I reinstalled the clips that hold the top to the windscreen and they just don’t look right. They seem to stick up too high, although there appears to be no other way to mount them. A little confirmation from you guys would help before I glue the cover back to the bar.
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My car is an older IM and so the top's header bow might be a bit different than yours but I think you are doing fine. As long as there is enough fore and aft room to adjust the latch, I'd say you're good to go.
By the way, on my older IM the top's bow is a bit tired / flimsey so I added a third latch near the center of the windshield as water would enter at speed in rain. Now might be a good time if you're concerned at all with that.
Those clips are crap, although a lot folks have them. My car came with them, and they failed pretty quick. Builder sent more, but they were just inferior. Went with the billet made clasps from Carey (second pic below) . Took some careful rework of the header bow to get geometry right, but these are the right answer, IMHO. Also, there is the bent-metal approach, which works really well, but lacks a certain aesthetic.
Carey's clasps are, as you might anticipate, $$$.
The Beck ones appear to require risky drilling and bolting to the windshield frame - but they look nice. Here's page from CMC build manual and they seem to be aligned with the header bow and not stick up. The actual clip to windshield part is threaded and adjustable. I sold off my CMC laminated header bow and now have the VS poly one but haven't mounted the clips yet (waiting to get a third center one).
WOLFGANG posted:The Beck ones appear to require risky drilling and bolting to the windshield frame - but they look nice. Here's page from CMC build manual and they seem to be aligned with the header bow and not stick up. The actual clip to windshield part is threaded and adjustable. I sold off my CMC laminated header bow and now have the VS poly one but haven't mounted the clips yet (waiting to get a third center one).
Keep an eye on your VS top bow. After a year mine warped, taking on too drastic a curve to fit the windscreen. You'd think that the plastic would be stable. Strange. Had to buy a new one which is why I'm refitting these clips.
It's quite correct that Carey's latch system is superior to the one in Wolf's diagram. I have the latter. My car is old but when I bought it in Idaho it had only about 8,000 miles on it....and they would have been pampered, good weather miles.
While heading East homeward at highway speed in rain, the rooftop would try to lift like an airplane wing, the header bow would suffer from upward pressure and the lips of the clips ( like that one ? ) that hitch onto the windshield frame would move inward a tad and let the header bow would bend up a bit in the middle. Plenty of water would come in quickly. The quick cure was to stop at the nearest Home Depot and buy a clamp to hold the center of the bow down to the center of the windshield frame and thus the bent metal center clip idea came to be. Chrome the bugger if you must. :-)
I like it. It shows the determination of the driver to "Press On Regardless!"
And what did we do before Home Depot and Lowe's? Well, we made friends with the folks in the Mom 'N Pop hardware stores where-ever we were! (and sometimes, they had free coffee!!!!)
My bow is 2 years old and badly warped. I called vintage and this is what they sent me. Think it'll work but my CMC Center windshield support is too tight to the windshield. I'm going to call vintage tomorrow and see if his support sits further away from the glass.
I've had a few of the poly header bows arrive already beginning to arch in the center. ( what ever material they had previously used, worked. The supplied center latch works well but you need to use their VS mirror rod as it has a 3/4" offset away from the windshield frame before the 90 degree bend to accomodate the center latch
I accomplished the same thing by adding a "center" latch about 1-1/2 to 2" to the right of the center strut. You have to remove the windshield frame to bend a slight lip in it for the latch "hand" to grasp, but in retrospect, if you are using a CMC-style latch the "hand" will slip into the windshield top trim nicely without any bend to accept it. If it's a Beck-style latch, I would have to see and hold one to offer any advise.
Alan Merklin posted:I've had a few of the poly header bows arrive already beginning to arch in the center. ( what ever material they had previously used, worked. The supplied center latch works well but you need to use their VS mirror rod as it has a 3/4" offset away from the windshield frame before the 90 degree bend to accomodate the center latch
How is it possible to prevent the warping other than keeping the top up all the time? It's annoying and expensive having to buy a new one every other year. Is there another top bow manufacturer?
I do not know of another mfg that makes that bow, center latch from day 1 will work.
I am just going to add the center latch to my warped bow and see what happens.
I can pull it down to latch it without it being snapped in the back I believe.
Like Alan said, this bow needs to have 3 latches to keep it from warping.
Mine warped from just sitting unused.
Bending the window frame a little bit out from the glass to make proper purchase for the cheap-o clips' "hands" would be a stumper for me. Probably not possible in-situ, so would have to take the windshield off and apart to make it all go right. Some here have the knowledge and experience to do that. It would scare me off. In my case, that bending was already done, and there was just enough room between the bent Al frame and window glass to allow a nut to scootch in and engage a properly shortened screw to hold the one side of the heavy-duty clamp. See pic.
And PS: earlier I failed to give credit where due about the bent sheet metal clip concept, which I borrowed shamelessly from the remarkable David Stroud -- tip o' the hat to Dave. For me, the make-shift center hold-down is the suspenders part of a belt-and-suspenders philosophy. I had one of those cheap-o clasps give way at speed and was properly scared shitless that the top would fly off. Had to drive home with my right hand holding the clasp in the tucked position, since it would not stay closed down by itself. Until I got the better clasps installed, I found a new use for blue tape: to keep the clasp closed down. Hated every minute of that.
Gordon Nichols posted:I like it. It shows the determination of the driver to "Press On Regardless!"
And what did we do before Home Depot and Lowe's? Well, we made friends with the folks in the Mom 'N Pop hardware stores where-ever we were! (and sometimes, they had free coffee!!!!)
ACE Hardware in my neighborhood, besides having hard to find parts they still have Free Popcorn!
