My Restoration of 64 roadster

[khall2]

Hi. I bought my wife her desired 25th wedding anniversary present: a blue with white top 64 roadster, and my challenge is to make it nice, which requires attention to my top 2 things:

1) Is there a way to successfully repair/replace a cracked (4" horizontal tear at the top of the window) plastic rear window or can you steer me to a quality replacement convertible top manufacturer?

2)The car also has fairly loud gear noise when at highway speeds (it competes well with the radio volume.) How would I best be isolate the source of the noise.

I would appreciate any information - this is our third, and oldest vette, and the most fun, too. Thanks

Keith

 

[WayneC]

> 1) Is there a way to successfully repair/replace a cracked (4" horizontal tear at the top of the window) plastic rear window or can you steer me to a quality replacement convertible top manufacturer?

This is a quality vendor: http://www.alknochinteriors.com/welcome.htm

But, I wouldn't tackle this as a "do it yourself" job unless you have lots of experience replacing convertible tops.

> 2)The car also has fairly loud gear noise when at highway speeds (it competes well with the radio volume.) How would I best be isolate the source of the noise.

This could be tough... it's hard to tell when you have the car, impossible from an internet post! It could be anything from a fluid-starved power steering pump to a bad u-joint to a worn transmission or differential.

Can you not discern whether the sound comes from the engine, transmission, or differential?

Standard or automatic? If standard, does it shift smoothly?

What is the differential gear ratio? Is the differential positraction?

Is it really a gear sound (usually high-pitched whine that tends to cycle a bit at steady speed) or could it be tire noise or gearshift handle rattle?

Does the noise change depending on whether the car is accelerating or decelerating?

If you shift into neutral, does the sound continue?

Might be worth taking it to a shop where they can run it up with the wheels off the ground or on a dynomometer.

Take the passenger seat out and have a small passenger (child?) listen with an ear to the floor in the rear floor, in the driveshaft tunnel, at the firewall. But, be careful if you try this, it could be dangerous to the passenger!

A quirky method might be to run lengths of garden hose under the car from the right side of the passenger compartment, each fastened securely with duct tape so it doesn't flap around, with one end facing the component (engine, trans, differential) and the other end in the passenger compartment so a passenger could listen to the end of each hose, while the car is driven, to each to see if one is definitely louder. Once you have the general area, then direct hoses at each side of the component, etc.