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78 CJ5 Hardtop Restoration

78 CJ5 Hardtop Restoration

cdub28

Jeeper
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Location
Columbus, MS
Vehicle(s)
78 CJ5
Just got my jeep so I decided to restore the hard top first, seemed a little simpler than starting on the engine and stuff. Well, took off all the bolts and latches. The weather stripping took me 2 hours with 10 different razorblades and my bare hands.

I guess they are called bolts, but there are things that are keeping other latches attached to the hard top but they do not have philips, flathead, or any other type attachment to unscrew or take out. I have no idea how to take them out, anyone know how to? They are flat and have a small circle in the middle. They are the last things I need to take out before I start cleaning, priming, painting, etc...
 
Pics? post a pic of the fastener so we can see what we are up against

O think we all want to see this thread develop, I mean a hard top restro thread is few and far between.
 
If they fit good and tight leave them and just mask and work around.
I've learned removal of hardware from a fiberglass top usually doesn't end well,
that and it doesn't fit as good on reinstall. Don't know why.
 
We really need some pictures.
It would be helpful to know what top you have. :cool:
 
Here's the pics of those fasteners, the ones on the latch hole are the same in the one the right of it. The hardtop is in decent shape.

Basically, what I am going to do is strip all the weather stripping, all the hardware, buy new stripping, buy new hardware of what i need, definately new screws for everything since they are all rusted.

I need a good fiberglass filler, something like bondo I guess, then I'm going to paint the inside white, outside black. I read on an earlier post of using Rustoleum oil based paint for the outside. Since this is my first project and project vehicle I don't have proper car painting stuff, so that sounded good to me.

After all is said and done, I estimated all the parts and new hardware and weather stripping about $215 max.

Any suggestions and ideas are welcome, thanks guys!






 
well
first, all the thumbs go back to one pic so I went to the forum to look at them all
the one with the screws is out of focus
are they torques? or allens?
 
...neither, they just of small circle holes at the top, about 1/8 deep. i tried an allen wrench, star key, etc. I'm thinking out just knocking them out, carefully, and when i go to replace them use screws or something. you have any suggestions on how to remove 20 year old rusted screws? I got most of them taken out already, that's the part that is taking the longest!
 
Rivits
you drill them out
 
If they are rivets, use a drill bit that is just slightly larger than the hole in the end, then drive the rest through with a small pin punch. the object is to cut the head off with out making the hole larger.
This is sounding like the description of what a banana tastes like. A very simple operation that is a bit difficult to describe. can some one do better than I did? please.
We wouldn't want our man to wallow the hole out and not be able to replace the rivets when he was finished.
A good place to start would be the home despot, you are going to need a rivet gun and some "pop" rivets of suitable size. looking at the rivet and how it works will make the removal a lot easier to understand.:cool:
 

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