[Rattiac]

At work we are currently working on a 54 Belair convertible that has been scabbed by another shop that closed down.
The main thing is the frame dips down and touches the driver's window.
Looking at it,  there's a connecting long arm that bolts down towards the rear seat, looks adjustable.  We thought the brackets had been flipped upside down not letting the arm to pull down.
Boss flipped em but still not enough pull to bring the center up .
Can't seem to find much info on this particular year. Any info out there.  Maybe Sammons knows something.
Usually we don't have to touch anything with the frame like this.
Car has been taken apart and poorly put back together.

I told my boss maybe to loosen the bracket and we'll prop up the center and tighten it back up.

[sammons]

Rattiac, dad had a 54 belair conv but all we did was put on a new top. Frame was lined up.

My brothers 67 Camaro had that problem. I loosened up all the bolts and did as you described. I jacked up, (with a 2x4 chunk) at the fold point and hyper extended it, tightened everything back up. When i released the porta power jack off it settled out right.
Thats all i got for ideas.

[Rattiac]

We were adjusting the right plates just not properly,  found info on chevytalk.com
Link here. https://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/360275/post/2857608/
Having the wife print em off.
Can't wait to try this out tomorrow.  Learned something new. 

Ha,ha. Me showing the old guy something is a change . He always says "if ya wanna learn something,  hang around the old guy's" 😊

[Rattiac]

Now I see why the other guy put it on so loosely.
After adjusting things,  there is so much play in the frame it hardly made a dent.  Front header won't lock down. Bent internals.
Can't seem to find parts. 

[sammons]

Ahh, that would explain a few things.

When we got my nieghbors 71 Chevelle, a big tree limb had fallen on the left side of the windshield and conv top. We found a complete windshield frame and header trim and a conv top header. We located them from Desert Valley salvage out of Arazona. Price was reasonable. I had to straighten the left front side rail and the end of the qtr glass rail, and the front 2 bows. Came out great and went up and down fine and the top fit well.

There are several old auto salvages in Colorado  also. Come to mind was Rocky Mountain Relics, and Rusty Relics auto salvage. It's a crap shoot if they have a 53-4 top assy. Think there was a couple in Montana too.

I would expect a Pontiac would be the same.

[sixball]

My first thought was something or someone on the top. So many moving parts that must all work perfectly together. Sorta like setting up a Quadra Jet.  Try Owens Salvage in Wellington Texas. If Bob doesn't have one he may know who does.   

[Rattiac]

My boss is gonna talk with the owner.  Usually he has them do the parts shopping . He said we may just put it back together,  have the owner pick it up until he gets the right parts.  He doesn't like a bay tied up for weeks  especially in winter.
The next bay has a 49 Ford getting the whole interior done . It has a very nice paint job.
Things were slow during the gv shutdown and he had Hotrod stuff come in during summer .