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Replacing a Vista Dome

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  • Member since
    January 2006
  • 193 posts
Replacing a Vista Dome
Posted by gottcent on Saturday, February 10, 2018 3:22 PM

I need to replace a damaged Vista Dome on my postwar 2532 passenger car. I have the replacement Dome, but I don't know how to get the old one out--or the new one in, for that matter. Does the Dome go in from above the car roof or from below? What is the trick for getting the old one out? Thanks in advance for any tips.

John

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Austin, TX
  • 10,096 posts
Posted by lionelsoni on Saturday, February 10, 2018 5:02 PM

Mine go in from the top.  There's a little patch of plastic on each end that has to be pushed in to squeeze past the central ridge of the body extrusion.  Then it snaps back into place under the ridge.

The service manual shows some sort of a clip that would grip the ridge.  It's absent in my cars and wouldn't mate with my domes anyway.  Lionel must have reconsidered the design at some point.

Bob Nelson

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • 193 posts
Posted by gottcent on Monday, February 12, 2018 5:29 PM

Thanks, Bob. After reading your post, I removed the damaged Dome by taking the car apart and gently tapping on the plastic posts around the edges of the Dome. It came out pretty easily, and the new one snapped into place as you suggested.

I also saw the clip in the Service Manual's description of this car and agree it couldn't relate to the Dome roof. As it is the only clip shown on the page, I wonder if it doesn't simply identify the clips that help keep the ends of the car in place. Its placement on that Manual page is confusing, though.

John

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