home Depot - $4
1 1.5" x 48" x 1/8" aluminum flat bar - $10
4 angle braces - $2
4 1/4" x 1" hardware - $.60
2 5/16" x 3.5" hardware - $.80
1 3/4" pipe insulation w/adhesive - $1

TOTAL: $69.40

Stick of conduit:


I borrowed a conduit bender from my uncle. Bends did not come out perfect, but it works. Then I threw some primer and paint on it:


I drilled holes for in the L brackets and used the factory bolts. Then I lined up the aluminum bar to be even on both sides, marked the holes and drilled for the 1/4" hardware. I also did the bending on the ends while it was bolted in. I put a metal sleeve I had from a shock, between the aluminum bar and the rubber stripping and used some pliers to bend it down to conform to the cab:




Next, I squeezed the bow into the roll bar, I made the bends at about 46" outside to outside. I used the factory pockets at the bottom of the roll bar to tuck in the legs and screwed them in there as well as drilling a 5/16" hole for the 5/16" x 3.5" bolt. 5/16" will slide right through the factory holes on the roll bar:


Put the self adhesive pipe insulation on, sealed it up and trimmed it:


Tucked the bikini underneath the aluminum bar and tightened it down:




Pulled the straps up a lil bit and the lovely wife did the stitching for me. I used the footman loops that came with the top:


Can't see my 'not so perfect bends anymore' and it keeps the top nice and protected:


All done:




Puppy approved:


I used to have the Downey, but I like this one better because it hangs down a bit more and it's not as tall at the roll bar and it's $125 less!

I used a 48" bar and it's not quite long enough, but it's only about 1.5" short and I'm going to velcro those ends to the rubber stripping. The next size bar they had was 72" and was just a bit too long, plus it was an extra $15.

I am a very slow modder and from start to finish it took me about 6 hours. It was pretty easy to do.

Kiwipushrod

Hey Dj,

I like it.

Kiwi

INFINITY

looks great!!

Turbo4Runner

Nice work man! You have mine ready yet?? hehehe

SwampThing

You know, to cut down on cost even more, you can just not use that piece of bar by the rollbar. I did pretty much the same thing on the 89 runner I used to have. Plus I think the body line goes better when you don't have that bar (though you do loose like 2" of head room. but hey, then you just have pick up shorter women, and you're alright!)



Good job though. Looks real nice.

lorentje

very nice. i was about to buy myself some yardage of sunbrella and wrestle my own pattern - this is a way better solution!

you just tucked it in behind the aluminum/L brackets? that's the only part that's a little confusing to me (since i've never seen the FJ top).

Djlarroc

Yeah, the front end of the Fj top, has like a little plastic tube that's sewn into the top all along the edge. You flip the top over your cab (you can see in my pics) and slide the end in between the L bracket and the aluminum flat bar. When you tighten the flat bar to the L brackets, it pinches the top down really tight. Then you flip the bikini towards you, over the bow and tie it to the back w/the straps. I wish I had pics of the top, but if you buy it, you'll see what I mean. This is where I got the FJ top TPI

4runnerx3's thread that started it all. I just don't really like the bow forward and the velcro strap. That's what I changed on my install thanks to 87AzRunner 4runnerx3 thread.

Ben, if you want to build one, I'm game for helping you. Just let me know.

hurley842002

Very sweet. I'll be doing one soon, awesome write up.

4runnerx3

Looks good. I'm glad to see someone put my how to post to use. Now you need some front seat belts in the rear. I have my conduit positioned about halfway between the cab and the roll bar. Does yours flap with it so close to the roll bar?

just a 22re

wow that does look really good guys i think im going to do that insead of what i was going to do!!!!

Djlarroc

Well I got a chance to really road-test it this afternoon. A little flapping, but not more than my Downey . It's working out great. I noticed that if anything, and I wanted to lessen the flapping, I can put a velcro strip between the pipe insulation and the bikini. That is really the only place it lifted up a little and that was at 75 mph.