But, I Pretended I knew What I was Doing

[jikelly]

Today was the big day, the day I found out that I didn't really know how to put a new convertible top on a car.

Ah, it's not really that bad. The top is just a little off. It looks like it's all in the right place except for the window sagging a bit and the wrinkles in the top quarter panel sails, or whatever they are called.

I also found out my instructions were lame, lame, lame. Well, they at least got me going in the right directions. There were even pictures. They were just vague. It didn't help that the new top has more material (is larger all around) than the old one which you are supposed to use as a template.

Anyway, I wish you guys could help me, but I know most sane people run and hide anytime someone says anything about a convertible top install. Now I know that is for good reason.

So, I'm going to pull the staples out of the rear window and slide it down a bit to see if I can get the window tighter. I could live with how it is now, but I really don't want to.

The same for the quarter sail panel thingys. What's weird is that the seams at the quarter windows and the flaps that glue to the frame are in the right spots. But, the whole top from the final header bow (the thing that all the top pieces get attached to) seems a bit to far forward.

I could wind up making it worse.

Um maybe I'll just do the window.

I think I know why the top seems not to be in the right spot. It's because the main header bow is supposed to be farther forward on this new top. There is nothing I can do about that because the two tough canvas quarter sail pads I reused force the bow to be where it is. Oh, hum, so If I move the main top back a little that might pull things back into place.

That just means I have to undo all the staples in the tack strips. Worse I have to remove the bolts that were nearly impossible to line up from the tack strips to take them out of the car.

Woo is me.

 

[BarnStang]

Woe. Not woo. Two entirely different things
We bought a neat book on installing Ford convertible tops. We were pretty set on taking a crack at the 71 we were restorng, but the customer was not very comfortable having us do the top. My coworker has done three, I have done none. Would have been a great experiance.
Can you post some pictures?

 

[Skymarshal]

Installing those tops is kind of an art. It takes a few jobs before you can put one on easily and have it look good.

I did the top on my '69 myself, and I've never done one before. It turned out almost perfect- just one wrinkle near one of the sides. I would not do it again if I had to though! One of the most frustrating experiences of my life...

 

[TF Mondo]

years back I put a new top on an early 60s Volkswagen I had. I had the same problem with the saggy back window. Its definitely an art. A top guy told me I could have cured the saggy back window by not leaving the top open about 6 inches or so when affixing the back end of the top. After that I vowed to never attempt to do one again. My 66 is ready for a new top and I'm going to let the pros handle it.

 

[other_shoe]

Long post

I'm sorry to hear this has been such a nightmare for you, jikelly.

It's clearly an art, but as I've complained in a few threads, there is no guaranty that the professionals will do a bang-up job. Mine certainly did not, and I'm left with several unattractive options.

By messing repeatedly with the side to side play in the tack strips and the lateral play in the carriage, I was able to get things much closer to what I wanted, but there are still underlying issues from the length of the pad and rear panels. After messing with it some more you might also want to try water and a hot parking lot. That helped with mine, and I'm sure you can come up with the latter in Lubbock.

Here's what I wish I knew before I started down this road. I think anybody starting a top replacement, either DIY or professional, needs to do several things before the install. I'm basing this on my experience with the '67, and I'm sorry it's so long and may not be of help to jikelly.

First, you have to recognize that there have likely been several tops put on the car up to this point, and there are probably artifacts from other people's oversights and shortcuts. You may have problems with the geometry of the top carriage, and you should remember that when using the old top as a template you are likely working from a copy of a copy to the Nth.

For the carriage:

Spend a bit of time looking at the carriage in consultation with the drawings from the shop manual or that standard book of technical drawings. Specifically, you may want to look at the S-shaped brackets that allow for adjusting the the rails over the windows. Someone had mistakenly switched and inverted these on mine; if this is the case, the top will never fit right.

You'll also want to make sure your power cylinders are properly functioning both in terms of speed and full extension. Some of the replacement cylinders that have been on the market do not extend as far as they need to, and a difference of a quarter inch is a big deal for header and window alignment as well as the height of that final bow and the distance between that bow and the tack strip. To my chagrin, I discovered this variance after the top was installed.

In order to check this you probably have to take out the big screws that hold the rear tack strip so that the top can fully extend without being held back by the sail panels and the big canvass pad (I say probably because that's the only way I could do it). This has the disadvantage of making you struggle with the PITA tack strips and can result in worse fit should you decide to not replace the top so be forewarned.

If they do not extend evenly, that's a good sign you have at least one bad cylinder. If they both extend the same amount but the top has to strain to engage with the header on the front windshield, you may want to unbolt the power cylinders to see if they are holding the carriage back.

Ok, so now you may have both the tack strip and the power cylinders unbolted, but you should have a pretty good idea of what you need to do for the carriage to have the correct geometry front to back. The side to side adjustment on the '67 is fairly simple but it has a pretty significant effect on fitments.

At this point you might want to spend a bit of quality time with a tape measure, level, and plumb-bob to insure that things are pretty close to square.

For the top itself:

After you've squared the carriage, reattach the tack strip (at best a PITA) and see where and how it doesn't fit right. If DIY, you'll want to make note of this and, if going with a pro, talk it over with the shop to make it clear that old top is just a rough guideline and set some expectations about quality.

Also, I think some shops replace the bolts/screws that originally held the tack strip in with shorter fasteners. Good, long screws really help with the ability to pull the top tight and reduce puckering.

In addition:

Make sure you have the windows and doors aligned to you satisfaction before starting on a top replacement. This seems obvious, but my top install was subcontracted by my body shop and they adjusted the windows to fit the old top, which never fit properly because of bad cylinders and the sapped and flopped brackets, and then the top shop followed suit.

DIY or Pro, install the well-liner yourself. It's cheap, easy, and my shop buggered the job by using the wrong fasteners.

And of course, I have to remind myself we don't own them to have the tops up.

 

[jikelly]

It could be worse. It's not a nightmare it's just involved. I don't mind as long as I don't damage the top. Time I've got, money, well that's something else.

Drivers side

Passengers side

Minor Update:

I jumped on my stang today hoping I could get the top off, adjusted, and back on before sundown. I didn't quite make it all the way, but I've got the pieces adjusted where I think they need to be to remove the majority of the wrinkles. I unstapled the top pads from the rear/third header and pulled the header forward until the rear window was taught. Then I unstapled the ends of the window from the lower tack strip and pulled them tighter to remove the wrinkles that apear when the sail panel tack strips are inserted behind them.

My fingers feel raw from tugging and holding the pieces in place while I restapled them, but I think today's efforts are worth it.

 

[jikelly]

I finished securing the top to the tack strips and bolted them in the car. To my relief the wrinkles have been mostly wiped out. I need to get some pictures up for y'all. I'll try tonight.

Sure this top install is a pain, but it's way worth the money I saved doing it myself. Course it's taken me days and days were an expert might have done it in 3 or 4 hours.

I had to do a lot of putting it on, eyeballing it, taking it off and then readjusting the sail panels. It was fun.

Update:

The top is completely on the car. and it's looking pretty darn good even though I did it myself

There are are still some small wrinkles in the sides but hopefully they will disappear as the top stretches and shrinks to the frame.