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Has anyone figured out a way to have the Hardtop hold down in place in the rear WITHOUT installing the retaining nuts? I mean has anyone attempted to use the Convertible tapered pins with any success? I want to be able to install it and alternate it with the Convertible top without having to hassle with installing the nuts with the convertible top in the way.
I will take an uneducated guess that your car didn’t leave the factory with a hard top? I can’t figure out how to get nuts on the “threaded posts” sticking out of the bottom the hardtop, my soft top is in the way. My 73 came with special “Receiver looking nuts” on each side of the rear deck. All the vendors sell the parts needed and installation only requires drill the fiberglass and mounting the receivers. The hard part is the metal bracket with rubber cover that is mounted on each side of the hard top. No one sells them, our old friend Ernie at Willcox was kind enough to get me a used set he has. You can try a Corvette Savage Dealer. Here’s a picture
The above catalog is from Paragon, other vendors may have a better illustration. If you need a better picture let me know, and I will take a photo of my hardtop.
My hardtop has the same tapered pins that the convertible top has on it. When the hardtop is on, the pins go into the holes on the rear decklid and they latch into place.
When I want to switch to the convertible top, I pull the release lever and push up with my head against the inside of the hardtop and then slip 2 three inch squares of half inch plywood under each pin to hold them out of the holes. Then hoist the hardtop up out of the way and use the vert. top. In the fall when the weather is cooler and the soft top is no longer needed, I put the hardtop back on and then use the stainless bolts that screw into the decklid near the rear of the side windows. This keeps the top from squeaking and holds it firmly in place. Hope this all makes sense.
Duane
I had those studs on mine,you can’t get to those bolts unless you unlock the lid and lift it up
and put a 2x4 on the top of the windshield and then reach under and install the square washer and the nuts,
and then lock it down and it is very close to the top when you are all done. I removed mine and installed the points
like the ones one the convertible top. It was used in later years. It works just fine,the side bolts hold it anyway,but
if you leave it loose there is more of a chance of marking the lid. I have a horror store about lifting the whole
assembly up on my 67. The pins work just fine or GM wouldn’t have gone to them.
The above catalog is from Paragon, other vendors may have a better illustration. If you need a better picture let me know, and I will take a photo of my hardtop.
Yes please. Since I don't have the build sheet I am not sure if the car originally came with the hardtop. All I know is the driver's side locks into place but the passenger side does not and agreed there is no way to get a nut onto the threaded stud with the convertible top down and stored. The frame is in the way.
I had those studs on mine,you can’t get to those bolts unless you unlock the lid and lift it up
and put a 2x4 on the top of the windshield and then reach under and install the square washer and the nuts,
and then lock it down and it is very close to the top when you are all done. I removed mine and installed the points
like the ones one the convertible top. It was used in later years. It works just fine,the side bolts hold it anyway,but
if you leave it loose there is more of a chance of marking the lid. I have a horror store about lifting the whole
assembly up on my 67. The pins work just fine or GM wouldn’t have gone to them.
I was guessing those pins would work on the hardtop the same way the work on the convertible but I was not sure so I want to hear that someone else has done there's that way.
What "side bolts" are you speaking of? I have the windshield latches and the two threaded studs in the back and nothing else.
My hardtop has the same tapered pins that the convertible top has on it. When the hardtop is on, the pins go into the holes on the rear decklid and they latch into place.
When I want to switch to the convertible top, I pull the release lever and push up with my head against the inside of the hardtop and then slip 2 three inch squares of half inch plywood under each pin to hold them out of the holes. Then hoist the hardtop up out of the way and use the vert. top. In the fall when the weather is cooler and the soft top is no longer needed, I put the hardtop back on and then use the stainless bolts that screw into the decklid near the rear of the side windows. This keeps the top from squeaking and holds it firmly in place. Hope this all makes sense.
Duane
Duane, Thanks buddy, that is precisely what I wanted to hear. I will make up a felt rapped spacer to slide under the rear of the hardtop after releasing the rear release latch lever to keep the top from setting back in. I have designed a hoist with a wench that stores to top in my 13" tall ceiling in my shop garage so it will sit above the sectional garage door.
I will order a set of pins tomorrow.
Here are pictures of the receiver parts mounted on each side of the deck lid. The other pictures are the meta l bracket mounted on the hardtop with the rubber cover. This is the way the car and hardtop came from the factory in 1973.
The brackets are not sold by any vendors, you would have to call a corvette salvage yard The rubber cover was dyed to match the car interior The stainless steel round receiver is where the special screw is inserted through the hardtop bracket, vendors sell theses parts The receivers are on each side of the deck. I don’t use any nuts on the shafts coming out of the bottom of the hard top.
Here are pictures of the receiver parts mounted on each side of the deck lid. The other pictures are the meta l bracket mounted on the hardtop with the rubber cover. This is the way the car and hardtop came from the factory in 1973.
The brackets are not sold by any vendors, you would have to call a corvette salvage yard The rubber cover was dyed to match the car interior The stainless steel round receiver is where the special screw is inserted through the hardtop bracket, vendors sell theses parts The receivers are on each side of the deck. I don’t use any nuts on the shafts coming out of the bottom of the hard top.
I need to find those seat back bumpers also as my driver's seat has scratched the lid.
Zip Corvette
68-75 Conv Deck Lid Bumper - Lid to Seat Item #:
WS-751 $14.99 each $14.99
The 68 and 69 did not come with the seat back bumpers. Obviously they can be added. The 68/69 seat back shell did not come up high enough to touch the lid IIRC.
If your car came with the hardtop, there would be a hole in the middle of the deck. Only 68 did not have the hole.
My 69 with head rests does t have that bumper. But it will soon.
it’s a great improvement. It doesn’t have the hole in the center of the lid or the top.
early car maybe that’s why.
Hardtop question
