Vinyl top installation .....

Tonight my buddy Tom and I went ahead and tackled the canopy vinyl roof on my '75 Dart Sport. I had purchased a twenty dollar chunk of marine vinyl at a fabric store, the kind with a webbed backing. Originally I had some thick stuff with a fuzzy backing but realized it would be too thick to fit under mouldings. I didn't take any photos, but I'll take some of the finished product.

I searched high and low for Formica brand glue, can't seem to find it. I did find their website where it's listed, but couldn't find anyone selling it. I contemplated Helmitin, which is the correct glue for doing vinyl roofs, but again the only place I could find that carries it would have to ship it and it would cost more money than I was willing to spend on this particular car a this particular time.

I ended up with 2 large spray cans of 3M 90 spray adhesive and a small can (with built in brush) of Lepage contact cement.

We cut the vinyl oversized and laid it on the roof (which had been sanded down, pits filled, painted with rust encapsulation type paint...sanded some more, filled some more...blah blah....it was looking pretty smooth I must say). We folded it over half way down the middle and sprayed the glue on the half of the roof that was exposed (the car was covered in masking tape and paper) and sprayed the exposed part of the vinyl. Then when the glue was ready we slowly folded the vinyl over on to the glued roof, working the air out and smoothing it over with our hands. We did the other side the same way. We stopped at the drip edges.

We did the drip edges with the contact cement and brush just for more control, same with the A-pillars. We worked the vinyl down into the drain trough with a finger...not worrying about it being too perfect, then up and over the drip rail. We cut it so that it only goes over the top part of the drip rail, not under the bottom edge.

At the A-pillars we lifted the flap of the roof portion and glued the A-pillar portion to it, then folded it over and down to create a waterproof fold, right where the natural dent in the car is. It's hard to explain, but it's like an S fold. I did one side and Tom did the other. I think mine turned out better! They both look a little different, but your average joe isn't going to notice.

Around the windshield we cut the vinyl out to fit around the trim clips and worked it in, then trimmed it so it will hide under the trim.

We put all the trim back and we're done! The over the top trim was missing all the clips so we made some from really small cotter pins. We just wedged them over the roof studs, pinched them tight then spread the bars open so they were like a spring and slid the trim on....they work great! Spring steel would work better though. Total time was about 3.5 hours, and we didn't rush...just took our time.

We wore some gas masks as it's still winter outside so we didn't want to open the heated garage door.

Would I do it again? Yes. What would I do differently? I would leave one person to do both A-pillar seams so they're both the same. I would probably get the Helmitin glue because it's made for this, I'm not sure how well the 3M will hold up in the weather. I think I'd also make sure the seam sealer in the drip trough is smoothed over evenly then work the vinyl in to the shallow trough a little better. I'd probably get the proper clips for the over the top trim too.

I've never done a vinyl roof before but it was cool...you can do too ya know! It wasn't rocket science.

Tools you will need: a good sharp pair of scissors, exacto knife, masking tape and paper, glue, thinner to clean up glue.

Good luck!