04.09.08
The Roof Comes Off
Today, I started by removing the T-top and windshield from the car body. I began by pulling off the roof upholstery from the T-top. This came off mostly in one piece because it has a fiberglass shell supporting it. When the shell popped off, a bunch of hardware fell out where the door hinges mounted (back-up plates, mostly). This exposed some bolts that tie the T-top into a (flimsy and rusted-out) roll-over bar. I unscrewed all of the bolts from the door jams and this loosened the t-top from the roll-over bar. Then, I unscrewed all of the small Phillips head screws from the back end of the T-top. These screws fasten the T-top to the body of the car. The ones on the right side came out with a bit of grunting. The left ones required a bunch of drilling, chiseling and “colorful metaphors,” with some damage to the bottom left edge of the T-top (easily repairable.
Once the T-top was loose, it just lifted off – along with the front windshield. The windshield came out without a hitch and there was no damage to the rubber gasket.
I spent some time under the dashboard today, also. The glare shield just lifted off – nothing holding it in place except for gravity and some sun-rotted plastic defroster nozzles. Once the glare shield was off, the sheetmetal defroster tubes could be pulled out. Next, I unscrewed all of the defroster hoses and removed them from the car. Then, I unscrewed the wiper motor assembly and removed it. Then, the heater/defroster unit came out. I was surprised to see this in an electric car, but there it was – heater coils and all. I’ll need to decide if I want to reuse this (big energy consumer) or just use the blower for fresh air. By the way, there was a strip of rubber glued in at the front edge of the dashboard under the glare shield, where it butts against the bottom flange of the windshield. I suspect that this is some sort of cushion or waterproofing for the windshield?
I broke both speakers trying to remove them. Apparently, they were installed from the back side somehow. Anyway, they were trashed by the heat, so they got thrown out. This allowed me to remove the last of the side upholstery. The aft portions (behind the door posts) were just glued on with some thin (1/2”?) foam. The front portions were carpet and there was a metal tacking strip that held the aft edge of these pieces in place.
Once the upholstery was removed, I was able to remove the roll bar by undoing the two bolts from each side. The part was moderately rusted. We’ll have to see how it cleans up. I also unscrewed the angle brackets that secure the front pillars of the T-top. The bolts just fell out from underneath. These will have to be cleaned up as well.
Next, I started removing the body bolts. The ones near the doors weren’t too bad to undo because I could get to both sides of them but the two forward bolts and the aft-most bolts were harder to get at and I wound up not being able to remove them. I may need to get CJ’s help on this. A bunch of the bolts just sheared off. Eeewwww.
While crawling around the back of the car, I noticed that the diagonal braces that go from the outboard sides of the battery trays to the tops of the shock towers had broken off at the shock towers – both of them! Apparently, this is a poor design and I’ll have to rethink the idea.
I spent a lot of time vacuuming up dirt and rust off the body and floor pans. All-in-all, the body doesn’t look all that bad and it’s almost ready to came off.
