View single post by Mark Rosenbaum
 Posted: 06-09-2006 02:31 am
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Mark Rosenbaum



Joined: 03-12-2005
Location: Kingman, Arizona USA
Posts: 532
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 The part is called a 'crash roll' for some reason.  I've seen an average of maybe two a year show up on eBay.  Most sold for more than twice what I was willing to pay for a used one that I hadn't personally examined.

Companies that restore padded dashboards could restore crash rolls, but this would be pricey.  At one time Delta Motorsports offered a fiberglass replacement which unfortunately tended to fall apart at the seams, and in consequence they no longer stock the item.  Jim Medland has mentioned that Delta may revisit the issue some day.

The crash roll on my car has split along the front edge and the vinyl is cracking in many places.  To repair it, I first tried black duct tape.  This worked nicely for a year, after which the tape's adhesive began to fail, leaving me with a rather unsightly mess that was difficult to clean off.  I then tried black electrical tape.  This sticks fairly well when held in place with a heavy-duty (waterbed bladder) vinyl cement in addition to its own adhesive, but looks tacky.  The vinyl cement is generally effective at keeping the cracked vinyl from disintegrating completely.

Perhaps one might fabricate an assemblage of plywood or hardwood of suitable shape and size, add a strip of dense foam rubber to the upper surface so the convertible top or hardtop will seal, then cover the whole thing with vinyl fabric for appearance.  However, this is just idle speculation, as I've never looked into the practical aspects.