Will a 1992 top fit a 1995 without modification? If mods are necessary what are they? I believe the 1995 came from the factory ready to accept a hardtop, but will a 1992 top fit?

My rag top was slashed last weekend while I was visiting Virginia, (Christiansburg) and I am looking for options.

Thanks, Brian

 

How's that for christian spirit. Ironic isn't it.

 

It will bolt right on. I love my hardtop..they are awesome

 

Make sure you get all of the attaching hardware. The brackets and rear guides are a little pricey.

Mike

 

The factory hardtop (RPO CC2) will fit 89 thru 96 cars. Cars that got the hardtop as part of the factory order were delivered to the American Sunroof Company just down the road from the Assembly Plant. The tops were installed on the cars and the side windows and the attaching hardware on the top was aligned to a specific car.

Some tops may require slight adjustment of the door glass in order to fit and seal properly but other tops can bolt on with no problems. Your car alread has the front encapsulated bolts in the windshield header. The top comes with a pair of bolts and locating pins attached to the rear of the top frame. The pins fit into the locating holes that the soft top uses.

There are a pair of heavy steel brackets that attach the hardtop to the B-pillar and uses 10 torx (T-40) bolts to attacht the bracket. There should also be a slide-in protector for the decklid.

 

Thanks for your help. My car, (1995) has those heavy steel brackets on the B pillar you referred to. Is the corresponding attachment point on the top a removable bracket or is it a structural feature of the top? In other words, might it be missing from a top that I buy?

 

Here is a pic of the hardtop plant that’s just down the street from the Corvette plant.
Lightfoot sent me this pic to scan, haven’t seen him in awhile maybe he’ll stop by and say HI

 

Just the post I was searching...
I installed one on my 90 yesterday... I have a problem.
You said: "The top comes with a pair of bolts ...(the front encapsulated )"
Yes I have these bolts but the pass side one with the torx bit had done its work right ... the driver one seems engage the top but it can't be screwed up..
Also the rear bolts are in the far corners and are so difficult to reach.
I used the car for 130 miles with the heavy steel brackets bolted and the rear pins just inserted where the stock soft top sits.
Suggestions?
-Beppe-

 

In the front corners of the hardtop where the windshield bolts screw into the brackets, you will see that the brackets are held in place by screws. You can loosen the screws and the brackets will move around. You may have to set the top on the car and let the rear locating pins fall into the holes (but don't tighten the bolts) and then get either the left or right windshield bolt to just begin to thread into its bracket.

Gently raise the other front corner of the top and push the bolt up so you can see where it is in relation to the top bracket. Raise the top up enough so that you can loosen the screws on that top bracket and move it to where the bolt will line up with the threaded hole. Snug the screws up and try to get the bolt to thread in. It may take a few tries but the forward top brackets do have enough movement for adjustment so that the bolts will go in.

For the rear bolts, I use a small ratcheting box-end wrench I got at Sears. The bolt is 8mm (5/16"). Here's an example of the type of wrench I use: http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00942164000 These type of box wrenches are pretty common so you should be able to find one. I would think that FACOM would have them.

It is a PITA to get to these rear bolts but you really only have to tighten them down to where the bottom weather stripping just starts to push out from the edge of the top. Tighten the B-pillar brackets and then go back and snug up the front and rear bolts some more. You don't want to bring the top down so far that the edges of the top by the door window get so close that any body flex will cause the bottom corner of the top to hit the car body.

There was a thread a couple of years ago where somebody posted pics of the corners broken off because the top was tightend down so far. You really only need to tighten the top to where the weatherstripping is going to seal. Those two steel brackets really do all of the stiffening necessary. The front two bolts ion the windshield header need to be tight but be careful to not over-tighten. The small bolts can easily tear up the threads in the front brackets.

 

Thanks C4cruiser , Ithank you.
I think that my problem with the left front bolt is due to a stripped thread on the top femal braket... or a stripped bolt.
The brakets are lined up perfectly and i can see (from the interior of the car) the convex hole of the top inserting perfectly in the seat of the windshield ... The problem is that I turn the tork , i turn the torx an it seems to engage ...I can see the top lowering 1 mm or two then, 1/2 turn later the bolt loose the tension like a stripped bolt...
I have to remove the top to see better ...
Any chance to remove (and replace) the stock torx bolt from the incapsulated seat of the windshield?
-Thanks-
.Beppe.

 

I believe that the bolt can be removed from the windshield header by removing the plastic trim to get to the bolt. If you push the bolt all the way up (with the top off) you should be able to see some of the threads on the bolt. Are they stripped? It could also be the threads in the hardtop attaching bracket. I would venture a guess that the female threads are the ones that are stripped.

If the car never had a hardtop before, the bolts would have not been used at all as their only function is to hold the hardtop in place. Installing a used hardtop can be an issue if the female threads on the front brackets were stripped by a previous owner.

GM may still have those pieces available as replacement parts so it might be worth a look if you can find a way to access a Corvette parts book. No idea how difficult that can be in Milan!!

 

They are separate brackets that may be missing from your top!!

 

Thanks, you exactly focused the problem.
The other problem is that I'm alone on removing the top and I have no help until the next week
If the problem is in the femal top braket (mee too I think that the bolt is new beacause the old owner never had the top..) maybe I can weld a new nut ...
I will let you know...
Thanks!
-Beppe-

 

I have some pictures which shows how a removable hardtop mounts on a C4 convertible - they are posted on my C4 Hardtop For Sale Ad...

Click the link below, then click on the "...more pictures" URL
http://www.cowtownvettes.org/bp/clas...tml#C4_VertHtp

 

For those of you who are thinking of installing one of these tops on an 86-88 vert. Here is what you will need:
Change out your front windshield brackets for those from an 89-96 vert. Change out the rear deck bezels and brackets from an 89-96 vert. You will have to modify the cable release ends as the later verts connect differently. This will need to be done in order to release the convertible top. The B pillar brackets look like this:

Don't even bother getting these for your early C4 as there is no place on the body/framework for them to bolt to. I made a cardboard template that allows the lower portion of an L-shaped bracket to bolt to the shoulder belt bolt. I took it to a fabricator to have it made up in 1/4" steel.

 

Cool Picture!
My 89 roadster I just bought has a hard top and the rear window also has a rear defroster in the glass!