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Convertible top dismantling in progress

To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: Convertible top dismantling in progress
From: Spitfire 1500 <s1500@comcast.net>
Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 20:31:04 -0600
Wow, this was harder than I thought it would be. Thankfully, I am doing 
this in the comfort of my laundry room.

The 8 pop rivets holding the 4 plastic covers on the ceiling are THE 
most difficult pop rivets I have ever removed. The final method to do it 
was ugly, but effective. Using a cutoff wheel, I Dremeled a grid on the 
cap of the pop rivet, a lot. This effectively weakened it so I could 
bend it upward. Careful consideration was made to not etch into the 
plastic underneath. After the cutting was done, I could scrape off the 
cap til there was no more. THen you push it through all the way.

Sadly, one pop rivet is still hanging on. Okay, a ring of it is STILL 
embedded inside the lever. Any hints on how to remove this? Looks like I 
  might need to take a trip back to the garage to find a super-tiny 
needle file.

Add to the fact one of the screws was not wanting to be unscrewed out. I 
had to cut it off. These screws holding together the ragtop almost 
seemed like they were designed to be flathead-screwdriver resistant. You 
could barely get a decent-sized screwdriver in the slot, and then it 
fights back by just freely rotating, with a nut i have yet to see a tool 
be able to remove. I guess I could cut a notch in a gasket scraper or 
something.

Then ahead of me is the task of getting those smaller pop-rivets out of 
the headliner for a much needed repainting.

And already, despite how many notes I took, forgot the orientation of 
the middle horizontal rail. Ugh.


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