Well, I ordered a new top from A.A. Best (www.aabestco.com (http://www.aabestco.com)) and it is scheduled for delivery on Monday. I will be attempting the installation myself, hopefully all goes well, but just in case there, is a custom upholstery shop nearby that will do it for about $500. But, being a poor college student, I'd rather do it myself; I'm done with class at 2, and that's without even skipping, so I got at least a good 6 hours of sunlight. I hope the weather holds, it's supposed to be fairly warm until Tuesday... Anyway, I will document every step of the way for other DIY's with my digital camera, and until Monday, I will be trying to get as much info as possible on the details.

Wish me luck, I think I'm gonna need it...

Good luck.

Hey Tony,
Good luck and the force might be with you.

I am thinking about doing the same in my 2000.

Hopefully everything will go fine.

Keep us posted.

I would like to see how well it goes myself. I have an 83 that needs a new top. Good luck.

You can definately be our Guinea pig

lol, I'll be the guinea pig. I didn't get the top until late Monday though, and the weather's been somewhat trivial today. I may have to wait a few more days for it to warm up a little. I got astaple gun in preparation but ran out of light due to overcast. So, cross your fingers for better weather! I'll post a "before" pic tomorrow so everyone can see how crappy my old top is...

good luck

It can't be worse than mine. I am missing the whole rear window section and the left 1/4 section. I have a garage now so I just leave the top down with the boot on.

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So this is my old top, notice the crappiness.

This is the front header bow. First I had to peel off the weather stripping so that I could get to the screws holding the retaining plates in. There are three plates, one in the front and one on each side that hold the front part of the top down.

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more pics

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After the front part of the top is peeled back, you can see the cable here. And the side pads are exposed. All of these are held in place by a ****load of staples and with some needlenose pliers are easy enough to remove.

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The front then came off easily.

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Next the screws on the two middle bows need to be removed and the long retaining piece will slide out easily from the fabric loops.

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This tacking strip holds the rear part of the top and the window piece together on the rear bow, again with some staples. It's important to note that these staples are 1/2" as opposed to the 1/4" staples everywhere else. The tacking strip is also two different pieces to allow a more cosmetic appearence (hiding the staples) after installation.

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I took the well out next. This picture shows the screws holding a retaining plate in that holds the well on the back seat. The line of screws here follows all the way around the well. The side nearest the trunk, however, is held in with a bunch of nuts that also hold the rest of the top in place. This is where I got a little confused. The other picture shows a little plastic clip that holds the well against the rear seat. It can be quickly slid off.


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This is one of the rear bolts, and the plate attached to the top after it is removed from the vehicle itself. Guess what's holding the top to the plate... more staples!

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Last is where the rear windows meet the top, there are two bolts holding in a large plastic piece that works as weatherstripping, a guide for the window, and retainer for the top. Take the nuts off and pull the piece out, and the top should be free.

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And so this is where I'm at now. The old top's gone, and I gotta put in the new one, but I ran out of light. Unfortunately, I also saw that a piece on my frame was severely damaged and completely broke in half when I was putting my top frame back in place when I was cleaning up. So, it looks like I have to find a replacement, and I have a feeling it's gonna be expensive... sucks

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Tony you're makin it look easy man. But my top still looks worse.

You almost half way there. Any lines on where to get the replacement part of your frame?

I got the part and will be replacing it ASAP, probably today sometime, then I'll start putting the top back on and will post pics within the next few days.

I got the frame part from an eBay vendor, probably a junkyard or something. I also found a website that has all the pieces but they were 3x more. I'll try to find them both and send a link

Hey Tony we're still waiting on your update how is the install going?