Sunshade installation techniques?

[AdmiralSenn]

Hey guys. I noticed after I installed my freshly repainted sunshade that I managed to ding it on installation. I grudgingly took it off, sanded down and filled the dings, touched it up, covered all the stainless with protective cloths and went to reinstall the shade again... only to scratch it again!

I know approximately where the shade needs to sit on the hinges, but getting it to sit there long enough for me to tighten everything down is almost impossible, and if I put the struts on they force the shade into the exact position to scrape the forward edge up again.

Any tips? It would help if I had an assistant but I don't. Right now the shade is sitting on a piece of wood wrapped in cloth to prop it about 1/3 of the way open. I can't get enough leverage on it to make it sit where I want without risking overtorqueing the ribs and cracking it.

[Bitsyncmaster]

I used some 6x6 blocks sitting one the engine cover. Build the block up high enough to approximately the normal height of the open louver. Then it just sits on the block and one man can got the hing cover bolts started.

[AdmiralSenn]

I was actually able to get it almost exactly right using a 5 gallon bucket wrapped in a sheet (thanks for that, it honestly wouldn't have occurred to me to stack anything on the lower engine cover - I'm too used to thinking of it as fragile). If I'd had two buckets, one for each side, it would have hung perfectly in the proper position. (Granted that all of our cars are slightly different on alignment, but this should be REALLY close for most people.)

I just sanded and touched up the new dings. Hopefully if/when I have to take the louver off again I manage to avoid scratching it any more.

Right now my solo reinstallation process goes as follows:

Drape pillow case or other long fabric across T panel's rear edge.
Wrap long piece of wood in towels or other fabric and place across quarter panels. Rest sun shade on this in approximate 1/3 open position.

Loosely attach hinge hardware and struts. Open sun shade, remove wood crossbar and replace with two 5 gallon buckets - sun shade will hang open approximately 1/2 way. To clear the T panel, the sun shade will most likely NOT be in line with the hinges but will be canted somewhat "backwards" - the buckets should hold the entire assembly about halfway through its vertical adjustment range. I believe this will hold true for most cars where the roof structure is just beginning to separate or has already started on its way out.

Remove struts, tighten bolts snug (just above finger tight) and check alignment. Continue to lower, loosen, shift, tighten, and raise until alignment works. Reinstall struts after alignment is good.