I do not recommend sheet metal screws. They'll loosen and pull out. Studs should be replaced with rivet nuts/studs. They're cheap and easy to install.
I saw your post after it was too late! My outer panel (the flat panel between the chrome edging the top and the top of the trunk lid) has dimples in it. Con Brio, what is the fix for this? My top installer says he hand-tightened the rear studs, and I watched him untighten them by hand. Granted, he is a lifelong upholstery person, so he has freakishly strong hands, but still. Could it be tension from a too-short top, as opposed to overtightening the bolts? Thanks.
This is a Robbins top, the back window had some sort of artifact in it and on top of that, a wave in the window, as if it were too wide. they're replacing under warranty. Does the list think a too-tight top could bend the rear deck panel? I can't really see how it goes together up under there. Thanks!
Biba, thank you! Any suggestions on how much longer the top needs to be? Or how to measure to see how much longer it needs to be? I am sure my original top (literally, the original top on a 1992) is long gone.
except the top. I did however clean and paint the frame and had new covering put on the front bow by a shop but the 400 for the install just seemed expensive. Thanks to your thread I decided to tackle it myself. Let's just say the 400 doesn't sound expensive to me now I read the posts several times and after finding an EZ on top with padded sides and Hartz cloth on ebay for 320 and free shipping I dove in yesterday. Still waiting on the channel for the front weatherstrip but what the heck I can do that later. The new weatherstrip will not fit the channels they sell now so I was thinking about shaving some off the curve so there will be some hope of sliding it in. They've been on backorder since August. But with the pdf instructions and this thread I have it on now and it is tight as a drum and the front bead is angled down although one side a smigen more than the other but you have to be looking for it to see it. Not being a summer day the top would not close as has been mentioned. My solution was to hook a comealong to the side of the frame at the front bow. Don't pull on the bow the results are as bad as crossing the streams but I got it back straight. By pulling the top forward with the comealong it got to where I could latch it and it's staying that way until summer! But boy can you thump it. It is nice and tight with no wrinkles and a good fit. Much better than the one I paid to have installed on my 77. The side was to long on that one and if you pulled it forward the window would be past the padding and onto the top. Not sure who made that one. The EZ on did have the holes punched which really made much eaiser. Anyway, thanks again, I wouldn't have had the guts to try it without this thread.
