girvin02

I'd been searching for an acrylic top for my Corvette for some time. I hunted ebay and craigslist for a month or so, with no luck - the ones that I did find were very high priced. Then I found one for $200 that the owner claimed was in good condition (no picture in ad). After driving one and a half hours to see it, I was dissapointed to see that it was actually in very poor condition. Looking out, from inside the car, it looked like there were many hairline cracks, and the outside was very scratched up. If I hadn't driven so far, I probably would have passed, but instead made the purchase, rationing that I could always send it in as a core to one of the companies that refurbish these things. Then I did some research on the internet and saw that it is possible to refinish them yourself, so that's the route I went. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out and thought I'd post a few pics that might inspire others to go this route, should their factory tops be a little worse for wear. I should also mention that what appeared to be cracks in the acrylic must have been scratches on the outside, because they are no longer visible.

Here's an example of some of the scratches in the original finish.


I masked off the metal trim with blue painters tape and started sanding by hand, with 400 grit paper, but quickly realised that it would take weeks to get through all the factory clearcoat. So I broke out the orbital sander and the finest grit paper I could find (I believe it was 440 grit). This made short work of the clearcoat.


It's easy to see when you're through the clearcoat.


I then wet-sanded by hand, using a rubber sanding block. I used 600 grit, 1000 grit, and 1500 grit, sanding in one direction. Alternating direction each time you step up to the next grit makes it easy to seen when you are done. Acrylic is very soft, so sanding time was pleasantly short. Here's what it looked like with a 1500 finish, just before I sprayed it.


I used Rust-Oleum Acrylic Laquer "Gloss Crystal Clear". I used 3 cans and put on 3 coats (1 full can per coat). Once dry, there was a bit of an orange-peel texture. I wet-sanded it with 2000 grit paper, being careful to not sand in one spot for too long, as to not sand through the clearcoat. Then I used Meguiar's "Show Car Glaze #7", which is safe to use by hand or with an orbital sander (equipped with polishing pad), which is what I used. Once polished, any sanding flaws or missed orange peel finish will be obvious - I had to go back and hit a few areas with the sandpaper and polish again. Once I was happy with the finish, I applied a coat of Meguiar's "Hi-Tech Yellow Wax #26". Here is the finished result.


And my happy car.

1963SS

Great looking job. It's certainly a lot better than it was and you saved a bunch. I like it.

JohnnyLT1Runner

I've been doing the same exact thing on my 91's top for the past few days. It had some bad hail damage. Sanded the clear off, took care of the light paint damage. Sprayed with matte black and sanded again, hail damage gone, but noticed some cracks from the years. So I've been respraying and wetsanding to fill any rough areas and cracks. Man my arms are sore.
I hope it turns out like yours when I put the clear on.

H P Bushrod

Good job! By the way...the top is acrylic, not vinyl (couldn't resist).

girvin02

Thanks, I edited the post.

whitenow

But I found (and bought) a like-new replacement while working on mine, so I did not put in a lot of effort.

Good job!

xsalvioutlawx

Looks great! I was actually planning to do mine this weekend but was unable to find the materials at my local Home Depot. I actually bought some Rust-o-leum auto clear that I'm going to return and use the stuff you used instead.

My T-Top is in good shape as far as not having any cracks etc. The top film is mostly gone so I'm hoping I'll have no problems sanding it by hand. I also have a porter cable so hopefully everything goes well.

DA1984VETTE

Looks great...and so does the car...

navy_vette

I just posted a thread asking how to do this. 3rd post and this is where it led me! I don't know how I missed it.

This post should be a sticky! We pay hundreds getting these refurbished. Could help a lot of people!

MRPVette

Looks great working on mine now hope I am not in over my head>

MRPVette

MRPVette

MRPVette

MRPVette

PLRX

It looks great, but I am done with the clear top. I either find a regular top to swap or will paint mine silver, and add a headliner.

If there is anyone out there ready to swap a regular targa for my black-Plexiglas targa in SoCal send me a PM.

Paul Workman

Good job! But, yeah, that "vinyl" top title brought back some horrible memories from the 70s!!

I've got an acrylic top (car came with two tops) that has a cracked corner. I wonder what (if anything) could be done to remedy that??