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You always stretch my mind a bit, JD! I went back to the RPO again, it seems that 33U might have been Driftwood for Cadillac, but for 1984 Corvette it's bright red! That's great news, since it means the car is still the factory color and much easier to match.
Since the car is in decent shape to the back of the doors, I can now buy a kit to refinish the bright red just for the back end of the car. I'd always wondered about what a perfect job they'd done, since there's no sign of any other color.
Grrf. Now it all makes sense, paint color doesn't stay the same, even within GM. They use the same number for different colors from year to year. Nice to find out something that I'm sure every other person on here already knew .. sheesh.
I really don't have any idea what the year of the gas door is. I bought it used and it said it fit like 1984-1986 or the like. I'll probably pull the emblem off it and keep the rest in case of disaster.
BTW, here is a site that allows paint color lookup for pretty much any year and model of car. Foreign and domestic.
Aha! Now that makes sense. Yeah, GM changed the bright red in '85 "to look more attractive" according to the '85 Corvette Motorweek review, lol. So, I'm guessing your sample is of the '85+ Bright Red (code 81), which doesn't match the 33u your '84. Maybe get your hands on a sample of 33u red to confirm.
I'm wondering how difficult it would be to get my hands on an Admiral Blue fiberglass top, because that would really come in handy come summer in this here desert...
Aha! Now that makes sense. Yeah, GM changed the bright red in '85 "to look more attractive" according to the '85 Corvette Motorweek review, lol. So, I'm guessing your sample is of the '85+ Bright Red (code 81), which doesn't match the 33u your '84. Maybe get your hands on a sample of 33u red to confirm.
I'm wondering how difficult it would be to get my hands on an Admiral Blue fiberglass top, because that would really come in handy come summer in this here desert...
Should be no problem at all, JD - to get a new top. As long as you have plenty of bucks to spend ..
I believe it's the clear coat on the transparent top ageing. Do a search, you will find that you need to wet sand your top to get rid of the lines. From what I have read you can spray a new clear coat or just buff. Depends on how deep you have to sand to get the scratch lines out. My top, purchased in 2001, is showing this crazing along the front edge.
my 85 was like that, I used carbon fiber vinyl for awhile...worked great...when I repainted the car, had them paint black underneath and car's color on top.....have no problems with it...
And yet, my car came with 2 different tops... one of which had already cracked through. And the other was just crazed when I got it.
Over course of owning it, the second which was crazed, did indeed split open, and begin to leak. It didn't even make it 2 years before it started leaking either. in the last 2 months, the cracking got so bad that you could count the number of new cracks every week, and come up with an ever bigger number. The last crack before the Acrylic top I bought came in, you could actually push with your finger, and widen it.
I didn't give the third top that opportunity. I bought a fiberglass top at the first chance I got. Funny I've not had a single problem out of that top.
Clearly I must have been hallucinating, and acrylic and lexan plastic never ever goes bad in direct sunlight and weather.
Maybe if you park your car in a garage, it won't rot.
Put one of those craze top equipped cars out in a southern summer then let it go through a couple winters. We'll see how long it lasts you then.
Here's a fun experiment for you if you don't want to risk your top.
Buy some lexan at lowes or home depot. Set it outside.
Observe what happens to it, as it ages. Particularly after it begins to craze. Notice how brittle it becomes? That's what your top does, as it ages. As the top flexes from various forces put to it from the car's structure, that brittle plastic? Is going to break eventually.
The roof is a structural member of the car. The lens, flexes at a different rate than the metal frame it's attached to. It also expands and contracts differently. Throw in uv and temperature damage and you get a cracked roof eventually.
Hell ALL plastic does it to some degree or another.
I have seen quite a few that were cracked. I suspect like you stated that all the plastic will do it at some point.
I think the difference might be the type of crazing/crack. The cracks I have seen are generally an almost straight crack of about 1 to 2 inches long and starting at an edge of the roof going inward. I have seen several like this. You can see them from inside or outside. These are the ones that will leak and the structure has failed.
The crazing that I have seen are like small lines of about 1/8 or 1/4 inch or so that are at random orientations and spread uniformly across the entire roof. There can be a lot of them. At times it is really hard to see them, but they sparkle in the sunlight when viewed from inside the car. These are the types that I have had, and they never caused a leak or any problem. I am not sure if these are in the plastic itself or if they are in the outer coating (which a refinish might take care of).
my 85 was like that, I used carbon fiber vinyl for awhile...worked great...when I repainted the car, had them paint black underneath and car's color on top.....have no problems with it...
that looks pretty good IMO. how does that adhere? peel and stick?
did you learn any tricks putting yours on? how about around the front and sides? did you just trim with a razor blade near the black panel trim?
I will admit it took two tries.....lots of video's on how to do it.....any car autowrap joint will do it for you for a few bucks....cut it with a razor blade....
I have a nice clear blue Melrose top from an '84 to sell but... the problem is packing and shipping. The costs for commercial packing, which is the only way to go if you want it in one un-cracked piece, is $175 and shipping by UPS can be $250 from Denver to either coast and that is without insurance!
