johnnyflames

Hello Everyone,

The term "Rag" top is becoming very true around my garage these days.
So, the decision was made to get a new top.

Now the next questions, to self install or have the work done professionally?
So, I want to hear all the stories. Bad or Good, relating to a self installed convertible top. Where's the best place to purchase the top? YearOne, Fusick, Convertible Top Guys, others... Was the job fairly straight forward. I'm very capable to do a lot of work on my car. Would you do it again?

Also, I need a comparison to a professionally installed top and was the $$ well worth it. I've been getting estimates around $1400.00 for the entire job. Did you have to take the top back to the installer? If so, were there additional costs? How was their warranty/guarantee, if any?

My Car: 71 Cutlass Supreme

Thanks for all the advice, good or bad.

John

D. Yaros

I had a new top professionally installed on my 1962 Dynamic 88. I couldn't be more pleased. Never had to go back for any reason. Most definitely worth it. The consequences, in terms of both money and looks, of messing up a highly detailed job made it more than worth the cost, in my opinion.

rcorrigan5

I did mine kind of backwards in 2007 but got away with it. I bought a convertible top kit (I believe it was from Year One) for my '68 4-4-2 and then went to an upholsterer to get it installed. I found out the upholsterer will only install a selected few brands of tops. Fortunately, the brand I got was one of the brands he likes so he installed it and it came out perfect. I don't recall the brand name but it only had 3-4 letters in it.


Anyway, if you have someone install it, I would go to the installer first to see what they want to do. Some installers do their own tops; some install kits but only certain brands, and so forth.


I was also told that, when replacing a convertible top, the cables should also be replaced, so I had the installer do that as well.


Hope this helps.


Randy C.

Fun71

The top manufacturer may have been Kee. I bought one of their tops many years ago after finding they were one of the major top manufacturers.

As for where to buy, I would check around to see what brands the various outlets carry. Kee and Crown are the two good manufacturers that I know of.

I originally installed a Crown top on my car back in ~1990 and it was fairly straight-forward. I followed the instructions in the Fisher body manual and the installation went smoothly. These days I don't know if I have enough time to devote to installing a new top so I may look into having someone do it for me instead of doing it myself. Maybe.

rcorrigan5

That's it - Kee. I don't know how OCA judges convertible tops but my car did win "Best of Class" in Class 13B at the OCA Nationals in Reno in 2011 in its first time out and being judged. If there is an effort to judge convertible tops, I'd say the name brand of the top (Kee), plus the way it was installed by the upholsterer, helped! But I'm not any kind of upholsterer so that's why I had a professional do it.


Randy C.

Lady72nRob71

These are known to be extremely good quality and often the pro's choice.
Ask the distributor for the brand of the top. If they do not say, go to someplace else.
The previous owner of Lady had a Kee top (from year one) installed in 5-2007 and it still fits and looks great today.
With the risk of damaging it if you install it incorrectly, i would have a pro install it - one who has done many older cars before (successfully).

Fun71

Having installed the top myself, I will say I do not see how you could "damage" the top by installing it incorrectly. I had mine on and off multiple times in order to get it aligned correctly with no adverse events.

johnnyflames

Thanks for all the advice.

FUN71, How long did your install take? I have done a lot of the work on my car. Having all the tools and the right installation guide is the key, I would think.

John

Fun71

I installed the top over Christmas vacation, working outside in the driveway, so I could work only from sunup to sundown, and I finished it within 5 days. This included removing the old top, digging out the old paperboard tack strip material, finding some replacement material in town, installing the new tack material, and installing the top. I think I spent as much time running around town getting supplies as I spent working on the top.

m371961

Just received my top from Hydro-e-lectric. It is a Kee top.

johnnyflames

Fun71,
What size/gauge of staples did you use? I viewed several installation videos on uTube and it looks pretty straight forward. I just need to take my time as well. Did you install in summer or winter? I was always under the assumption you do this kind of install in the summer. Something about the ability to stretch the vinyl.

John

Fun71

As I posted, installed the top over Christmas vacation. It's probably good to have the vinyl top warm so it's pliable, but as far as "stretching" it I don't know. Since you are in Michigan I probably wouldn't do it at Christmas - I was on the Gulf Coast at the time.

For the staples, I used a regular staple gun with two or three different length of Monel (rust resistant) staples depending upon which section I was working on. The ones for the front bow were 1/4" long, the trim stick and rear bow were either 1/2" or 3/8" long. Just match the staple length to the thickness of the tack strip material as best you can.

johnnyflames

Hey Fun71,
I thought you appreciate this. Went ahead and purchased a Kee top, pads, spring cables, and rear window. Even though my current top is a plastic window, I thought the glass would be best.
Two things I didn't purchase. A new well and tack strip material. I should have purchased both.
As of today, here's my status.
Old top is off. I took great care removing it. Pictures of pretty much everything.
The tack strip material in most of the bows is in pretty good shape. This is true except the front strip. It's a thin strip that runs from one side of the front where you latch the top to the pillar to the other side.

Question for you Fun71, where did you end up getting the material in town? I'm pushing for time and I know I can't get anything shipped to me overnight.

Thanks,

John

Fun71

It was a local gasket and rubber company that provides supplies for the local petrochemical industry.

johnnyflames

Thanks for the heads up.
Making progress but it never fails. There's always somethings you never think of.