Paul Damato has had success replacing the silicone seam on the rear convertible window. His repair looks great. I think he used wax paper to keep the seam even with the glass. I’m not sure if there was an article on how to do the repair on the old TCCN website.
Steve
Steve, thanks for the reply. I did a little googling and couldn’t find anything. If anyone knows if and where this article can be found let me know please. It’s good to hear it can be done so maybe I can find something on the net that applies to all convertibles with a folding glass window.
There should be an adjustment screw inside the hinge between the first and second arms of the top frame (where the frame folds at the center of the door glass). If that screw is too far out, it will prevent the first arm from coming down far enough to meet the windshield. Also, check the eccentric bolt at the back on each side and make sure it isn’t worn. Even a tiny bit of wear decreases the travel adjustment by a lot. Another option is to shim the frame where it meets the body of the car. Start by putting two washers behind the frame mount on the top bolt, one on the middle bolt and none on the bottom bolt. Do this on each side. This will tilt the whole frame forward and down just a wee bit and should take care of your problem.
I don’t think the side screws are the problem because when I disconnect the top cylinder the gap disappears and the top latches easily. The eccentric doesn’t appear to be worn, I get a decent amount of adjustment out of it and that is how I was able to get rid of the sag I had on the RH side.
I think I am going to get a different brand lift cylinder and if that doesn’t work I might have to to shim the frame mounting, good idea, thanks for the suggestion, but I’m really hoping I can bolt in new cylinders and the problem goes away.
If in fact the cylinders are wrong, rather than spend $$$ on new ones, I’d cut off the ends off the shafts and thread them for heim joints. That would give you lots of adjustment, plus make it easy to change the oil seals when they eventually start leaking.
I forgot to mention that on my 67-68 mustang frame, there is about 1/2 inch of fore-aft adjustment available at the header bow. Not sure if that’s the same on the 69-70 frames.
I have contacted Mustangs Unlimited about getting a refund, I bought one just a few weeks ago and the other about 2 months ago. Hopefully they give me a refund and I can order the good ones from National Parts Depot; I contacted them and they said their supplier was the OEM in the 60s for Ford. Not a bad idea about heim joints, but I don’t really have the capabilities to do that kind of modification to them.
I am pretty sure it is not adjustable on the 69-70 frames. Where is the adjustment located?
I’ll try to get a pic of it over lunch break.
I can’t get a decent picture with my crappy iPhone 3gs camera, but here is what my 68 frame looks like behind the driver side top clamp.
That 5/16 acorn nut and its companion bolt that you see sitting up behind the clamp pivot (I removed the spring so you could see it better) rests in a slotted hole. Loosen the nut and you can slide the header further into or out of the first frame section and then simply tighten it back down. But thinking about it further, this adjustment might only be possible before the top is installed.
Thanks for the pic. I looked in there per someone else’s advice and I believe it’s different on my '69, but I’ll double check. I bet you are right about that adjustment only being able to be used before top installation.
I tried wax paper and the silicone stuck to it…still have a piece of it stuck on the inside of the window seam I made. Still working on how to do the new seam neatly so it looks very close to the original. Will post the fix with pics when I get it done.
Looking forward to seeing and hearing how this goes. I’m not in a big hurry to fix mine since I don’t take it out in the rain, but I do want to fix it.
Mustangs Unlimited quit responding to my emails about returning the lift cylinders or more info on them. I guess I will have to contact my credit card company and open a dispute, not what I want to do, but I don’t want to be stuck with these and have to pay for new ones. Before I open a dispute, is there anyway there is a problem on my end? I don’t see anything bent, broken, missing or any other adjustments I missed that could be causing the problem I’m having.
What would you guys do next?
Just for kicks, measure the length of the shaft (fully extended and disconnected from the top frame) from the center of the eye to the center of the pivot on the housing and post it here. I’ll compare it to mine and see that should at least tell you whether or not you’ve got the right cylinders. I suspect its the top frame because from everything I read when doing my conversion, damn near every ford convertible uses the same cylinders.
I can take a measurement the next couple of days and post it up. I just wonder if these cylinders were made wrong more than I have the wrong ones. Mustangs Unlimited does this them being the same from '65 to '70.
69DropTop: While measuring one of my cylinders I remembered something that might explain why yours appear short. There’s a spring on the bottom of the shaft inside the cylinder that compresses at full extension. In other words, unless you (or hydraulic pressure) holds the shaft at full extension, it will settle back into the cylinder 1/4- 1/2 inch. With the cylinder hanging off the mounting peg, I bet it’s getting pulled upward a bit by that spring. Try pulling it down until you feel it physically bottom out. On mine, with the shaft manually pulled out to its maximum extension, I measure 11 1/4 inches from the top of the housing to the center of the eye at the end of the shaft.
Update: yesterday I bolted the tack strips back in, that took a lot longer than expected. Two different holes were visibly stripped so I went to the parts store and got a heli-coil kit. I did the two and then found a few more as I was tightening down the others so had to them also. It took a while, but at least I know they are done right now. I removed both cylinders from the car. After I had them both removed I still have the gap between the top frame and windshield frame on the RH side. I got to thinking about about it and I already had the tack strips bolted down, I checked the tightness of the top material and it is pretty tight in the sail area so I’m hoping that is what is keeping it from closing completely now. Next time I work on the car I will pull the well liner on that side and loosen those bolts and see what happens. There is quite a bit of adjustment in those strips so hopefully that will do the trick.
After more ignored follow-up emails from Mustangs Unlimited I called them Sat morning. The customer service rep was nice and gave me RA numbers to return their cylinders. I ordered the USA made cylinders from National Parts Depot this morning.
I have both cylinders removed now. I will have to see if I can get someone to help me get a measurement while I extend them. THanks for taking the time to measure yours 
Last night I got the cylinders ready to return. I measured from center of mounting hole to center of the eye, which is what i thought you did, but now see you measured yours differently 
and now they are wrapped up in a box ready to ship back today. I came up with 11 1/2" I put a big screwdriver through the eye, a rag around the body, pulled pretty hard and no spring action on these, maybe they would have gone a little more with hydraulic pressure, but I doubt it. I checked the first cylinder I removed, which I thought I threw away, but found in the garage trash can, this one did have the spring action you described and when I pulled on it and bottomed the spring out I got 11 3/4" which I bet would have been enough to let the top close comfortably. I also checked the other one I replaced, it looks a lot like the replacements I ordered and came up with the same thing- 11 1/2", no spring to bottom out. My replacements are supposed to be here today so we will see how they measure, I’m nervous!
