i was getting ready to order a julianos top insert kit for my 32 5 window today and i noticed julianos and yogis have removed them from their order page. are their any other kits ? thanks rick
I don’t know of anyone who makes a kit but United Pacific makes the tack strips and you can source the soft parts yourself. I did my 5 window using the UP tack strips a few months ago.
I have done several 32 tops in the past years with insets like Juliano's which I have sourced the ingredients myself. I find a shop that still does early style vinyl tops. They have access to the outer aluminum channel and snap on rail cover. Comes in several colors. Buy some extra channel, you'll understand. On all my 32 tops I screw down a cut to fit sheet of 1/8 inch tempered Masonite on top of the wood bows for a base. Use counter sunk flathead wood screws.(beats screwing with chicken wire). I source some really high quality vinyl in the color I want plus some of the thin black dense vinyl top foam. I buy a can of 3M aerosol vinyl top glue and get to it. Also I usually make a 2X4 wood frame work that will accept the full length and width of the vinyl which I stretch and staple to the wood frame. I form the aluminum channel the shape of the opening. I can't bring myself to drill those holes in my sheet metal so I have been successful in putting the channel in the outer top recess and using small brass screws fastening it to the wood. I cut the foam to fit and glue it to the Masonite then spray some more glue on the top of the foam and set the vinyl covered top frame over the top. (Always good to have a friend handy to help) I then screw down the preformed metal channel into the outer recess. I carefully trim the vinyl around the outside of the channel. I remove the frame work. and snap on the channel cover. I always put the trim cover seam at the center of the back. I cut the trim just little long and the last step is to super glue the seam so it stays tight. When I was in Ca in June I went to the new So-Cal shop and a 32 highboy tudor I built in the early 2000's was there and I did the top on it as described a It still has the same top and it looks like new. The method described above is the way a Juliano kit worked. The way chop&drop did his is much more in keeping with today's hot rods. Much neater than Juliano's.
Juliano's has been trimming down their product offerings as of late. I bought my PW kit from them a few years back and when it came time to install and ask for help, they no longer carried them.
Juliano's top makes your car look like you are hauling a mattress on it. I got my tack strips from a guy that was making them before UP started doing theirs. Top material I used is the same stuff that Mercedes uses on their convertible tops.
I my self like the Low profile top insert . What are you guys using between the Tac strip & Roof panel channel ? (Any type of seal or sealant) All so on tac strip (off top of head ) 300 plus holes, Every hole used , or skip holes , if so about how may in between? Brass tac nails , steel or screws ? On UP tac its over sized ( cut to fit) after Fitting did you Tig weld the seam & finish to smooth ? What is the name of the Rope / seal/bead ? that locks the roof fabric into tac strip?
The top fabric is between the tack strip and the body and acts as the seal. No sealant. My coupe is the second one I’ve done that way and have not had any leaks. I can’t remember how much distance I used between holes (maybe about 1-1/2”?) but I definitely didn’t use all of the holes. I don’t have a TIG machine so I just carefully butted the ends together.. The seal is called “tack strip rubber seal”. I got mine from Mac’s (40-705018-A) for about $12. For what it’s worth, I stretched a waterproof canvas tightly over the bows and stapled it to the wood all the way around just inside the top sheetmetal and across the bows to prevent “lifting”. Next I glued down a layer of 1/4” “landau foam” and trimmed it to butt up to the sheetmetal. Last I laid down tightly stretched Haartz cloth and stapled it down through the slotted holes in the sheetmetal (in the groove). The tack strip went on with small brass plated steel screws. That was the hard part. Once on, the rubber seal went in, and the ends were super glued together at the very back center of the top.
I agree with @Dennis D that the Julianos kit is not great probably because they wouldn't send me one here in Australia LOL. Lucky though as their tack strip sits up too high and doesn't look right. I used a UPAC tack strip, we made an alloy insert for the hole, rubber sealing strip from Macs and I left it to my trimmer to do the job. BTW the tack strip fitted perfect in my UPAC body and I had an OG to compare it to.
Thank you Chop&Drop, Mine will not be a True soft top, I cut down a crown steel donor top (i believe from Honda) to fit inside the channel ( not tac strip channel) So I will use the padding to give /feel of soft top insert .
Fortunately, my old beater still has the original top insert, it has a few small imperfections but I constantly use a top cleaner that keeps the vinyl soft, Hard to believe it's 91 years old, When I bought the car more than 40 years ago I considered replacing it and said I would when I was flying down the road and te wiid ripped it off, so far so good. HRP
W just finished a chopped deuce sedan and used a metal insert covered with black Mercedes top material and fastened to the wood. Third deuce I've done this way.
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