Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Bought a new top from Dean and it is very nice. I do have some fitment issues however. Since my car has new NOS quarters on it, none of the twisty/postie holes are there. No problem, I located, drilled new holes and installed the new hardware. Then I started putting the grommets in the Stayfast. I started at the door windows on each side and worked my way to the back, pulling snug ,
and checking for wrinkles. All looked good. But now it seems, at the back where the bar goes into the teardrops is waaaaaayyyy too long. When I put the bar in the rear window sags like crazy. To get the rear window to pull tight I would need to move the teardrops back about a full inch or so. Anybody else run in to this??

Regards,
Steve

Usually you put the bar in the teardrops and work forward, for this exact reason. Since the teardrops are fixed, and the top has extra material in the front, it's bar in teardrops then stretch to the front bow, adjust a few times, attach to bow, then posties and twistys last.

I'm afraid your solutions are move the teardrops or buy a new top and start over, neither one a fun job, sorry.

You still should be able to salvage it. You may need to tighten it up by taking more of the material up on the front bow. Some of the posties and twities may not match. You can always get a upholstery shop to make a new piece for the posties and twisties.

For giggles I put the back into the teardrops and checked to see how that would have worked if I had worked back to front. As I suspected, it would not have worked out well at all. The window openings in the Stayfast would have been a full inch too far forward and would look goofy, let alone not sealing against the glass worth a crap. So, all is not lost. I moved the teardrops back 3/4" (I'm repainting anyway so the extra hole will be easily plugged). Then, I will need to get the pocket for the bar in the Stayfast stitched so the bar is restrained all the way toward the front of the car. This netted me about another 3/4 inch. Now everything is nice and snug, corner windows look good and back window is as tight and wrinkle free as they ever get. Now I just need to rewrap my header in vinyl, then pull and glue the Stayfast.

Thanks for the comments.

Glad that worked out... I was cringing thinking you might have to trash it and start over!

If you move the tear drops back, the cover that secures the soft top will most likely not fit. I have a hard enough time getting that cover on with the tear drops in the correct location.