I'm taking off the vinyl top on my 84 Cutlass. How does a person get that foam pad off that's under the vinyl? It's stuck on pretty good!

 

Razor blade scraper and lots of elbow grease.

 

You might also try a heat gun and a flat piece of scrap steel.

 

LOL you do whatever you can to get it off. The paint underneath doesnt matter, but your best bet is a heat gun and a scraper like these guys said, just have patience, its gonna take awhile. LOL I powersanded mine off, of course mines a 69, so the glue was a little old

 

Ok, I have vinyl top off along with the foam and most of the glue. What should I do around the side windows? The gap around the "chrome" of the window and the side of the car seems a little wider than it needs to be...

 

Those parts are different between vinyl and non-vinyl cars. You need to get 1/4 window assemblies and rear window reveal mouldings from a non-vinyl car if you're not putting the vinyl roof back..

Don't ask why Olds did something like that. They just did.