• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Installing a New Soft Top

Share this page

D

DesertSprite

Jedi Warrior
Offline
Hello all,

Can anyone give me some advice on what tools I'll need to install a new soft top on my '65? It appears that I'll need some specialized tools to afix the snaps/tenax fasteners to the vinyl. Other than that, it doesn't appear too difficult. However, I don't want to accidentally screw it up.

Anyone done this on their own? Or, did you guys just have a shop do it for you?

Thanks,
Joel

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thirsty.gif
 
Just one tool needed, a phone book to look up auto upholstery shops. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif
 
You can laugh Shorn, that's EXACTLY what I'm going to do!!!
I may go the velco/snap route instead of tenax, what do you think?
 
That's a good website. But, I don't have the convertible top, I have the completely removable roadster top. My big worry is about getting the snaps and tenax fasteners in the right place, and getting them to attach properly. It looks like you have to have some sort of tool that bends the metal together somehow to hold it to the top.

I'll mess around with it and see how difficult it appears.

Joel
 
Joel,

Do you have "Lift the Dot" fasteners or Tenex. I don't know what came on the earlier cars. I do know that Tenex fasteners "screw" on and require no special tools to install. The hardest part about installing the Tenex fasteners is cutting a large enough hole in the top material. I used a piece of 2X4 and a variable speed cordless drill with a sharp bit. I drilled the holes at the drill's slowest speed. To locate the holes, I simply layed my old top over my new one for the pattern.

Baz, I personally would stay away from the snaps. They can be a real thumb buster to get on if the top is cold, and they do not hold as well as the Tenex fasteners. Just my $.02.
 
Morris,

I have the tenex fasteners and the snaps to hold down the top, one per side. The car already has the "male" side of the snaps installed into the body panels. Is it possible to swap out the snaps (in the body panels) for the tenex parts?

I suppose I'll just give it a go myself.

Joel
 
For the snaps, you can buy a pack of snaps with the special tool for about $7 at home depot. I thik Victoria Rip Off and Moss Scammers try to charge $15 for the special tool alone. My top came with the tool and the snaps. I just used the Tenex fasteners off of my old top. You can unscrew/screw them with a pair of fine tipped needle nose pliers.
 
I just installed a new top on my 77 Midget. I bought it on Ebay new for 169.00 . I did the install in about an hour and It looks amazing. I installed the rear first. I then spread the fabric evenly to the header rail. once centered, I poked each hole through the fabric, starting from the center, then working my way outwards, I installed each screw. I then removed all screws, placed on the seal retainer and re-did the screws. I can't believe how easy it was, I never did this before. Good luck!
 
I have one coming from ebay (prob same source) and am looking forward to trying this out. Thanks for starting this thread up again, and for the great tip. I was wondering how easy this was going to be!
 
Back
Top