1968 Dodge Coronet R/T Vinyl Top Installation

 

Here are the steps that I took to install the vinyl top on my Coronet R/T. Luckily, Mopar Muscle Magazine has these same steps in their November, 2002 issue, so I followed their directions and everything turned out pefect. According to Mopar Muscle Magazine, the first step is to get as many wrinkles as possible out of the vinyl top. Since it was around 55 degrees outside, I had to use the iron to get the wrinkles out.

This seemed to work well. At first, I was scared to put the iron directly on the inside of the vinyl top, and used a towel between the iron and vinyl. After a few minutes I quite using the towel and placed the iron directly on the top to iron.(Image A.)

Next, I need to mark the center lines on the vinyl top and the car. I simply folded the top in half to mark the center line on the vinyl top. I marked the bottom of the top with a pencil. I put a piece of masking tape on the top of the vinyl top so I could see the mark when I layed the top on the car. To mark the center line on the car, I continuted the straight lines of the sides of the glass panel and measured from point to point where the lines intersected.

 
After marking the center lines, I placed the vinyl top on the car, aligning the center lines and aligning the top front to back.
At this point it's time to get out the glue. Mopar Muscle Magazine suggests having someone to help with this step. If you are trying this for the first time (as I was), a helper is a requirement for this job.
When it was time to start glueing the top down, we spray from around the center line to the vinyl top seam. We measured the seam location and marked it on the car so we would know where to stop spraying the glue. Next, we sprayed the vinyl top and allowed the glue to set for about 4 minutes. We used one even coat of the contact adhesive with about 1/4 inch overlap. I don't know how the pros do it, but this worked perfect for us. This method provided great adhesion and absolutely no glue buildup under the top. When the glue is almost dry to the touch.(We used 3M Super 90 contact adhesive in a spray can), we were ready to place the top on the car permenantly. My sister and her husband held the top up off the car while I smoothed the top out with my hands. In this picture, Roy is using a brayer(rubber roller) to smooth out the top.
After securing the first half, we folded the top over and glued from the center section to the other vinyl top seam. We were worried that we might see the seam where we glued the first half of the vinyl top, but this was not the case. After smoothing out the top with our hands and the brayer the center of the vinyl top(seam to seam), was perfect.

Next, we glued from the seam to the water channel and about 4 inches from the bottom on the C-pillar. The white lines in the glue is the overlap.

 

This picture shows the contrast between the glued down section of the top and the section yet to be glued and trimmed.

This picture shows the almost completed side of the vinyl top. Again, we were able to rub out ALL wrinkles and bubbles with out fingers.
. This picture showls how the vinyl to should be glued to the water channel and the outside of the drip rail. I had to trim off about 1/16" to get the stainless steel drip rail molding to fit.
Finally, The Completed Vinyl Top!

These are the steps I followed to get a perfect intallation of my vinyl top. I had to wait on glueing the bottom of the C-Pillars because I am missing the stainless steel pieces that cover the seam.

The main reason for putting this page together is because I was unable to find any information on installing a vinyl top. If you have any specific questions, email me and I'll try to answer them. Lastly, thanks to Mopar Muscle Magazine for a great article on installing a vinyl top.

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