Double bubble roof mounting

Ron Avery

Ron Avery

True Classic
As most of you know I own Mark Rawlings black Montecarlo. He installed, along with other updates. The double bubble hard top.
It is held in place with one bolt on each front corner of the hard top. The bolt on the left front ( Driver side) will not tighten or loosen.
The nut cert or bolt keeps turning. I wanted to tighten the front of the roof down at the windshield, because of excessive wind noise from the driver side front of the top over the windshield header. I asked Mark is I could get access to the bolt or nut cert, by removing the interior trime around the windshield. He did not know, he suggested I ask on the forum. So question is.
For anyone that has their interior apart, or has had it apart. Is it possible to get access to
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the bolt, but removing the windshield upholstery trim?
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Yes, that does appear possible. I just went out and pulled the bolts out of mine, then used a small pick to probe what was underneath, through the threaded hole. There was foam insulation but no metal. Pushing a bit harder with the pick, I was able to feel it through the interior trim, right behind the place where the sun visor mounts.
 
Oh. Cool, thanks so much. Do you have the hard top as well? So these bolts were used in the Scorpion for the soft top system.
 
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Yes, I have a hard top, and yes, they were also the mounting point for the forward part of the soft top. It's been so long since I've had a soft top on the car, I really don't remember how it mounts at the front.
 
Thanks, Pete.
Your car looks cool in your aviator . Can you attach some pics with another reply?
Thanks,
Ron
 
Ron, that's not my car, it's just a pic of a Lancia 037 that I pulled from the internet. I am in the process of turning my Scorpion into an 037 tribute car. That project has been going on for about eight and a half years. For more info, see the link in my sig. Here are some pics of my Scorpion before I took it off the road to start the current project.

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Ok, now I know your car. Did not associate your name with it. Beautiful, I love what you have modified on it.
Ron
 
I love your tribute build, I have often thought that the SHO engine would be an interesting fit in a DeLorean but never thought of it for a Lancia . Just curious, why not a 4 cam 3.0 from a late 164S?
Your modes make my Montecarlo seem tame. If my car was not registered in California, and currently does pass smog (thanks to Mark). I would love more than the 135 BPH, that it now has.
 
Good luck. As far as wind noise, check the leading edge for fit. I filed down mine quite a bit to fit well. And then there should be a rubber molding that fits on the edge. Use stainless steel machine screw with some grease as the depression in roof they mount in are going to be place water can collect.
 
Ron Avery said:
I love your tribute build, I have often thought that the SHO engine would be an interesting fit in a DeLorean but never thought of it for a Lancia . Just curious, why not a 4 cam 3.0 from a late 164S?
Your modes make my Montecarlo seem tame. If my car was not registered in California, and currently does pass smog (thanks to Mark). I would love more than the 135 BPH, that it now has.
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Thanks. I was planning on an SHO swap in sidewinder configuration on the Scorpion in about 2010/2011. That would have left the car pretty much as it appears in those photos, except for the drivetrain swap. I came across the 037 body kit in late 2014, and that kind of cemented the full conversion rather than just the drivetrain swap. So I already had some parts collected, including 2 engines and a transmission.

As for SHO vs V6 Busso, it boiled down to a lot of factors, cost certainly being among them. As you can probably tell from my sig, I'm not a purist as far as modifying cars, and I certainly don't care about the country-of-origin stuff ("keeping it all Italian"). I just don't get why an engine that happens to be from the same geographical reason has more merit than an engine constructed elsewhere. I suppose it has to do with the romantic notion of products from Italy being somehow special. Some are, certainly there is no equal to some of the cars built there. But Fiat and Lancia are not really in that category in my mind. Heresy, I know.

The SHO engine has far more visual punch than a Busso, and can scream to a far higher RPM safely. Both of those things were also large factors in going with the SHO. I love the looks of the 037, and have tried to duplicate them where possible. But a 4 banger, even with the supercharger, was never going to work for me. The 037 engine is an unattractive, asymmetrical lump as far as I am concerned. So, if the engine had to change, and it didn't have to be Italian, I just couldn't come up with a better choice than the SHO.
 
I agree the SHO engine is very cool. And has a lot of eye appeal as well. I always felt is was a under used engine in the Ford Division. I am not a big has to original guy either. Was just curious. After all these are our cars. And we should make them as we would like. What are the engine specs in your Montecarlo / Scorpion?
 
Ron Avery said:
I agree the SHO engine is very cool. And has a lot of eye appeal as well. I always felt is was a under used engine in the Ford Division. I am not a big has to original guy either. Was just curious. After all these are our cars. And we should make them as we would like. What are the engine specs in your Montecarlo / Scorpion?
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Currently it's a fairly stock rebuild. After the car is up and running I will throw a Tweecker on it to override the stock RPM limiter. I don't know if bigger injectors will be needed, or if I can handle it with increased fuel pressure. The engine as installed in the Taurus was limited by the stock accessories, but as installed in my car, it only has to spin an alternator, so I can deal with that with pulley size. Supposedly just getting the engine to spin to the "engine" redline of 8000 (8500? I can't remember) will produce about 285 bhp.
 
Ron, I've got some European Montecarlo badges for your Scorpion if you're interested.
 
lanciahf said:
Pete! Don't give me any ideas!! What were you planning to do with the trans? SHO Trans with cable shifter?
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Exactly.

Ken Stevenson here in the DFW area already did a V6 Busso conversion, however. So those waters are a bit better charted. In case you needed other ideas to ruminate on... 😆
 
Update,
We remove the interior upholstery around the driver side sunvisor and windshield. We found that the nut CERT for the front left hand bolt, for the hardtop was loose and spinning freely. We had to drill out the bolt from the outside of the car and then replace the nut CERT with a new one that allows you to tighten the bolt for the top.
 
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