Did the C4 hardtops ever come with vinyl? Will a 1987 hardtop fit a 1992? Thanks, Ron

 

Do you mean the hardtop for a 'vert?? It looks like you own a vert from your earlier post but you need to fill out your profile with the car year and model.

As far as a convertiblle hardtop, they first appeared in 1989 (RPO CC2). The earlier 87 and 88 verts did not have a factory hardtop available. All hardtops were painted body color (no vinly coating) and the interior side was flat black with a black nylon fabric headliner insert.

The location of the windshield mounting bolts changed in 89 so if you are looking at a hardtop that currently is on an 87 vert, it will have to be changed back to it's original configuration.

The factory hardtop also came with two steel brackets that attached the steel "halo bar" inside the hardtop to the body B-pillars. If you look at the inside of the door pillars you will see a flat plate with two weldnuts vertically and a horizontal tab at the bottom with another weldnut. The bracket attaches at that point and in a slot in the hardtop.

Because the 87 and 88 cars never had a hardtop, most people that modify the early verts, don't keep the steel brackets. You need them to properly mount the hardtop to your car. Installing the hardtop correctly stiffens the vert up to where it is actually stiffer than a coupe!

 

Thanks for the info, I will update my profile.

Ron

 

Hi...just wanted to expand on C4cruiser's reply. All '89 to '96 converts had the same mounting fixtures for the optional hardtop when they left the factory. When that option was introduced with the '89 model year, GM offered a retro-fit kit to install the hardtop on '86-'88 converts. If you find a hardtop for sale that was installed on an early convert, it will still go right on to an '89 and later car without any mods needed. It is the early car that was modified to fit the top...not the hardtop itself.

To fit the hardtop to any early car, the following changes must be made to the car (all bolt on): 1. The cast iron brackets on the windshield header must be changed to ones from an '89 or later car (coupe or convert). Along with those, the '89 style plastic header trim panel must also be used because the attaching holes for the top bolts are in a different spot. 2. The side soft top mounting brackets on the "B" pillar must be exchanged for brackets from an '89 or later convert. This is the mounting plate that all the top bows are bolted to. The later plates have an extra flange for mounting the hardtop. 3. The top locks on the rear convert deck lid must be exchanged for '89 or later ones. The later ones have caged nuts for the mounting bolts on the rear edge of the hardtop. That's it....all bolt on if you search out the parts on ebay, etc. If you don't do all the mods and fasten the top down correctly, the rattles and squeeks will drive you nuts.

BY THE WAY....DON'T BUY A HARDTOP WITHOUT GETTING THE SIDE MOUNTING BRACKETS THAT BOLT THE TOP TO THE "B" PILLAR MOUNTS...GM NO LONGER MAKES THEM AND THE DRIVERS SIDE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND. AFTERMARKET HAS NOT REPROED THEM YET.

 

he might have what I've got actually.

smoothline makes custom hardtops that fit the early c4s. They offer a vinyl covering.

in that case it might not be possible to make it fit a later c4 since it was designed for the early cars right from the start.

 

The Smoothline top does have a vinyl covering as an option, but that particular top has no internal "halo" bar like the GM factory top. So no worry about the side mounting brackets as they aren't used but the Smoothline top does nothing to stiffen the 'vert body like the OEM hardtop does.

The Smoothline top is designed to attach to the windshield frame and ther rear deck using the factory mounting points so you would have to make the same mods to the 86-88 model year windshield brackets.

 

The Smooth Line Hardtop will fit all C4 verts without any modifications. It is also available with a Haartz vinyl covering.


It is true that the Smooth Line does have have the "halo bar" but we have had many customers say that the hardtop seemed to stiffen the car and improved the handling.

The advantages are that it is lighter weight and is faster and easier to put on and take off.

Gary , Smooth Line

 

never seen a smoothline top...but it has to be easier to install/ remove than a factory top. That's why there are so many OEM tops for sale...people never wanted to re-install them

 

One thing nice about the factory top is rollover protection and some road course tracks allow you to run with it installed, but you have to have the side mounting brackets installed. They check. Most road course tracks don't allow verts without roll bars or the factory top.