I haven't completed this project. I thought I would post some pics and detail the progress I'm making.

This came with my car. If fact it was mounted when I brought the car home:


The window rubber was in poor condition. In fact the wind was funneled right into me while driving; quite annoying.
The base rubber had shrunk and pulled off the aft corners of the top. I stripped off all the old rubber. I contacted SnugTop to see if they could tell me the source of the original supplier. I didn't receive a response. I searched on-line and bought some rubber mouldings. I'll wait until I complete this so I don't steer someone in the wrong direction or products.


I flipped it upside down and gave the interior gelcoat and windows a good scrubbing. I used some polishing compound and fiberglass wax/cleaner on the gelcoat.


The top's edges were finished out with aluminum trim, pop rivited in place. Really ugly. I completely removed this also.
I have some alternative ideas......more later.

There were a couple of tears in the vinyl top. I repaired these with a vinyl repair kit. This kit works in 2 stages. A glue/sealant then a vinyl coat which needs to be set with heat. The kit includes a little metal iron and 3 different grain sheets to press against the wet vinyl until it cures. I found this texturing to be completely unworkable. I used a heat gun and pressed the texture sheets. The end result was not a very good match but after I painted the top, one has to look closely to see the fix.



The rubber trim around the windows, I repaired where needed with a black silicone sealant. I washed the top with a cleaner to strip any oil, residue. Then wiped it down with acetone. I used Rustoleum black vinyl spray paint. It took 3 cans. My first coat, using 2 cans, left some holidays. I re-coated the following day with the 3rd can.




I spent a few hours this afternoon, fitting the top to the car. More work to do. More to come........

Nice post, thanks for sharing. I am very interested to see how our top turns out!

Very nice. How difficult is it to remove the top? How does the headroom compare to the convertible top?

btoran wrote:Very nice. How difficult is it to remove the top? How does the headroom compare to the convertible top?

The top is quite light, easy for 2 to place on car. There are the 2 latches in front. I use 2 J -hooks to hold down the rear; fastened to the convertible frame . Head room is similar.

I have some paperwork snug top sent me. Be advised that the company basically just bought the name from the original company, they have very little information. I will look it up and post it when I get home.

I know this post is a year old now, but I'm just now having my top refurbished. It's in much worse shape than the pics above so I'm having a professional do the fiberglass repair and renew the gelcoat. I'm trying to source a good base gasket for this top. Was your gasket original? If not, where did you get the one you have and does it seal well? Or can you take a close up of the gasket profile so I can see if I can find a source?

Thanks,

Jim

I also have this same hardtop and I have been searching for a source for the rubber weather seals for the windows, windshield top and the rear bottom. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Jim, I think the front gasket over the windshield is the same as for the soft top. Should be $40-50 from your favorite vendor. I have located a potential vendor for the rear base and for the roll-up widows. They are sending me samples for testing. If they work I will post the website and part numbers for you.

Thank you Sir ... I am looking forward to your progress.

Here's what I found that should be a workable solution for the base seal. The company is Restoration Specialties and Supply http://stores.restorationspecialties.com/.
The part number for the seal I found is RS103-WS and I think is actually a trunk seal but my restorer and I think it should work pretty well. It is $50 for a 25' roll.

I also ordered 4760-WS for the window seals. My restorer isn't sold on this one yet but I ordered 10' for $25 just in case.

I ordered a front bow seal same as for a convertible top from Csaba at Auto Ricambi.

My restorer says that the rubber holding in the back glass and two rear side window glasses is just a standard lock-channel rubber that he will get from his glass supplier.

I'll post pics when it is all done, should be a few weeks still.

Very interested in this project. I just picked up a top today, but it needs all the seals replaced. Also how long of j bolts did you use? Do you have pictures of them?

Yes, it has been a while since I updated this thread........

I started on this SnugTop, then it took a back seat while I had the car re-painted. I also installed Corbeau seats. It turns out that the added seat height caused my head to hit the hard top So, I don't expect to put any more effort in to this.

This IS what I did accomplish since my last post. I sanded the rear edge to create a better fit to the contours of the body.
I used this http://www.steelerubber.com/window-weat ... 70-1192-52 as the base gasket. I think this is a suitable substitution for the original. After placing this extrusion around the base, I squeezed in some black silicone to hold it. I did not use my J bolts to hold the top down but I think the seal would be OK.

The next step would be to seal around the windows. I did buy some "L" window weather strip but I don't think it will work very well. IMO, either the weatherstrip needs to be substantial enough so that the door window abuts it and it doesn't deform. OR, a jamb could be made from wood/plastic, then screwed/glued to the hardtop. Soft foam could be stuck to this to seal between the window and jamb. Similar to how your front door closes and seals.

In the first photo, you will notice there is aluminum edging which runs from behind the windows around to the front. This was simply attached with pop rivits and was pretty ugly. My thought was to obtains some flexible plastic "U" channel that could be squeezed and glued over the exposed edge.

Upon inspection of my top I see that the seal for the doors and front is one piece. I do not believe it has ever been replaced, so I do not think a standard soft top seal is correct. I am gong to try and find some seals with the same profile. I'll let you all know what I come up with. Does anyone have a picrue of the original bottom seal profile? If so please post up here.

Could someone post up closeup pics of the bottom foam/rubber seal? I am looking for the profile of the seal so I can find a suitable match.

Thanks in advance. Chris

These aren't the best looking tops but I have a tan one in good shape. The seals are there but in bad shape so I'd like to replace them. I flipped through Steele rubber but didn't really find a great match. Has anyone else found anything that works?