First time for me...sure could use some advice on how to properly remove the top assembly. Looks like it will come out all together. I'm still stuck at how to get the chrome off. got the seats out...the qtr trim panels off and everything exposed. Now it is as clear as mud!

by the way...tthis is a 1971 challenger

The chrome comes off much later... Get into the back seat area, remove the well liner.. There will be a series of bolts with special washers.. Remove those & the top fabric will come free from the body... now remove the rear trim panels (they would be door panels but) behind the panels you'll see the top cylinders are retained by a bracket & a clevis pin.. Disconnect them & leave them with the car, or remove them with the pump & lines as an assembly... Now you'll want to notice there are two 1/2" holes in each side of the top frame which lines up with holes in the body.. these are so you can line the top assembly back up easily.. Loosen the bottom bolt a couple turns & remove the other two bolts per side, then lift the top off the car... Easy..

Before you unbolt it from the car, I would some how make some marks in the car so when you put it back together it will be much easyer to get it in the right spot.

I don't see the bolts for the top well...should I have the top in the up or down position for this process? thanks for the guidance!

Top up while removing the well liner & bolts... Top down after that...BTW the well liner is the black vinyl liner behind the seat, it is glued to the seat brace & it snaps to clips attached around the convertible top well...

Here is the top lift mechanism. You can see two bolts on the left, and there should be another bolt that is hidden, about 7 inches to the right of the top bolt.

That car hasn't been messed with much, still has the rubber plug in the alignment hole.... The third bolt is accessed through the hole in the top mechanism & the bar holding the top in the previous photo isn't aluminum it's a galvanized channel with a dense cardboard material filler the top is stapled to that filler material....

thanks for all the help! I got it off and now I can see what was previously hidden. Not as bad as I thought it would be but now I get to try and figure out how to fix it. [image]http://[/image]

Well it's purple.... Looks like you have some work to do....

would love to see more pics of your car... I have a long ways to go. I have a 6.1 Hemi going in mine and planning to run alterkation front and probably their rear. A challenger convertible has been my dream car for a long time and i am really stoked about building it. Still have finishing details on my Charger but cant get motivated on it with the challenger in the mix.

Well just to motivate you hows this...

This came later...

Wow, look at that hair.

Yeah Yeah... Just wait...

Wow! A Challenger convertible bobtail edition. So did you find a donor car or did you fabricate a bunch a stuff? Can't imagine anybody offers that channel thats rusted out on mine...

Very nice by the way....

there is a hard top sublime 70rt down the road a ways that I tried to get my hands on for years with no luck. Every time I see it there are more and more parts missing

You'll need to fab the drain channel & likely the plate behind it that the top bolts to... I was lucky on my car, it came with a with hard top quarter, I already had saved a top section from a convertible knowing this car needed one, just didn't know it I'd ever get a shot at the car as the owner didn't want to sell it...

More about it here.. http://www.moparts.org/moparts/picture/print/pages/Reddig.html

What a cool story...

I kind of lucked in to mine. A Challenger convertible had been a dream car of mine for many years and I actually blew a chance at one about 15 years ago over price. The same price by the way for a finished car that I later paid for this project! I host an all Mopar Muscle car show here at the dealership every year and two years ago a guy from eastern New Mexico called the store looking for the fellow that puts that show on. I told him that he had the right guy and as we got to talking I relaized who he was and that he had shown up to our show with a 340 4Speed Challenger on a trailer for sale but left before one of my friends could see it. I asked him about it and he said it had sold already...I asked if he had anything else for sale and he says...well, I have a couple Challenger Convertibles I would like to get rid of... and my jaw dropped. Obviously I ended up with it. Original 318 plum crazy purple. I got the original engine and trans but a 318??? naahhh!

By the way, the show I am talking about is coming around again May21st if anyone wat to comeout for some good BBQ and a bunch of good ole Mopar fans

I found my Challenger vert from a spam email about some Mopars for sale in town.....