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[TR] Convertible Top Installation

To: <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Subject: [TR] Convertible Top Installation
From: "Terry Smith" <terryrs@adelphia.net>
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2006 20:35:11 -0400
> I got the convertible top mostly done tonight.  Couple of hours.
>
> Geo Hahn wrote:
>
> >On a vinyl top (don't know if this would work with Sunfast) I first punch
a
> >3/16" hole where I want the peg to come thru.  Then I align the top piece
> >of the female fastener with that hole -- the whole works perched over a
> >hunk of soft wood such as the end grain of a very short 2x4.  I then put
a
> >length of wood dowel against the fasterner and smack it with a hammer...
> >the prongs are sharp enough they poke right thru the vinyl w/o any
cutting.
> >This gives it the holes just where they need to be and no bigger than
> >necessary.
>
> >I fit the bottom half of the fastener, press firmly in its center (to
> >assure it is tight against the other half) and fold over the tabs one at
a
> >time with the piece of wood dowel.
>
> Works pretty slick.  The only thing I added was, I drilled a hole in the
> wood for the Tenax peg to sit in, so the fastener tabs were tight to the
> wood on the bottom, when I covered the fasterner with a 1" piece of wood
and
> banged it with a small ballpeen.
>
> I also used TeriAnn's web page for the measurements for the stick webbing.
> Right on, except, as she correctly pointed out, sticks may vary, and my
back
> end measurement was 14.75", not the 15+ she lists as a starting point.  I
> was particularly grateful to her for the mention of the 4 inches that the
> front stick bow should be above the top of the windshield.
>
> When it came time to center and stretch the top, the fasteners wound up
just
> where they should be.
>
> Thank you all for your responses.
>
> Terry Smith ('59 TR3A.  Body off, body back on.  This thing is running
like
> silk, and I feel whole again for the first time in years.  By the by,
> whoever said they clutched between OD switches, I agree completely.  Never
> liked anything that happened abruptly on machinery.)
> New Hampshire, and headed for Stowe, VT in a month to taste the upside
down
> life!  (Hope to buy my VT friend on the list a beer there.)


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