Soft top front bow ('69 2000)

[Bwana]

I'm talking about the interior trim piece(s) that mounts to the back of the windshield frame, up at the top. It is held in place apparently by the soft top clip points. Dean sells a vacuum formed one piece replacement and calls it a soft top front bow.

So my question is, is this piece originally one or two pieces? Mine came off in two pieces but it looks like it is torn apart in the middle, right underneath the center soft top hold down piece. I'm thinking about having it re-done to original condition but the guy at the shop that might do it swears it's two pieces. So, is it one or two?

[tjp]

One piece.

[pebbles]

Pretty sure the foam is glued to the car, then the vinyl is stretched and glued to the foam. The edges of the vinyl are glued to the pinch welds. The W/shield gasket holds in the fwd edges.The aft edges are held in with the seal strips.
Another option would be to have the top header one piece, then each pillar be one piece. Small fold in the upper w/s corners to tie it in.
that my plan anyways.

[Bwana]

Pretty sure the foam is glued to the car, then the vinyl is stretched and glued to the foam. The edges of the vinyl are glued to the pinch welds. The W/shield gasket holds in the fwd edges.The aft edges are held in with the seal strips.

So it sounds like what you're saying is the piece is actually assembled to the windshield frame and not a separate piece?

[pebbles]

Im guessing it was originally prefabbed, to facilitate the assembly line, then glued to the frame as one piece.

[fj20spl311]

dean sells a 3 piece kit also. IIRC, it was 1 piece originally.

[orangedawg]

A question: From the factory, was the material covering the top bow a) foam with vinyl stretched over it, or b) a hard plastic (kind of like the dash) on late model roadsters? Just curious as I will have to have this done once I find a front top bow for my 1970.

[Bigtaku]

On my last running roadster, I used Deans black foam piece glued to my windshield top. It worked fine but was ugly. I like the idea of all the weatherstrip on the soft or hard top. I just started my top resto so not much help.

[spl310]

Dann at Rallye had a writeup about this years ago. I am going from memory, so I may not have it all straight. IIRC, the 68-69 cars had the plastic covered foam trims - made like the dash. The 70 got a soft vinyl covered foam rubber.

[GeoffM]

My 69 had the foam covered vinyl just like the dash.

[greydog]

Our '69 had a molded sort of firm foam with a vinyl skin applied just like the dash cover.
It's not like the foam was sculpted and then vinyl was glued to it, its more like it was all done in some sort of mold with the thin vinyl layed in and the foam (like a urethane foam) injected into the mold so it came out as once pc.
then it was glued to the windshield frame. Of course, they likely had a jig to support, position and hold the part while the glue dried.
Ours was badly warped and chewed up. It came off in half a dozen pcs.
I used Dean's 3 pc molded plastic replacement and, while it took a little fiddling to get to fit well, I'm happy with the result.
Dan

[ppeters914]

Is it different on the low windshield?

[pebbles]

Is it different on the low windshield?

Low windshield doesnt have one.

Our '69 had a molded sort of firm foam with a vinyl skin applied just like the dash cover.
It's not like the foam was sculpted and then vinyl was glued to it, its more like it was all done in some sort of mold with the thin vinyl layed in and the foam (like a urethane foam) injected into the mold so it came out as once pc.
then it was glued to the windshield frame. Of course, they likely had a jig to support, position and hold the part while the glue dried.
Ours was badly warped and chewed up. It came off in half a dozen pcs.
I used Dean's 3 pc molded plastic replacement and, while it took a little fiddling to get to fit well, I'm happy with the result.
Dan

They probably left the vinyl long and trimmed it on the car, after the glue dried.

[mraitch]

the weatherstripping (foam) is supposed to be glued to the curved retaining piece that helps retain the soft top cover.

[greydog]

I think you sort of right David. The thin vinyl was wrapped around the backside of the molding so it was held in place when glued to the frame.
Dan