Monday, June 1, 2015

Replacing the soft top

This is the major job on the Lupa that I knew I'd get into the day I bought her. Thankfully JDV was willing to tackle this so I ordered a new Robbins cloth top with a glass window. I decided to go with the Robbins top over the vinyl top since it's not only  slightly cheaper and also a much better, darker finish so it's really a win-win situation.

Ripping off the old top - 2/17/2014

Old soft top off - 2/17/2014

New soft top vs old soft top (underneath) - 2/17/2014
It was not an easy job and I'd probably never want to do this again but she sure looked great once it was done. Since it was winter, it made it even more difficult as the material didn't want to easily stretch so it took a few tries to even get the top to close again. She'd spend the next few weeks with the top up in the garage to make sure it stretched properly. Also applied a few coats of 303 Aerospace Protectant to repel dust and protect the cloth.

New top installed - 2/17/2014
New top installed - 2/17/2014
Protecting the cloth - 2/17/2014