Hello all...


Was hoping to start a bit of a restoration on my 88 vert it really needs a lot of help I must say... Does any one have instructions on how to remove and replace the convertible soft top fabric? Looking to do it on my own in the next month or two.

Any advice or has any one managed to do it in the past?

THANKS

 

I have the same car and did alot of work to get it mint. One thing that recently happened at a local car show that pissed me off was the top release cables broke. It seems everytime I touch something on my car, it breaks I'm gonna rebuild the cable system with bicycle brake-cable parts, which I think will come out mint. I already bought the parts and am planning on doing it Saturday morning. It seemed that it isn't a cable that controlls the release, it's a thin steel wire and it's the brittle plastic wire housing that breaks, not the wire itself. Bicycle brake cable housings seem to be a perfect match for a repair. I found a similar replacement cable set-up for a later convertible but it's almost $100 and I think thats ridiculous for about $5 worth of plastic and wire. I'd like to change my top to red, but I have a reasonable local guy who does work out of a small garage close to my house, so I'm thinking I'd have him do it. I'm not sure it's something I'd want to teach myself as I go, but I'd be willing to try it if it's something not that difficult, considering the top is pretty cheap.

 

I'd love it if you took some pics of your bike cable solution and even what parts you used.. My right side cable is broken at the plastic deal as well

Good luck!

 

I have a similar issue with my cables as well hopefully I can get it all sorted out when I get the fabric top on the car! It looks like they may be a bit of an issue!

 

I'm gonna "putz around" with it today and let you guys know how it goes. The plastic cable covers have an adjuster on them and thats the KEY to how they work, once the plastic housing cracks or breaks, it creates too much "slack" in the cable and then the handle has no effect on releasing the strikers. It's important for that wire to stay rigid in the sleeve with a tight adjustment. I will take pictures and send them to all who ask, just simply leave my your e-mail address in a private message and I'll send them to you. I have a bike store down the block from me and the parts I bought were about 10 bucks. I guess N.Y.C. is good for something, you have everything at your disposal, but unfortunately so do the other 10 million people that are here This situation reminds me of window regulators I've fixed on various cars over the years, the car builders used BIKE CABLES!! Because that's what they are, BIKE CABLES!! I remember when cars used big gears to operate these things and even if an old car drove off a cliff and the window broke the motor would still go up and down. I still can't believe that on a 1988 car, the top-release would be operated by $2 cables and not power solinoids like the hatch release.

 

Well I just finished and it took a couple of hours of "putzin" and "tinkering", but it came out mint as I knew it would. I had to use a couple of plastic wire hold-downs from Radio-Shack along with my bicycle cable parts. I re-used the factory steel wire and just re-covered it with the bike break cable covering. This is how I did it: I removed the locks from the deck, then un-hooked the wire and straightened it out with Vise-Grips. Then I disconnected the plastic hold-downs (or what was left of them) and slipped everything off. I kept two factory "hooks", both at the lever-pivot. I had to make two new hooks at the lock ends, ya gotta try and keep the wire length as close to original as possible. I re-used two factory plastic hold-downs closest to the lever, because they were good. If they weren't, I would've used another two plastic wire hold-downs. There are two plastic adjusters for each side and they are a three piece unit. I re-used the larger side of the adjuster body and replaced the shorter end with a bike brake cable adjuster, it all just screws apart. You'll see as you take it apart. I took 9 pictures of everything that I can send everyone who asks. If you had a bike as a kid (or still do) this is pretty easy and it came out better than factory.

 

Did you take pictures? You should document this and post it.

 

Yes, I took pictures. I just posted 7 pictures in "My Garage", check em' out......... Now I just need new striker bezels, anyone?? There is a little MacGyver in all of us, just gotta tap the hidden genius

 

In my pictures, notice the cable spacers that have a nut, those are used at the end of the wire by the lock. Notice the white wire "hold-down" used in place of the broken factory black hold-down. I use the nut to secure the spacer in place on the white plastic hold-down. The white plastic hold-downs are pretty rigid but if they ever break I'll just switch to metal tabs, the switch would be pretty easy. I think by looking at my pictures, you can get the idea of what I did and how simple it is.

 

Any chance you can post the pics up??


THANKS

 

It takes alot of crap to put them on a post, I don't have the time or head for it. I'm too busy creating Give me a personel message and your E-Mail ad. and I'll send them to you, or if someone has snapfish or whatever crap it takes to post them in a thread, I'll send them to you and you can post them. There right there in MY Garage.

 

I found brand new latch bezels on Corvetteamerica.com and I ordered 2. They were a little expensive ($97 with shipping) but what the hell, I can't find them anywhere else so I'm kinda screwed. At least I didn't have to spend another C-note for cables, so I guess I'm ahead.

 

I added pictures of the clips I used to "My Garage". I also bought 3 feet of black break-cable covering.

 

Striker

I have an 87 which I did a new Top on a few months back. Removing the top wasn't too bad, but installing the new one you should really have someone assist you. Also ensure you get new weather stripping and install it. One problem I have and haven't resolved yet, my passenger window doesn't rest against the weather stripping on the vertical piece, about 1/4 gap between glass and rubber so i need to adjust the window. But the car is in the garage and undergoing a motor upgrade so no rush for me to fix.

Another thing I didn't like about the entire job is the rear bow. I couldn't find any clear instructions on what to do with attaching the top there. I ended up stretching the top and trimming the material back then I glued it on both the bottom of the bow where it wrapped over (not a lot of room because of weather strip) and I also used a lot of glue on the top surface of the bow where the material came over top to wrap under the bow. Not sure if that is how to do the bow, but it seems to have worked.

It can be done and will look good when your finished, best of luck...

 

Great I will try and post up the photos that cabbyboy sent me as well as a few instructions I have been able to locate on the internet.

My car has been sitting for quite a long time and the top is in shreds so I am going to be attempting to complete the job in a short while. I still need to get the seals for it.

I will make a thread as to how it goes when I get going.

 

Well, I just got an e-mail from Corvette America saying that the latch-bezels are back ordered and they don't have any, NICE!! I went on line and called everybody and only one place actually had them, Eckler's. I'll have them in three days, they told me they recently recieved a load of them, so if anyone needs them you know who has them