We looked around for a while before we found some pieces to replace the chrome header and rear view mirror and bracket. A local Mustang shop wanted to sell us a header piece for $75, it was original but it still had quite a few imperfections. We are not going for original, mostly usable. So we looked around on the web and found the same piece brand new for $45.

It is amazing what new chrome can do for the interior. No more rust.

We also needed new sunvisors, rear view mirror, bracket for the mirror and sunvisor chrome pieces. The old header chrome and sunvisor pieces are easy to remove. The most difficult part was to remove the old chrome rod from the old sunvisors.

It took a while to cut, hit and break them from the old visors. We did not want to replace them because you do not see them anyway, they fit inside the new visors. Be aware there are two pieces in each visor.

Convertible pieces are very different from coupes or fastbacks. The sunvisor chrome is what holds the top clamps. The visors, as well as the rods are different too in convertibles.

Old Chrome:

The header chrome was badly rusted, but the sunvisor pieces were not that bad. The rear view mirror was completely rusted too. Altogether these changes were pretty easy and did not cost too much. We bought all the parts online, except for the sunvisors themselves ($45).

If you are going to bother to make these changes you might as well pickup some new screws too. At least they are cheap.

When you have installed your front tacking strip and rear bow tack strip you then need to properly align the bows from each other. In order to install the pads correctly and to have the actual top meet the middle two bows, each of the bows needs to be the correct distance away from the front bow.

This is not an easy thing to do and we have heard many recommendations on using a wooden jig. Since we do not have access to much in the way of tools, because we are doing this in a parking lot, with no saws we set up a series of clamps, ropes and bungee cords to hold everything in place.

The reason this step is so important is that the rear bow needs to come up to the proper height to connect to the rear curtain (back window). If you make a mistake on this step you might have to do it again and remove the pads, rear curtain...so on.

No. 1 bow to No. 2 bow: 16 1/2 inches
No. 2 bow to No. 3 bow: 16 3/4 inches
No. 3 bow to No. 4 bow: 15 1/2 inches
No. 4 bow to stainless molding: 20 1/2 inches
No. 4 bow to drain trough: 22 1/2 inches

These measurements are from the trailing edge of the #1 bow to the leading edge of #2 bow, and so on for the other bows.

Take your time when working on this step since you do not want to go back and do it again.

We got some needed advice and the bow distance measurements from:

Mustang Monthly

There are a few obvious tools like a staple gun but here is what we used.

• heavy duty staple gun
• 12.2 volt lithium ion battery staple gun
• Scratch Awl
• Masking Tape
• 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" staples
• clamps (at least 4)
• portable drill/screw driver
• various sizes of screw drivers, philips and regular
• measuring tape/stick
• marker/chalk
• ropes/bungee cords
• digital camera/video
• someone to help hold things

Staple Guns

The first problem we had was that we were not working in a garage. So we had no power and therefore could not use an electric staple gun or air compressor. When you are working in a parking lot you need to accept that compromise is coming.

We already had a heavy duty stapler but we thought we needed something better. So we found a pretty heavy duty lithium ion stapler at Home Depot. It could handle all the staples we needed to use and it recharged in about an hour.

This was about $100, after using it for some of the simpler tasks we ended up taking it back. Our old stapler worked just fine.

Other Important Tools...

Probably the tool we needed the most was the scratch awl. Whether you needed to find a hole for the top pads or the 30 holes for the well-liner you absolutely need an awl.

Another great tool to have is the measuring stick we had. It is a lot easier to use to measure the bow distances than a tape measure.

The camera is very important too. Take a lot of photos, particularly when you are dismantling your old top. Get photos of all the joints, rear bow, front bow, including the weatherstripping.

Unless you are a professional, and have installed many tops I don't think you can consider this a one-man-job. You really need someone to help, and it is always good to have someone to yell at.

Once you have adjusted all the bow distances and fixed them you can now install the top pads.

The first step is to secure the pad to the front bow. This is pretty easy. We secured the pads with #8 3/4 inch stainless steel screws.

The 3rd and rear bow move very easily so when you are pulling the top pad tight be careful not to move them too much. Then give them a few staples, just incase you need to adjust something. There is only about a 1/2 inch in either direction that you have an allowance for.

Now you can place the sail pads on the rear bow and staple them. They will also be bolted and stapled to the side rear tack-to-body strips that connect in the well area.