Anyone have pics of vinyl top conversion?

[Hurricane77]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FC2ZVF3/?tag=gbody-20

View attachment 195047

Nice. I'm going to need these as well.

 

[Olds G's]

I have not found the P/N for the 6 screws yet. I might pull one from my car and match it up to what is in the GM Standard Parts Catalog for you.

I did find the panel in the green and white pages listed as P/N 20171486 in group 12.971. GM calls it "Panel, Compt FRT" (in front of the trunk at the rear glass). You may be able to visit a GM dealer parts dept with this P/N and they may be able to chase down the attaching hardware. Otherwise, I will get this info from my car over the weekend for you. The Fisher Body manual discusses the rear compartment front panel removal and installation but does not discuss the P/N of attaching hardware either.

 

[69hurstolds]

There are 8 plastic umbrella clips that you're gonna need when replacing the rear bright lower window molding when going from vinyl top to non-vinyl top.

Lemme know and I can hook you up with GENUINE GM stuff. None of that chinesium crap the repros are made out of. I got handfuls of these.

$29 for a set of 8 with a personal check. $28 if you pay with a USPS money order. Sorry, not using paypal anymore.

Here's a thread showing how they actually clip to the piece. https://gbodyforum.com/threads/1985-oldsmobile-442-rear-glass-lower-molding-help.76790/#post-759033

 

[Olds G's]

The head of this fastener took a 9/32 socket to remove which is 7 mm too. There are 3 fasteners on the aft side of this panel. There maybe 3 on the fwd side but I wouldn't know unless I pulled up the vinyl and trim. I would think that it would be a metric fastener on this year car. The head marking on the fastener looks like "P" and below it "2". Typical of the time for this car it was uncommon to identify fastener head with the metric number for fasteners smaller than 4 mm that I know of. The "P" is more than likely the mark of the manufacturer and the "2" may indeed be 2 mm however I don't see 2 mm diameter fasteners called out. Just don't confuse the head size with the thread size. These self tapping style screws can be tough to figure the thread size for me anyway.

But... if I were to take a guess I would go for P/N 11502797 which is 13 mm long grip length and that is what the fastener I removed measures or about 1/2 inch. The other thing is that my car has a Teflon washer under the head. I do not see that size Teflon washer called out in the Standard Parts Catalog.

There are quite a few other members on this site that have extensive knowledge on original hardware. If anyone else has any information that can help it would be great to solve this bit. If I get a chance to run over to my local GM parts desk this week, I will run this P/N by them and see what's what.

 

[69hurstolds]

The problem with GM fasteners is that the replacements, even if GM, are sometimes not the exact same in appearance as the factory-installed pieces.

The nylon washers for example. I'll bet dime to donuts that you won't find any GM parts reference to said nylon washers under those screw heads. Although every G-body Olds came with 3 of them, maybe 6 total with the nylon washers? I can't recall specifically. Been a good long while since I took one off. The front ones under the glass trim bolt on to the retainers (black plastic, p/n 20655818) which are bolted onto little pedestal brackets underneath and a "flat spot" on the retainers butts up against the base of the glass. Then there's the rear 3 that you can see by popping the trunk, and I believe they bolt to a little metal tab. Again, 3 of those. Total of 6 bolts to hold the panel on, and 3 that you can't see holding the retainers on underneath.

 

[Olds G's]

69hurstolds is on the spot here. It's frustrating to say the least that between all the original GM and Fisher shop manuals, I don't see a reference for this.

I'll visit my local GM parts to see what answers I can obtain. Seems more than one member here is in need of this information.

 

[Olds G's]

I visited my local GM parts today. Their information was just as my green and white pages and said the exact same thing 69hurstolds said on Saturday. Moreover, the simple sheet metal fasteners are not GM at least in this shop. They have a vendor supply that stuff to them. They gave me the suitable substitutes that they stock so I could check appearance and fitment for you and the pictures are attached.

The hex head fastener is just a little longer grip length but with a mirror I can see plenty of space between the fastener and adjacent sheet metal. It was tough to get a clear picture of that but there is plenty of room. The phillips head fastener was the same grip length as the original fastener. As far as the Teflon or nylon washer is concerned, GM has no listing for that either (again, thanks to 69hurstolds for the heads up on that too). GM parts did suggest that a better quality auto parts store may carry the individual parts as a closer match. I would think McMaster-Carr would most certainly.

 

[Tony1968]

Ok i wasn't getting notifications for this thread. I have to re read it. Lots of great information. I appreciate you guys taking the time. I'm sure others will use this thread as reference in the future. I digress to go over again