Yup, just scalp the front and rear window trim and the drip rail moldings. My vinyl top was toast when I bought my Skylark, just glue and some tatters under the trim.
Just be careful scalping that drip rail molding off, or you'll end up with a lot of little divots to tap out. May as well replace the windshield and back glass trim clips, while you are in there. Note that the vinyl tops use a lot of screws to hold the corners. There may be some rust lurking there. I ground all that out when I went with a painted top. Some of the screws are still in, though.
I'm in the process of removing my old raggedy vinyl top. I'm going to be painting the roof instead of replacing it. I'm guessing the metal tabs that are sticking out should just be grinded down or do they "pop" out? Also should the trim around the front/rear windshield be removed completely? Thanks! -Mike
You'll be using them to hold the chrome trim on, right? That same trim is used as a paint break molding on cars with painted tops. I reused mine when I stripped off the remaining shreds and painted the top white. And yes, you'll want to scalp the window trim to get at all the little pieces of vinyl, and to clean out the rust, if any.
I'm only going to be leaving on the trim around the side windows, I think? I wasn't planning on putting the trim that went around the vinyl top back on. Pardon the ignorance but what do you mean by "scalp?" There's a whole bunch of leaves and crap between the trim and window so I'd like to clean it all up. Then once off and cleaned how does it get reinstalled? Thanks!
You need one of these tools to remove ("scalp") the front and rear window trim. Put it between the glass and the chrome and pull the tension off the clips by rocking the tool parallel to the glass. I'm only posting the link so you can see the picture of what it looks like. These are available at most any auto parts store. http://www.amazon.com/Tools-2038-Window-Molding-Remover/dp/B0002SRCN8 If you don't put the trim back on where the vinyl top molding is, how do you plan to make the break line? It's a lot easier with the trim, and that's how the factory did it. BTW, you are certain to find rust in that channel, that's a given, especially with a vinyl top. Even my nice "California" car had some.
With some "TLC" I got them all off...I even managed to chip the front windshield ou: ... I want to paint the whole car one color so I won't need to distinguish the roof with the rest of the car, like so: http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Buick/71_gs_ccas_03_dv_02.jpg I'll be putting the chrome trim around the windows to cover the "channel." So the vinyl-top molding that went along side the trunk line is removed but the little rivets remain.
Well, I VERY carefully picked at the backside with a screwdriver and managed to curl the long piece off. It ended up with a bunch of little divots on the side you don't see. I used a 1" scraper on the A-pillar piece to keep the divots to a minimum. The little corner piece just pops off with a little judicious prying.
