Horse Skinning!

With your tarp over the side you are not working on, liberally spray the backside of the folded-over material to all edges.

The moment of truth: Carefully roll the freshly-glued top to the glued roof surface from the center. Patience is a must; you don't want to have to lift it up again. Take your time, work inch-by-inch from the already-glued center to the car's edge. Watch for air bubbles and ripples; the material needs to roll evenly front to back. Plan on messy hands.

Once at the edge, make sure the material is pulled tight, then rub it down to the edge of the roof. There's a gutter here, so don't wrap the material around that, because you'll need to wedge the vinyl into the gutter. Now for the buttress area...

Be sure the rear is tacked to the beginning of the roofline curve and get ready to pull. Grab the extended corner and pull it taut. Remember, this is the section that didn't "lay" during the check, so it needs to be stretched hard. Also, if you accidentally left any place without glue, it will show up now as you stretch the vinyl.

Use your hand to slowly work the material down the bodyline of the C-pillar a few inches. Stretch it again, laying it down a little bit each time and ensuring the material is smoothed out. Think of it like a day at the gym...

Once you've reached the very bottom, work the material out from the center ridge toward the side windows; leave the inside alone. The vinyl top on this side of the car should now look exactly like the metal roof. Using scissors, trim the excess material at the back, leaving a 2-inch lip on the outside C-pillar section that will be finish-trimmed later. Leave the inside alone here as well.

Now for the front. Pull the material down tight over the A-pillar, again working from the roof down to the cowl to be sure there are no bubbles or ripples. Use a pen to lightly mark where the leading edge for the chrome windshield moulding will be installed.

Using the pen line as a guide, carefully trim this excess, leaving an extra edge of about an inch for finish-trimming later. DO NOT CUT across the windshield area beyond the glued-down edge of the roof; the other side of the windshield edge will be trimmed once that side has been stretched and attached.

The moulding gutters over the windows require a little more care. Use the handles of the scissors or a similar burnishing tool to tuck the material tightly into these areas and back out over the lip, working from the back to the front. Again, trim this carefully, leaving a little extra material hanging over the edge. Leave the rear window untrimmed for now. You're halfway there...

Spray glue on the opposite side of the roof, and, using the tarp to cover the installed half now, thoroughly spray the back of the vinyl. Begin the tedious roll toward the door and repeat the stretch, trim, and burnish process.

It's time for the back window. Determine where the window moulding is mounted, cut a small slit in the vinyl, and then place a cut in the material along the moulding line about two inches in from each side, before the inside radius at the top of the flying buttress drops down.

Tuck this edge in tightly along the top of the rear window and cut away the excess material, leaving the extra vinyl in the corners that were not part of your slit. Finish-trim it if necessary.

The corners are tricky. First, since the upper edge of the window is secure, you can roll the material evenly over the back of the C-pillar. Smooth it down so it's secure to the trim-moulding line. Trim away this excess, again leaving two inches or so extra for finish-trimming on the rear of the buttress. Trim the window a little tighter, but don't tack it down yet until the following step is complete.

Next, make a series of small cuts that allow the material to fit tightly around the inside-roof radius. Work the material into the corner, and now you can make sure the rest of the window is tight.

Trim time! After you clean and put away the glue and sprayer, remove the masks and get your first view of how the top really looks on your paint job. At the rear, feel with your fingers to find the holes where the screws mount the trim mouldings and poke them through using a nail or an awl. Do this all the way around the C-pillar and rear-window moulding mounts, as well as the emblems.

The Charger logo is the coolest thing in the trim box, so we'll put that back on first. Since you've already poked the holes through, push it through the roof and attach from behind. Now the chrome trim on the C-pillar. This is another careful step, and is why we left extra material during our earlier trim. First, lay the chrome trim in place but do not attach it.

Take a roll of masking tape (something that will not harm the new roof) and very carefully lay a flush mask line along the outside edge of the trim.

Now pull the trim up. Take a roll of low-adhesive pinstriping tape with a width of 1/16-1/8 inch and apply it on the inside edge of the masking tape (where the trim had been). It's critical that these barely touch each other.

Using a razor blade or utility knife, cut along the inside edge of the pinstriping tape. This allows you to leave enough of an edge that the screw holes for the trim lock down your vinyl, yet the lip won't show from beneath the trim. Since you've spent so much time putting on the roof, this would be a sad time to mess up on the trim holddown, so be careful. Carefully pull the trimmed material off.

The trim assembles in sections, so start at the rear window and work your way around to the front. Once done, the clip-on pieces for the window gutters and windshield are next. Finish-trim the area right to the outside lip and reapply the chrome brightwork. Now do the edges of the windshield, again working the material into the lip and trimming with a razor so that the clips will hold the top. You're ready to go.