Has anyone installed their own vinyl top?

[70 Challenger Lover]

Wow, that looks nice. Was that an option?

I'm about to start my vinyl top in the next week or so and I'm glad to have found this post and give me some confidence that it isn't terribly hard. How tight did you try and get the top? Did it matter? How's it holding up?

I was curious about the glue. I have some 3M 77 glue that i used for the seats, but it dried lumpy and hard. You can feel it through the seat a bit. I'll check this glue out and hopefully its better.

I used Weldwood contact adhesive by DAP. It comes in a gallon can and we sprayed it. I know an upholstery guy who does amazing work and he let me help him so I could learn. He showed me a ton of little tricks and I'd attempt it myself next time but I think if I had tried it on my own the first time, there would be mistakes. I watched dozens of videos and felt good but there are little things that come up and knowing those tricks can get you out of trouble.

[70 Challenger Lover]

The best trick he showed me that I did not see on a video was how to remove wrinkles along the sides by the drip rail (the area between the A and C pillar). As you work outward and small wrinkles appear, your inclination is to pull the fabric front or rear to pull the wrinkles out. Instead, pull sideways toward the drip rails with the "grain" of the wrinkle and using your other hand, gently massage the wrinkle working outward. It seems counterintuitive but it really worked like magic. If you pull front or rear, you risk having more wrinkled material in the pillars than you can work out.

[tparker]

Yeah, that was my thought. The first time is practice. LOL. I'm not looking for perfect, but hoping for something good. The good news is I'll be an expert after I mess it up. LOL

Thanks for the pics.

[70 Challenger Lover]

I felt the same way and started by doing my own headliner. It came out really nice but not quite perfect. The very back edges weren't smooth enough and it was driving me crazy. Because the vinyl top is five times the cost of a headliner, and it's so noticeable, I wasn't comfortable winging it.

As it turned out, the guy who taught me the vinyl top offered to fix the headliner. He made me do most of the top while he played around inside with the headliner. After a little tweaking, he had the headliner looking perfect. It really turned out to be a double win for me.

You can do it though. Believe it or not, most of our time was measuring the roof and the new fabric. We drew lines down the center of both and also crossways. Once everything was perfectly laid out with lines, the actual gluing didn't take too long. I think that's even more critical on the wide seam tops because if it is off just a tiny bit in any way, it will be super obvious on where the seams lay down.

[7E-Bodies]

 I'm waiting for a top from SMS that cost me over $800 and could take up to a year to get here. I'm thinking the $300 my upholstery guy wants to charge to do this in my shop would be money well spent.  And I have actually put them on back in my autobody days, but $300 is chump change compared to what could happen.

[70 Challenger Lover]

I agree. I was happy to attempt a headliner since they are only $70 but $350 plus is a very costly mistake.

[screamindriver]

One of the biggest issues with the install is rushing the glue bond...You want the glue to be just slightly tacky{almost dry to the touch} and not too wet..Trying to bond the top to the roof too early will not only run the risk of the glue pulling up on either the top or roof if a re-position is needed...It could also make bubbles under the top from the glue still gassing out...Read the addesive directions carefully and practice on something if you're not comfortable with the process..

[fireguyfire]

I'm getting ready to repaint my 73 challenger and put it back to factory correct, including a white vinyl top.
I installed a pearl white vinyl top on a 68 charger I restored and it came out great; as said many times, they key is to be meticulous and go slow.
My question is about the roof paint under the vinyl top; I assumed most people just paint the top like a regular car and then install the vinyl top, but in a post early in this thread someone said they painted their roof aluminum before installing the vinyl top; anyone else do anything other than body paint on their roof before install?
I have some extra white single stage that I was considering painting my top and saving on the expensive body colour, but I'm still debating that.


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[70 Challenger Lover]

I put on a new roof skin so before the skin, I cleaned up all bracing that could not normally be accessed and put on a rust penetrating coating for insurance. The roof skin was e coated but I scuffed it well and put epoxy sealer down, followed by single stage acrylic urethane in body color. This was way more than the factory did but I wanted the best lasting result I could get. Extra expense was minimal but obviously it took much of my time.

[tparker]

@screamindriver Thanks for the tips. Luckily I got a spare vinyl top to practice with. My first one was sewed backwards, so they sent me a replacement.

@fireguyfire I suppose you could paint the roof while you paint the rest of the car, but the trade off is how expensive is the material? I personally coated it with POR15 and a topcoat. Not sure how well that will work. I wouldn't leave it bare though. As for the silver or aluminum paint under it, not sure how that will work with a top covering it. Silver is reflective, but not if it's buried under at top. I don't see how it would help. They do have some coatings that help with blocking the temp. I think a white vinyl top should help. But where I am where the temps get above 100, the inside is going to get extremely hot no matter what you do... unless you keep it in the shade, drop the top, turn on the AC. LOL. My white 2016 Mazda with all the modern stuff added still gets hot as heck outside.

Tom