'66 Town Landau Vinyl Top-needs replacing

[Buster53]

Harley. I will look again, I did not look at sterring column very close except on inside of the car. One of the last things on my list is to rebuild the sterring column, which will take place shortley. Thats makes more sense to me than anything else. The wire is black, maybe broken loose when brake lines were replaced. Very tight place to work in unless fender skirt is removed.These cars have a slide away sterring column and does not ground on inside of car, so maybe this is it. Thanks Buster53

[Buster53]

Harley, Cruiser, I found were wire went, It was broken loose from bolt that holds bearing in column just above rag joint. That will go away from where its located to a easier place to get at. I will install a small braided cable on inside of car to sterring column. This should give a more permanet ground that is flexable and do a better job of grounding and be protected. These little cables are cheap and do a good job can get them from parts store. Thanks Guys, Buster53

[my66cruiser]

Hi Buster,

Glad you found the mystery wire. I still don't know if my car has this wire or not. I will have to look again. Your braided wire idea sounds like a good one as long as you can still ground what needs to be grounded. Once again, Harley saves the day.

[Buster53]

Thanks fellows

[my66cruiser]

It has been a while and I have been enjoying my T-Bird, albeit with black duct tape on my worn and old vinyl top just to keep the water out. Well, my car is now somewhat apart in order to restore the top. I have removed the necessary interior trim, rear seats, weather stripping and weather stripping channels, drip rails, front windshield left, right, and top trim. Sure has lots of trim.

The roof had some surface rust - most of it on the passenger side than the driver side. So I have half surface rust and half parchment paint/adhesive on top. This is the original car color but car is now metallic light blue now. The sides where the Landau bars and beltline trim are look very well - in great shape. Some small rust holes at the lower part of the rear window where the vinyl roof was, but easy repair there. I also will be restoring the two headliners in the car as the vinyl has separated.

Now, I would like to know if you agree with my procedure for the next phase to restore the roof. I am not an expert, not even a novice so please let me know if this sounds alright.

1) Remove all adhesive and residual foamy bits.
2) Sand everything down to either metal or good paint. Use a wire wheel to clean out channels at sides of roof.
3) Rust Paint everything with Eastwoods rust paint or other.
4) Repair small holes with whatever one repairs small holes with. Any suggestions, fiberglass gel and hardener, bondo? What is the best small hole repair filler?
5) Apply second coat of black rust paint.
6) Install new vinyl top and put everything back together. Of course one can leave off the vinyl and just paint but I like the original look.

Also, any suggestions for the foam that is used under the vinyl top? Or is it okay to not use any?

Thanks for your help. My car sure looks interesting with a light blue body, parchment sides of roof with some foamy fuzz hanging on, half rust color and half parchment roof. Thanks.

[Buster53]

Cruiser, be sure and check around rear glass channels. if you see any rust take a pick and see if has rusted to the inside of car. If not bad clean out and apply a rust inhibiter paint to stop it from rusting againand fill with small amount of fiberglass filler. Don't use old chrome clamps when your ready to put chrome back on get new ones at parts store they are cheap. Get some help to reinstall top. Fold new top in half mark the center on hood of car frist. Do frist half then second half. Let glue dry before starting about 15min both sides.Don't glue edges this will be the last part. There is going to be a lot of excess to trim off go slow as to not under cut, here is where more is better. Then glue edges down. Luck call if I can help 8033087659 buster

[my66cruiser]

Hi Buster53,

It is good to hear from you. Thanks for the advice about the rear window channel and the clips. I did not remove that trim yet as I left that for last. But I will be soon.

I attached two pictures of the roof so people could see. The vinyl top that I removed was installed underneath the drip rails - a quality job. But I am not sure if it was the original top since some of the fasteners to secure the drip rails were rivets and some were screws and one was missing. So it probably was replaced once before.

I have a question about the top moulding of the front windshield. When I removed it, two of the clips came out from underneath the rubber window gasket. Do these clips just press in under the rear part of the rubber?

Thanks

[Buster53]

There should be some pins that look like nailheads that the clips fasten to. The new clips will be a little tight at frist but that is what you want. When new top goes on fold the edge down so it goes under pin and pin protrudes threw top, this will secure the top. Put glue in channel so viinyl will stick. Here is where you don't want a lot of excess, so cut off what is not needed before gluing. The window channels, throw those wore out screws away and put proper size pop rivet in holes where screws came out. Remember outer channel around window covers the vintl also fit so they hold new top down, after a good fit is done, put rivets in to hold in place. Door gasket tray has a seal under it also, parts store has stick on weather strip, get 1" wide tape and stick to its back before putting this back on, then door gasket. If door gasket is bad replace it will keep wind noise down and car cooled if not leaking.Buster

[my66cruiser]

Hi Buster53, Once again, thanks. I do see all of the "nailhead" looking fasteners for the clips. My old clips are not in the best of shape so all of them will get replaced with new ones.

To all of you replacing the vinyl top, just get it in your head that the vinyl top hugs the body all around. It does not go on top of any thing except painted steel. There are no reliable short cuts.

When I removed my rear window trim I noticed that the black window sealant was on top of the vinyl, obviously. So I did not pull out the last inch of vinyl under the trim yet since this would remove the sealant. The window may have gotten loose and I am not ready for paint yet. My car is covered but still outdoors. It is hard to clean out inside the front and rear channel with the rubber window gasket in the way. I have to think about this to see if I can do it without removing this. If not, off it comes.

I am still debating on a new vinyl roof or a painted roof since now I can do either at this stage of the game. I love the vinly look..it is classy. But with a vinyl top you don't know if it is letting water in until it is too late. Once you see the bumps in the vinyl, you have a nice rust issue. Though I suppose one can prevent this by replacing the top before it cracks and lets water in.

One last question, when stripping away the rust, is there a lead dust concern with Thunderbird roofs. Where on the roof was lead used if it was to smooth out the spot welds? I guess to be safe the correct mask should be used. You only have one set of lungs and one brain.

The rear vent trim was pretty heavy and is actally three sections (left, middle, and right) attached by Philips head screws to each other and secured to the car by five integral studs into the trunk. I love the heavy trim since you will never have a modern car with "Heavy Metal" trim like this again.

[Buster53]

Go by any paint store and ask for the swab test kits for lead, most paint stores carry them. Just break swab and rub on surface and watch for color change.

[Buster53]

I was thinking about what crusier said about lead paint used in th auto industry and about the safty of repairing these auto's. Any time that you use paint or sanding paint respertory protection should be used. Any time when repairing brakes respertory protection should be used.(asbestos) I used to work in a shop, and many of the mechanics blowed the dust of with air, and I would exit the shop and go outside and raise hell with my boss. The dust my take hours to settle down or longer.(lungs destory'ed. May as well be smoking)
Wash brakes and parts off with soap and water,then dry off with air. As we get older, we should think we get smarter.(duh) There are so many things that can hurt us, even at home and so simple to protect ourselfves. Even the oil and fluids from autos can cause cancer. Maybe not today, how about years down the raod. Most chemicals have a 20 year exposure limit before they hurt us, maybe shorter. Think before you do.