The oldest C4 Corvettes are more than 25 years old now, so it may be way past time to replace the top on your convertible.
If wind noise, water leaks, and poor appearance have left you “under the weather” a little too much, our friends at Corvette Central have just the ticket for you. They’ve got the parts available on their website along with a helpful how-to article on their CC Tech website to guide you through the installation if you’re so inclined to do it yourself.
Chris Petris of Petris Enterprises, who has operated Corvette Clinic in Alabama for 12 years, penned an article about the replacement process for Corvette Central’s CC Tech website, and if you have doubts about your mechanical abilities, he points out that it’s much easier to replace the top on a C4 (1986-96 models) than it is on the earlier cars.
“On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the easiest to install and 10 being the most difficult, I would rate early tops as a ’10’ and 1986 and later tops as a ‘1,’ ” Petris writes.
We’ve all bought things that we had to put together, and by the time we got through, we had learned enough tricks to make the going much easier on the next installation – if only there was a next one.
Corvette Central’s convertible top article gives you the advantage of seeing those neat little tricks in advance so that the installation is much smoother the first time around.
Petris says it usually takes about 1 to 2 hours to remove the old top, but it can take many hours to clean off the old adhesive, then another 6 to 8 hours to install the new top. He suggests having an assistant to keep you from having to walk back and forth from side to side of the car to make minor adjustments. He also notes that you can even install a glass rear window on your 1986-93 top, with a kit available from Corvette Central.
So while it’s not the easist of jobs, the hours you invest in replacing your top will pay big dividends in your enjoyment of your C4 Corvette convertible.
Check out the full technical article at Corvette Central.
Source:
Corvette Central
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