E-type Series 1 or 2 Convertible Top

 

Assuming you have the necessary parts & hardware, which I will describe in boldface as we go,  you should get ready by cleaning and refinishing the top framework.  In my case for instance the Top skin is black inside & out, so I painted my frames a satin black enamel.  The original color is, I believe, gray, which will work OK if the inside of your top is tan or biscuit.

 

You should finish the inside of the Headboard (headliner) using vinyl, fabric, leather or etc. of the appropriate color.  The chrome bezels in the headliner, if being reinstalled, should be in at this time, since they have to be peened in place before the Top is covered.  Also, do install temporarily the 3 latches so as to get the approximate stretch on the Top skin when installing.  If you have a Top Boot cover, lay it over the back of the cockpit and mark the location with grease pencil or a bit of Masking Tape of the 4 sheetmetal J-Hooks sewn into the rear hem of the Boot Cover.  If you don't have (yet) a boot cover, measure from the centerline of where the wooden strip would lie under the back lip of the cockpit about 16.5 inches for the inboard pair and another 5.5 inches for the outboard pair.    

   

 

The frame should be installed permanently by the 4 pivot-screws.  The skinny frame-arms are held to the lower sidewall of the cockpit by fancy chromed special bolts.  Depending on what material the side finisher panel just behind the door is, you might need a washer or two as a spacer so the arm doesn't scrape the material.  In my car, forinstance, this panel is just sheetmetal padded slightly with foampad and covered with cemented-on vinyl and is slippery enough so the arm doesn't scrape, but if you have hairy carpet there, chafing is a problem.  The 2 upper pivot bolts are actually special shoulder-bolts, (I am guessing) about 3/8 inch diameter, threaded at the end with what appears to be about a 1/4-28 short thread.  As the pivot-bolt goes in, a washer should go before & after the big pivot socket and the bolt screwed home.  Screw-on the 2 chromed plates which comprise the finisher and mounting pegs for the optional hardtop.  Check that the frame folds in and out properly and appears lined up with the windscreen upper edge.  Latch the front of the Top in place over the windscreen.  There will be a rattly amount of slack since later on a weatherstrip rubber will be stuffed into the channel at the front of the headboard.

 

A wooden strip is attached by small screws from the underside of the rear cockpit lip.  If you have upholstery in place, you may have to take it off to reattach the wooden strip.  This wood strip needs to be in good condition because the rear edge of the skin is nailed thereupon, and when the skin shrinks in the folded position, it may take a good deal of stretch and stress to re-stretch the skin.  Rainwater also collects under the wooden strip causing dry-rot, wet-rot, etc., and eventually the wood crumbles.  The (new) wood, if you can get one factory-cut, may have to be whittled and trimmed for a smooth fit.  I bought new wood once, in 1975, and I believe it came in 3 pieces - a center strip and a couple of more recurved end pieces.  Nowadays I substituted plastic-wood putty instead of real wood.  It is not visible, and it worked fine the last time for over 20 years.

 

Two strips of webbing, about 2" wide, is strung over the rear hoops of the frame.  This is not heavy-duty webbing such as belt but a soft webbing of cotton.  There will be 2 holes in each hoop corresponding to the location of this webbing.  One end of the webbing is wrapped around the front hoop and a #8 machine screw holds it in place with a chromed acorn-nut on the underside.  The webbing is visible inside the cockpit and so is the acorn-nut, so it may be a good idea to consider the color or deterioration of the webbing, if original.  This webbing then drapes over the second hoop and is held by a shorter #8 machine screw and acorn nut.  To prevent chafing or slicing, the 4 (flathead) machine screwheads are faired by 4 finishing-washers, as the Skin rides in direct contact with these screwheads.  The spacing of the hoops should be such that their position matches the seams over the top of the Skin and the webbing ensures this spacing.  If you don't have or don't plan to use a Boot Cover, you can just nail the rear end of the webbing to the wood strip with small upholstery brads at the position where the outboard marks (22" from center) have been .  If you plan to use a Boot Cover, you will now need the 4 chromed J-brackets which will hold the back hooks sewn into the Boot Cover .  You will have to rebate the wood (carve away) enough thickness so that each J-bracket is flush with the wood.  Nail the webbing into the recess of the outboard J-bracket locations (22" from center).

 

Now we are ready to fit the skin.  Throw it over the frame and line it up into position.  The rear edge should lie more or less over the wooden strip, the front edge over the headboard, and the seam at the top edge of the rear window should line up over the rear hoop, the next seam over the next hoop.  On the underside of these seams there are flaps of material which will be contact-cemented around the hoops underlying  these seams. 

 

But first, the most important alignment is at the top rear corners of the window frames.  The beads sewn into the fabric above the windows act as rain channels to divert rain.  The flap of material below the rain-beads and going behind the rear edges of the windows are to be cemented to the inner face of the window frame, which is a portion of the metal framework.  A good fit here is essential.  Stretch and manipulate the material so as to achieve a good fit at both sides upper window corners and at the lower corners where the material makes a small outer flap which drapes over the bodywork, and a larger inner squarish flap which will snap onto a "lift-the-dot" peg mounted on each chromed hardtop mounting plate.  A pair of female "lift-the-dot" fasteners should now be installed on the inside flaps at the spot where the "lift-the-dot" peg is located so that the material is fairly taut and centered at the window corners as described. 

 

When you are sure that the material is lined up at the windows, pull in the slack at the back edge and tack the rear edge onto the wooden strip with a few small upholstery brads.  You should have a chrome finisher strip about 5 ft long recurved to match the contour of the wooden strip and a few inches forward thereof, and a skinny black vinyl piping, or filler-bead which will begin under and behind the chrome finisher and fill as much as possible the gap between the wood strip, the chrome finisher and the bodywork.  A bit of trial fit before nailing the skin on with the brads, forming a smooth line about 1 to 1/2 inch apart will give you idea of how it all comes together, and don't put so many nails in so they get in the way of the screws we'll be putting in.  The nails should be located so that they would be fully covered by the chrome finisher.

 

After you nail the rear edge of the material, screw on the 4 chromed J-brackets with the hooks facing up.  The fit should be such that the J-brackets lie over the material in the rebated woodwork and are flush with the fabric surface, and will protrude evenly and squarely above the edge of the finisher strip.  The 4 J-brackets are screwed onto the wood with 8 (stainless) flathead #4 wood screws.    Taking care that it is centered, the chrome finisher strip and the underlying vinyl piping is now screwed-on with 10 chrome (stainless is better) short oval-head #4 finishing screws.  If you have good wood, or a good plastic substitute, the screws need be just long enough to go thru the chrome strip, thru the fabric and into the wood.  If wood will not hold properly, you may have to drill into the underlying metal and use longer screw where necessary to ensure a good grip.  The end screws fit in an area where there is no wood and actually into the metal.  A good sharp drill is needed to make a screwhole, or if you're lucky, your chrome will just fit into the holes previously left over from the original.

 

If you are missing the vinyl piping, or if the gap between the edge of the material, the wooden strip and the bodywork is too wide, you could take a long strip of vinyl about 1 inch wide, fold it lengthwise, lay it so the folded edge covers the gap as smoothly as possible.  Tack it on in several places to keep it in position until you screw the finisher chrome on.

 

Now to the front.  Pull in the slack and put a nominal amount of stretch to the material at the front to achieve a nice fit.  They say that vinyl tops will in time shrink more than fabric.  Mark with grease pencil (or chalk, for fabric tops) where the forward edge of the material laps over the front edge of the headboard, which is sheet-metal at this point.  Go into the car and release the forward clamps and the "lift-the-dot" fasteners below the window rear edges, and partially fold the top so as to have enough slack to wrap the forward edge of the material over the headboard at the marked edges and clip it in place with 20 or so spring-steel clips as used in other parts of the car, with the sharp horns facing UP.   You should not need to apply any cement.  Trim the excess forward material, contact-cement into the channel in the forward edge of the headboard the sponge weatherstrip that seals the headboard over the windscreen, and snap the front chrome finisher strip over the 20 or so clips (should just click-on).

 

To complete the installation, close the top at the front with the clamps making sure there is a good fit above the windscreen, snap-on the "lift-the-dots," then go outside and grasp the material overlap at the rear edges of the windowframes, pull it forward and around the window frame edge, and fasten it with contact cement.  Apply each chrome finishing strip over the corner of the material at the rear of each window edge with several sheetmetal screws so that the finisher strip is flush tight against the rear windowframe and helping to grasp the material firmly against the metal edge.  Cut away any material protruding inside under the finishing strips.  Again go inside the car and (thinking ahead and pre-fitting) wrap the material flaps overhanging from the 2 crosswise seams about each of the hoops and fasten them with contact cement.

 

You should have a new weatherstrip to cement onto the upper & rear edge of the windowframe to keep rain from getting over the window when rolled up.  With the top up in place, cement the weatherstrip along the top and curving around the back of the windowframe.  It will be in 4 pieces to move with the mechanism, but it's a nicer fit if one cements the strip in one piece, and once cemented, slice it at the segments with a sharp scalloped bread knife.

 

In  my new-top kit box, I found a quaint narrow strip of soft black vinyl or leather, finely sewn,  some 5 or 6 ft long, with a pair of finishing metal ferrules.  I have never seen this before, but my car is yellow and has a black top.  When the top is up, one can see that where the black interior upholstery ends at the rear and before the material begins, there is a yellow strip of naked bodywork all along that entire space.  It looks clean enough, but I was going to paint that edge flat-black.  This vinyl strip, I suppose,  can actually be cemented along that edge  to present a upholstered finish, and may even keep the plastic window from scraping along that edge at times when the top is folded and flapping. 

 

Follow the procedures as in the owners manual for folding & unfolding the top.  In series 2 cars with the taller seat backs, it is necessary to tilt forward the seat back a bit so the corners of the top frame do not dig into the seat back as  the framework articulates.  Take care that the material is pulled up and away from the framework as the top folds so the material won't be pinched and scissored by the frames and the plastic window folds smoothly under the hoop.  One time the chrome finisher strip at the back edges of the windows wasn't flush enough and separated just a small fraction of an inch, enough to slice into the material as it folded just behind it.  I think we failed to let loose of the "lift-the-dot."  Result that the material was slightly sliced, and the chrome strip was bent outward as a sharp edge, creating a mess.

 

I don't think I haven't forgotten anything.  If one has all the ingredients on hand, this should take 2 or 3 hours.  My favorite saying is, however, as my wife will attest, "There's always a complication!"

 

Andyzak

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