Hey Guys/Girls,

Has anyone gone through the process of disassembling an OEM hardtop, specifically the rear glass and head liner?

I'm sending one off for paint but don't want them masking around the weather stripping etc. I want proper coverage. So essentially I want them to to be working with the bare aluminum panel.

Is the glass simply suspended by the weather stripping/seal?

I tried searching but didn't find anything that helpful.

 

its supported by urethane. Do not strip the paint or bead. If you do you will need to bake your new paint to speed up curing or wait 60-90 days before installing the rear glass, as The bead will pull the fresh paint right off otherwise. so cover your urethane bead with tape before paint.

Your best option is to have a windshield guy do it if you don't know how to remove or reinstall. The instructions however, are in the service manual to cut out the rear window with piano wire.

 

Thanks for the reply Deckoz.

Unfortunately the paint needs to be stripped. The top was originally Spa Yellow and has been sprayed with Sebring Metallic. The Sebring job is shit and needs to be removed before I spray my colour .

This urethane bead you're talking about, its bonded to the hardtop itself? Like an adhesive?

 

you can strip the rest of the hardtop, but dont strip the urethane bead or the paint under it. tape off 1/4 around the bead at minimum.

the section im talking about you can't even see when the glass is installed.

I literally just did this all myself, I had a sazuka blue thst someone did a shitty white paint job on, and painted the weather stripping and everything. I restored the weather stripping and pulled the glass to fix all the edging to paint it spa yellow.

if you strip that bead down to metal, you will have seal failure. ask any glass guy(windshield guy). you would need to wait for a full cure(60-90 days) before applying a new urethane bead.

anyway here is the glass removal
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MXu...w?usp=drivesdk




overspray from previous owner

Overspray and mineral impregnated rear bottom

cleaned rear bottom

 

Awesome man thanks for the info and pics.

Nice job on the restoration as well. Im in the same boat. Shit paint job over OEM paint. Neither of which are the colour I require lol.

Can the weather stripping around the window (seen in the pic below) be removed WITHOUT separating the window from the top? I imagine this would be sufficient to getting good paint coverage as the weather stripping would coverup whatever wasn't perfect once re-installed.

 

unfortunately, it cannot without damaging it. having a glass guy properly remove and install it will cost you the same as destroying and replacing the mouldings without taking the glass out. and the ability to reinstall it and it not come unbonded or fit right is unlikely as well.

​​​​​show me a picture of your mouldings and edge by the glass?

if the edge is fine, you can use 3m trim pull tape and pull the weather stripping back.

my edge was flaked, so the only way to properly block it required removal of the window. if your edge is smooth. trim pull tape and a mask cloth for the window are all you need.


​3M 06349 50.8 mm x 10 m Trim Masking Tape https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P18N6W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-PccCbXMB702G​​​​​​