Hard top is all finished. Looks very good, can't find any flaws besides a little overspray, but that is easily removed with a clay bar.

Not going to lift it off the Jetta till my pops gets home. It looks like the hooks are touching the paint but they aren't. Finally found the perfect way to mount it to the rack without it moving.







Just a little dirty

 

Damn fine looking hardtop, sir.

 

Very nice hardtop. What color was it before? Red?

 

Damn. Sucks about the alternator. But you'll have a known good one when everything is over. THAT is something worth the pain.

I went through a few Autozone/Checker ones over the years. I finally got tired of it, found an old OEM one, and had a local shop rebuild it for me. The full service, just like you're getting. It's been happily running for... damn, like 8 years now.

 

Restored the interior bits of the hard top a little. Applied sealant to the inside window after clay barring it. Also applied sealant to all the painted areas that are underneath all the rubber seals and trim pieces to help protect them a little more.



Restored the plastic back to a healthy black instead of the off grey it was before



Also the rubber seals got a healthy amount of rubber restore





and all reassembled and ready to be put back on. Which I won't do until I make sure the fuel pump is working correctly when I cycle the key to ON. I'd rather have a little bit of free space and openness while working on the car idling correctly.

 

Interesting, I've never seen that type of headliner before. Can you tell us more about it?

 

Hardtop was from an 02 Miata, it's all I know. It's about 1/4" thick. Kinda want to put the suede fabric over it but it's still in perfect condition so I won't mess with it.

 

I haven't looked back in a while, but check your fuel pump ground by the driver's seat belt tower. Wouldn't hurt to chase with a m6x1 tap. Although if it's powering on, that's really all a moot point.

Edit: I think he's referring to the plastic parts. My '93 hardtop's head liner extends all the way to the edges.

 

Likewise on my '90 hardtop ... just a thin foam headliner to the edges. In fact, none of the hardtops I have seen have those plastic panels. I guess I mostly dabble with NAs.


-Zach

 

Yeah I don't know anything about NB hardtops so it is pretty standard I'm guessing. Under the plastic are some really stiff corrugated cardboard as spacers and about 8 industrial strength velcro patches, and plastic expanding screws, to hold it to the hard top. I'm not sure why they went to the extra effort to reduce head clearance, but if it is an issue I'll just remove it and put a square of the same material I used on my door cards; I still have a lot of it left.

===

I did get some good news just barely. After the supplier shipped the wrong alternator to the shop, they informed us that they didn't have any available even though their system said they did.

So after a figurative metric ton of calling different suppliers he tracked down an OEM core in California. He'll receive it Thursday, and he says for me, he will stay late that night and finish rebuilding it so that I can install it the same day.

Him going above and beyond just proves why it pays off to be extra nice, patient, and courteous to shops who are local. If the owners are smart, they pay attention to it, appreciate it, and are more than willing to help you out since you proved to be a good human being, an not an impatient douche bag like most customers who take their cars to repair shops.

How you treat people at a business, as with tipping, is the most reliable form of determining how good of a person is.

 

You haven't missed a beat on the delivery.

So curious what you will do once this project is completely finished.

 

Sell it to me for $6000 since he is so tired of dealing with it and then find some other project to put his useful personality disorder to work on.

 

Yeah, I was referring to the plastic parts. I guess I've never seen a hardtop off of an NB before!

 

I'm trying to stay upbeat about the delay! Not sure what I'll do after the car is finished. Probably take all the energy I was throwing into the car and put it back into my store.

I'm secretly scared I've built up the finished product so much in my head that when I first drive it, I'll be disappointed with the car. I'm sure I won't be, but...you know what I mean.

Useful personality disorder... That is one way of sugar coating my insanity!

You'll get your car running right Harv, keep it up! And, by the way, you'd have to double that price before I'd even consider selling it!

 

Your "insanity" is a hell of a lot more useful than my ADHD...

 

Are you saying you'd take $12k for it? C'mon Jeff, don't sell yourself short.

^dis guy... I has the feels.

 

12k eliminates the low ballers and those that aren't serious

You guys with ADHD could become like all the "super moms" of Utah and get an adderall prescription to help "concentrate"...doctors give out prescriptions here like aspirin.

 

They do everywhere. It's awful. It used to be called being a boy, and when you got drafted the male-only armed forces would put that energy to work.

 

Mine's working, but it could use some TLC, maybe not this much, but a little.

 

I'm an ADHD hipster, I was diagnosed before it was cool to be diagnosed