71 dart swinger hardtop restoration

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71dartdemon

71dartdemon

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Hi all!
I am getting ready to restore a 71 dart swinger /6, hardtop. Has anyone pulled the vinyl off the roof and painted? Is that possible? I am new to this, so be gentle please!
 
Yes you can pull it off then prep and paint the roof. The vinyl may just pull right off depending on how good it is stuck if not you might try scrapeing it off with a razorblade.
 
Yes..we did that with our 71 Dart....

before and after pic
 

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I don't have the pics handy but yes. I pulled off the top and just preped like there was never a v top on. But after I painted the entire car I replaced the top. The top will last longer with paint under the vinyl.

BTW welcome to the best group
 
I am still contemplating how I am going to do this project, whether I am going to restore to original condition or bring out the hot rod. it is a 71 swinger with 44k origional miles on it. I don't really like the color or the vinyl top so I am leaning towards peeling it off and painting the whole car. Not really sure which way to go. Anyone have any advice? I would like to add disc brakes either way though.
 
Welcome aboard! I was in a similar situation with my car. When I got it, parts of it were about the same color as your car with a really horrible color brown/tan interior and it had had a vinyl roof as well. I knew that I wanted to change the color of the interior to black so I needed to decide on a new exterior color. I finally decided on an exterior color and then I couldn't decide if I wanted the vinyl top back on or not. At a big Mopar show a few years back, I saw a 70 that was about the same color that I wanted to paint mine, but without the vinyl. The bright color was way too much!!! So I decided I needed the vinyl top (black) to tone down the color. If you are considering a darker color, probably don't need to replace the top. If you are going with a brighter color, you might want to consider how it would look both with and without one. The beauty of the internet is that you could do an image search for 70/71 Darts and probably get a bazillion hits with all different color combinations that might help you narrow down your options. Good luck. L8r

Jim
 
If you peel the vinyl make sure you clean all of the factory filler out of the quarter to roof seam. Just use a wire wheel on a drill. Vinyl top cars have a real soft and water absorbing filler and are usually rusted down under. After you metal condition it with metal prep. Refill it with a quality water proof fiber strand filler for the first coat to seal the seam. This will prevent future bubbling. After you seal the seam with fiber strand. you can use a more workable plastic filler. Fill the seam as thick as you can with the fiber strand it will make a good strong base for the finish product. Just the way I would do it. Steve
 
I pulled mine off my '71 Dart GT and you can see the rust we faced afterwards. Fortunately, it was treatable and I made the decision to replace it with another vinyl top; I just like the original look of them. We cleaned it down to bare metal, POR15'ed it and then primered it before glueing on the new top.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=62144

 
I finally got the dart home last night and I can not believe that this things is virtually rust free. The tiniest bit on the trailer bottom corner of the rear quarters. It is so clean except for a few dings, but the lackof rust is astounding. I'll try and post a picture.
 
Please forgive me as I am really new to this, and have a limited automotive background. What can I do to tune this up a bit?
 
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