Pontiac: Sunbird convertible top replacement

Hi. I have a 1990 Pontiac Sunbird convertible (with a plastic rear window
.... that just cracked from the cold) and I'm looking at replacing the top.
My dilemma: The car's only worth around a thousand bucks, and the
installation folks I've checked with are charging $550-$700 to slap the
new top on it, which doesn't make the most financial sense.

So, two questions for anyone who actually knows something about
convertibles:

1. The top is about five years old, but not in bad shape (staples coming
out a bit and it's a little roughed up on the inside, but there are no
big tears or anything).What's the likelihood it would survive the
installation of a new window?

2. I've considered installing the new top myself. While I'm decently
mechanically inclined, I've never done anything of this magnitude before;
what's the chance I end up entirely screwing the pooch during the
process?

Any advice would be appreciated, either posted here or e-mailed to me.

-tjg

Replacing a top & window is a BIG job.

I had a rear window ( plastic ) installed in a 89 Cavalier Z 24 in 1996
and it cost $180.00

The black mouldings around the edge of the top and the top edge of the
quarter panels needs to come off. You need to lay upsidedown in the
trunk to unbolt the side mouldings, The moulding around the trunk lid
edge is screwed in through the water drain channel.

There is no water drain channel for the top like cars had in the 50's -
70's. The top on your car is tacked to tackstrips that are attached with
rivets to the outside of the body.


With the mouldings off you'll reveal the tacking holding the top &
window in place.
The Windlace Trim strip & two screw in caps across bow # 3 on the
outside of the roof also comes off. ( if equipped - it was eliminated on
the glass rear window tops 1993-95 )

Remove ALL the tacks from the top & bottom of the window.

After removing the tack strip & tacks out of bow #3 the top can be
flipped up to reveal the inside of bow # 3. The top edge of the window
and the side pads are tacked in place. remove all of them & the window
will come out.

One trick some shops do - instead of removing the window tacks at the
bottom of the window they slit the window with a razor, leaving about 1
1/2 inches of your old window in place, then they retack the new window
over the old yellowed edge of the old window........tell them you want
the entire window removed from the bottom tack strip !

Its IMPORTANT that ALL the tacks or staples are REMOVED from the tack
strips & bow.......this is where you seperate the guys who know what
there doing and the guys that are just installing something.

The problem with leaving the old staples or tacks in is they tend to
break off and poke new holes in the window or top when its
reattached...more chances of leaks from more holes. All tack holes need
to be sealed too !

One problem with multiple tops, all the staples or tacks chew up the
tack strips. This weakens the strips & the new staples don't grip as
well. TAck strips on your car are a hard rubber / plastic.

I've done a little bit of work on the two convertibles I've had. Its not
fun. The biggest concern is when I'm done is the car going to leak after
the first rain or car wash?

Work I've done on convertibles;

1. Replaced Bow #1 ( Header Bar ) & weatherstrip due to both rusting
out. 68 Buick.

2. Replace all weatherstrips on Z 24

3. Repair top motor - Z 24

4. Retack & reseal lower portion of rear window - Z 24.

5, Replace quarter panel tack strips - Z 24.

Adding a new top if you really don't need it isn't going to increase the
value of the car. I wish I hadn't had the top put on mine in 1999. but
I did need a new window in 1986.

The replacement tops for the Sunbird / Cavalier do not have the silence
flaps that tuck in around the weatherstrip on back portion of the
quarterwindows. They are sewn into the corners of the top and GM found
out this was a common area for tearing out, so they were eliminated. If
you can slide your hand in between the canvas and the extreme lower
corner of the side windows , then your top doesn't have the flaps. There
was also a spring running through the inside of the roof in that corner
to help hold the roof material in as it folded. The springs tended to
break off & poke through the canvasso they were eliminated as well on
aftermarket tops.

The key to plastic window survival on the Sunbird / Cavaliers with the
plastic window is you have to UNZIP the window before putting the top
down..Not doing this does 2 things.

1. The window gets all crushed and creased and then has folding marks.

2. The upper edge of the top directly over the window folds over the
window and puts a scuff mark the full width of the window....you get a
new scuff mark everytime you put the top down.

Unfortunately 98 % of the people driving these cars don't do this.

One solution to avoid this is to place a towel over the window after its
unzipped. The top will sit against the towel and not the plastic.

Ask the top shop if they can sew in a strip of cloth to the well cover
and add a couple snaps to the side of the window curtian. I had attached
my towel with snap fastners so it wouldn't blow out when driving with
the back window open. which I had opened ( unzipped )most of the time.

The window is pliable so its bound to pic up some scratches from dust &
dirt & washing it. NEVER run through a car wash with brushes and NEVER
run an ice scrapper over it.


Good Luck !

=========
Harryface
=========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE, 3800 V6
_~_~_~_~275,450 miles_~_~_ ~_~_