Newbie Near Portland, OR

Permission to come aboard? I fell in love with a 1990 Reatta Convertible, and it's now in my garage. Black with tan, 16 way and CD. It appears to be all stock except Magnaflow muffler and tip, Kenwood stereo, and aftermarket top.

I am the third owner - the first two were in Texas. I had the car transported from TX to the Northwest.

The laundry list of projects include engine cleaning, addressing oil leaks, inoperable power port (aka cigarette lighter), slow passenger power window, drivers door panel repair/replacement, re-installation of stock radio, and eventually, replacement of the top.

The original window sticker says it had a black cloth top, but it currently has a black vinyl top with glass window. The window has pulled away from the vinyl at the bottom :mad: I have read many posts on different forums about this. The pro's I spoke with said the would not or could not repair. So I ordered Rhino Glue today to attempt a temporary MacGyver repair. I will post my results at a later date...but am open to other suggestions.

Welcome Gary I'm pretty new here myself. A great bunch of knowledgeable guys around here. Good luck and enjoy your Reatta.

There is a way to repair the window on your top, if that's the way you want to go. Send me an email (address in signature line), and I'll send you an article I found about fixing it.

If the window sticker says it came with a black cloth top (it's rare to find ones that came from the factory with a cloth top), then the top probably has been replaced.

If you're looking for a replacement top, I highly recommend Mike over at BuickReattaParts.com. He sells very nice, HIGH quality tops. They fit 1000 times better than the original tops, or any other replacements out there. I recently had a grey cloth top installed on my '90 convertible, it cost approx. $1400 to purchase and have installed, but it's the best $1400 I've ever spent on a car.

One thing with Mike's tops, they take a while to make, they're made to order, and from the time I ordered it, to the time it was on my door step was about 8 weeks. But it's well worth it in the end.

Welcome!

Oh, and since you've already bought one, and you'll undoubtably need another one soon, Check this '89 out on eBay: Buick : Reatta | eBay

:D

It's a disease..

There is a way to repair the window on your top, if that's the way you want to go. Send me an email (address in signature line), and I'll send you an article I found about fixing it.

Sorry about that Ronnie. I just had an email that someone had sent me a while back, and I was just forwarding the eamil to him. I can post it here though. just didn't cross my mind..

1) Prop up front of top

2) Prop up rear window, use different sizes of boxes so that the window and canvas valance lay exactly in the original location.

3) Clean glass and underside of canvas valance with rubbing alcohol,

mask off the glass and the top of the valance. (Use 100% silicon black only)

4)Silicone the 3/4 of glass with a generous amount, press valance into place,

the surface tension of the silicone will hold it in place and no taping should be necessary.

5) Squeegee the excess silicone off with your finger, remove tape from glass first, then the canvas. At this point the job is done, resist the temptation to fiddle or touch your work.

The success of this job is dependant on the time you take to prop the window and align the valance (get the set up just right before you use any silicone!)

One last thing, this kind of work takes some patience and practice to assure a nice clean job on your vehicle.

(Courtesy of Andy at Tucson Convertible Tops and Auto Upholstery, Home Page)

From people that I've talked to that have done this, you should plan on having your car out of commission for about a weekend. Just to let everything set up good and hard after you've done it all. The prep work and the job itself could take an hour or two. Slow and steady wins the race.