A friend and I are installing new tops on our respective TA Convertibles...his is a 91 and mine is a 92.

Today, he put his new top on and everything appears to line up but the top is way too tight and will not allow the top to fully close and latch.

Any suggestions? Are there some adjustments that we missed or is there a tried and true way to "Stretch the top" to allow it to fit better?

The top came from ASC and I believe it's original old stock. Given that it's been stored in a box for a while is it possible it shrunk?

All thoughts are welcome

 

I have gotta believe that a upholestery pro could tell you of a product that could help stretch that material. Just a guess on my part though.

The first upholestery guy I talked to told me to avoid "old stock" not for it drawing up but because of creases that would be hard to get out.

 

it's been a while since i've had a vert. . on the one i replaced ( a 57 MGA ) had the same problem . go over tight areas with a heat gun or hair dryer . go slow , take your time , the material will stretch . do not force it , go slow , sometimes a spray bottle with water on the tight spots helps . when your happy let it set in the sun for a day or 2 . then re-coat with sealer . good luck .

 

Are you for certain that the top came from that exact model year car? There were two or three different size tops on 3rd gen convertibles and depending on what year that top was actually made for it could be the wrong size. When I was ordering my new top from topsonline.com I wasn't going to trust the site's sizes 100%, I had a shop measure mine and compare it with the measurements that the website had for my model year.

 

Thank's all...... i have the 91TA . Does anyone know of a way to stretch the top.?


We used a blow dryer and have it seting in the sun hopeing this will work. It won't take much to make it work. maybe a inch

Don't want to break anything, We are doing the rear and havn't started the front part. But it's so tight

thanks

 

latch her down and let the sun do the work. if you still think you dont want to latch it, you may have to loosen it up a bit, sry. but unless you know what your doing and care about your car dont try conv.tops. it doesn't matter about how long the top has been on a shelf. it will not shrink in a box no matter what. hair dryer will work but you run the risk of vulcanizing your material. lastly not all tops of correct year are made equal. differnt companies make it diff. ways. also you didn't state if it had glass or vinyl window.

 

The guy who installed the top on my '91 screwed it up so badly, he had to remove the rivets holding the latches down. I removed the flat bar holding the front of the top fabric, took the fabric off, then reglued it a bit looser. So far, the top fits better and the latch retainers have been reinstalled correctly.

 

Tendog's top has a vinyl window.

 

I know when I ordered mine the company told me that not only did the size vary from year to year but also some cars that were the same year model had three different size tops because something about the tops were made different places. You would have probably had to measure yours before getting one to see the exact size. I would think it would stretch some in the sun though.

 

I replaced my original top 3 weeks ago. It seemed so incredibly tight that I thought something was wrong. If you close it in the proper sequence - windshield latches then toneau anchor it will become easier over time. Frankly the scary part for me was lowering it into the hold. The "flares" at the bottom seem too wide so I only lower it with two people - ensuring the the "flares" are pushed in when lowered.

 

Update....... got the top on, It's not that hard of a job. What we run into is the 1/4 panel's past the window, Can't get them pulled up to match the window seal, it's about a inch short. We pulled then off and reglued and let it set over night.


Today we finished the front[tooka hour] Went to latch it down, We got it to latch ,BUT it pulled the 1/4 panel's almost out. About 3/4 inch on one side and 1/2 onthe other.

Anyway it on, going to let it set in the sun a few day's. Maybe redo the 1/4 panel's againg This top is so tight.

We think this top may be cut wrong.[But it's close] Took the new top for the 92 TA of JWKbride and layed over my top and it matched up right like it should.

That's my story. Thank's for all the help

 

I'll be putting mine on soon and I hope after a few warm days Tendogs will strech enough to be right....like he said, it only has about 1/2-1 inch to go.

When Tendog and I do mine, I plan to document the whole process with pictures and detailed write up and will post up here.

 

im interested in your write up. It should apply to the 91-92 camaros as well, good lluck, and im eagerly awaiting the writeup

 

I plan to do mine soon also. I am interested in the pictures and process you went thru. Thanks for sharing.

 

Tnxs....I think a detailed and documented "How to" on the top could really be of some use to those who like to do things themselves. The company the top came from is putting another in the mail for Tendog and when it comes in we will probably do both tops at the same time. It might be a couple of weeks, but as soon as we get the top we will post up the documentation here.

Tnxs,
John

 

When I installed my top last fall. It's a glass window version from topsonline. It was so tight that I couldn't get it to latch either. I even stacked some heavy books on it overnight to see if it would stretch. Well it didn't. I ended up unglueing the front bow and letting it out about 3/8 to 1/2 an inch. It had only been glued for a day or two, so it didn't leave a crease or anything. Worked great after that. good luck.

 

kind of like this one??
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/conv...placement.html

 

I always found this article to be pretty good too:

http://sethirdgen.org/convertibletop.htm

 

Yes, just like this one