Refurbish TR6 hardtop

[BWA]

I helped a guy fix the rust on his TR6 and he graciously gave me a factory hardtop for a TR6.
The headliner is torn and I am going to order various bits and pieces from the Roadster Factory to refurbish the top.
I noticed that the rubber seals are glued in so I am assuming that I will have to replace them after I remove them to get the headliner out and to replace it.
My question is about the fuzzy door seals, are they glued in also?
If they are then they may not survive the removal process.
I would like to hear from someone that has done this so that I do not order stuff that is reusable.
Thanks
Byron

[phil73]

My advice: If you're doing the headliner in a hardtop, replace all the rubber and seals as a matter of course.

Now...the fuzzy door seals aren't technically part of the hardtop so not certain you'd have to do anything to them when you're fiddling with the hardtop itself.

[tr250]

Normally the fuzzy seals are a pinch channel that you tap lightly to push it onto the channel. It remains put pretty well without any glue

[oppositelocksmith]

The only seal on mine that is glued on is the very front header seal. The seals along the upper fender edge might be glued in, but I don’t remember and it’s currently installed.

[dingle]

Byron-Maybe slightly off topic, but I suggest that you run a tap (5/16"-24) through the front bracket holes before installing the new headliner. The brackets contain caged nuts and if they are rusty, the nuts will spin in the brackets when attempting to tighten the bolt. It is much easier to deal with the problem without the headliner in place.
Berry

[Steve]

Tapping the captive nuts is a great suggestion, that would be a bummer if you had to go back after fitting the headliner. I'll suggest that some sound deadener (pick our brand, I used RattleTrap), the difference is massive. Also, practice folding some cloth or paper around the B pillar, I found that the trickiest bit of the whole operation. Oh, and have a few boxes of Acco binder clips handy!

[Steve]

Oh, I didn't do the sound deadener under the cross supports, didn't seem to have enough room. And the supports are not all the same! Take your time and it will be great when you are done. I love the TR with the hardtop, its rare that I take mine off.

[tr250]

Dayemn that car looks great

[Steve]

Thanks, she's my baby, the hard top makes it such a nice drive in the Spring and the Fall. I take it off so infrequently I forgot how great the TR6 exhaust sounds while I had it off to do the headliner. When I got the top I had it dipped and e-coated and a friend color matched it to the car. I need to find a decent pair of chrome trims that go around the c-pillar at the back, the one I sourced from the big three are all too short.
So should a 69 have a hardtop? I don't care!

Oh, BTW BWA the GT6 grills fit really well. If I think about something long enough the details eventually come back!

There is a nice looking hard top on Long Island CL right now, if I had space I'd grab it as a spare! NFI

https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/p...259446478.html

[tr6harris]

If they are the original door seals, I suggest you save them.

I have found NO ONE who has the original style.

Save, preserve and reuse them.

[BWA]

I am slowly moving on the fitment of this top to my car.
Today I removed my soft top and I noticed something.
On the top of the windshield there are two rubber plugs that I removed.
Inside you can see a 5/16" hole but this hole does not go thru the bottom of the top rail.
This car never came with a hardtop so I am assuming that these holes will have to be drilled out for the fasteners.
This drilling process does not look like it will be very easy as the underside of the rail is not flat.
The drill bit will wander over at an angle and the hole will not end up in line with the upper hole.
Has anyone had to do this that could give me an idea of tackling this?



Thanks
Cheers
Byron

[oppositelocksmith]

Byron, poke at it with an awl, but I believe you are only going through vinyl. I think we cut out the hole with an exacto knife.

[Sandcruiser]

You can feel the holes through the vinyl and just poke through and then use a drill or such and open it to size. Then you run the bolt through.

[baws]

Oppositelock and Sandcruiser are correct. TR6's sold without hardtops came with plugs in the top windscreen cap and just the vinyl trim covering the holes at the inside, top of the frame.

[BWA]

Thanks guys I followed your instructions and it worked.
I finally got the top installed and it was quite a battle.
The front bolts were a beast to get into the captive nuts.
The top does not fit the car very well.




When I first installed the top I bolted it on the sides and the back.
I measured the gap at the back and it was 6mm on both sides.
I then removed those bolts and bolted the front down so it was snug.
I then did the side bolts and found the brackets needed a lot of fiddling and persuasion.
The back bolts were very difficult.
I only got one in and it did not want to thread in very easily.
You can see from the photo that the gap has increased a fair amount.
Both sides measure 10mm.
As you can see from the photos that the window on the passenger side has quite a gap at the top.

These fitment issues come from something that I failed to fix when I originally restored the car.
When I got the car I noticed that the rear gap on the doors was wider at the top than at the bottom.
I thought this was due to the fenders not being installed properly.
When I worked on the frame I reinforced the frame and repaired the rust under the t-shirt.
When I put the body back on I discovered that the rear door gaps were bad.
I pondered this a long time and came to the conclusion that the back of the frame was slumped down.
After some research I found I was right.
I decided not to try and fix the frame as I had already welded it up.
So I shimmed the back up and re-gaped the doors with hanger wire.
To revisit this problem to get the top to fit better looks like a lot of work.
I am not sure if I want to go down that road.
So I am contemplating the idea of selling the top.
TR6 frames suck!!!
If I would have known this in the beginning I would have properly fixed it.
Anyways that's life.

Cheers
Byron

[SapphireBlue72]

Nice car, nice top.
You could visit Lowes, Home Depot, auto parts store- walk around to get some ideas for a 'filler' for that rear top gap.
Some flexible rubber stripping could be glued to the top/adapted and painted to match. Wouldn't damage the finish.
Don't give up.

[skootch13]

The window is adjustable.