Attaching a hardtop
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 236
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From: Mobile Alabama
Attaching a hardtop
I recently bought a hardtop for my vert. The car didn't come with a hardtop so I'll have to buy the brackets, bolts for bracket & wrenches. Does anyone know the thread size and different lengths of the bolts , wrench sizes and will the rear window defroster wiring hookup be there even if car did not come with hardtop and if so where is the defroster hookup? The top has approx 2 feet of wire on both sizes with connectors. Top appears to be in good shape except for headliner is missing. Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Thanks
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 34,873
Likes: 487
From: Lacey WA RVN 68-69
NCM Sinkhole Donor
According to his profile, it's a 90.
On the inside of the B-pillars. you can see the three threaded holes where the hardtop brackets will attach. You can match a metric bolt up with those so you can buy the necessary 10 bolts and washers. But when you find the brackets, you may also find that they come with the OEM bolts.
The OEM bolts need a Torx T-40 socket to tighten everything except the encapsulated bolts that are already in the locating pins at the rear of the hardtop. Those two bolts are 5/16 or 10mm. There are two encapsulated bolts in the windshield header (part of the soft top attaching brackets) that are also T-40. The various accessory catalogs carry a version of the factory ratchet that came with the hardtop.
For the wiring, there should be a large orange wire with a connector in the harness that is under the carpet and between the passenger side shoulder belt post and the forward hinge bolt for the soft top frame. That is the hot wire. On the driver's side, cars that had the hardtop as a factory option, had a ground wire attached to the driver's side shoulder harness post. Because your car didn't come with a hardtop, you will just have to find a good ground and attach a wire with a connector.
But you may find the defogger may not work. IIRC, it depends on what HVAC system the car has. The standard system used the heated mirror button to power the hardtop defogger, but the C68 Climate Control Head had two different versions with different buttons based on having the hardtop or not.
Do not try to drive the car with the hardtop installed without using the two steel brackets. The vert body will twist enough that the hardtop locating pins can rip the decklid brackets out and damage the lid. The purpose of the brackets is to attach the "halo bar" inside the hardtop to the body to stiffen everything up. With the hardtop installed properly, the 'vert is actually stiffer than a coupe (and quieter!!).
Here's the OEM attaching instructions:
On the inside of the B-pillars. you can see the three threaded holes where the hardtop brackets will attach. You can match a metric bolt up with those so you can buy the necessary 10 bolts and washers. But when you find the brackets, you may also find that they come with the OEM bolts.
The OEM bolts need a Torx T-40 socket to tighten everything except the encapsulated bolts that are already in the locating pins at the rear of the hardtop. Those two bolts are 5/16 or 10mm. There are two encapsulated bolts in the windshield header (part of the soft top attaching brackets) that are also T-40. The various accessory catalogs carry a version of the factory ratchet that came with the hardtop.
For the wiring, there should be a large orange wire with a connector in the harness that is under the carpet and between the passenger side shoulder belt post and the forward hinge bolt for the soft top frame. That is the hot wire. On the driver's side, cars that had the hardtop as a factory option, had a ground wire attached to the driver's side shoulder harness post. Because your car didn't come with a hardtop, you will just have to find a good ground and attach a wire with a connector.
But you may find the defogger may not work. IIRC, it depends on what HVAC system the car has. The standard system used the heated mirror button to power the hardtop defogger, but the C68 Climate Control Head had two different versions with different buttons based on having the hardtop or not.
Do not try to drive the car with the hardtop installed without using the two steel brackets. The vert body will twist enough that the hardtop locating pins can rip the decklid brackets out and damage the lid. The purpose of the brackets is to attach the "halo bar" inside the hardtop to the body to stiffen everything up. With the hardtop installed properly, the 'vert is actually stiffer than a coupe (and quieter!!).
Here's the OEM attaching instructions:
