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July of 2015 was also a good time to install the soft top as the weather was warm and the vinyl was easier to work with. I bought the top, tonneau and hood stick cover from The Roadster Factory and they supplied me with products from Robbins Auto Top LLC in the UK. I chose the Everflex fabric in a dark blue color that is not an exact match with the midnight blue trim but it is close enough. The Everflex fabric stays pliable in cooler temperatures and I just tested putting the top down and back up today (1 Nov 2015) where the ambient temp is 51 degrees F and I had no problems.

The hood sticks were painted with the same powder blue paint as the tub and I installed new webbing as the old webbing was stained, worn and frayed at the ends. I used some superglue on the edges of the new webbing to discourage it from fraying.

The new top had a white mark on the rear indicating where the center was so I started at the rear center and worked my way along the rear edge. I installed the LTD snaps with the dots facing outwards. I did not have the special tool so I borrowed one from a fellow club member. The tool worked great.

My top came with no instructions and it was unclear what I was supposed to do with the flap on the front. I emailed Robbins asking for the instruction sheet and to this day they have not replied but I did find what I needed via a Google search.

I used a gasket/carpet punch to make the holes in the flap.

One tip that I learned from the Forum was to leave the rear bow unattached from the webbing and you can see from my earlier picture of the hood sticks that the webbing is not secured to the rear bow. This makes erecting the top much easier as the rear bow can be pushed all the way forward to get the top fastened and then when all the snaps are engaged, push the rear bow back into position to provide the required tension to the top.

Here is the top erected with the rear bow all the way forward:

And here it is 5 seconds later with the rear bow in the correct position.

There is one remaining task that I still have outstanding and that is to add a strip of beige colored satin fabric to the top of the bows. I had initially thought this was a felt-like material but the more I study this the more I think it was a thinner fabric.