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I know alot of ppl on here are goin to think that this is REALLY STUPID .o0 (it probably is tho), but ive been thinking about actually doing this.. make the rought cut of the size of the t-tops (minus 1-2" all around) and let a body shop finsh my hack job..
what are the dims of a t-top and are there any differences in t-top sizes from 82-92??
-mike (loomdog)
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Real bad idea. The only way you should even consider this is if you have the complete Cars & Concepts t-top setup out of a wrecked thirdgen. Your cost if you do it the way you stated above will end up being more than you could buy a complete running IROC for.
don't even try....just sell your car and get a T-Top car....altho convertibles are the best....you can even get the top up and down faster then T-Tops.....ne way, i drove a t-top car yesterday(my friends) only good thing was that gurls can look up at them selfs...i hated it and it is MY CAR....but gurls prob. also like the fact that you can cruise around the shore with the top down.....even with t-tops off it is not the same.
__________________ '88 IROC Z08 Convertible ~New Paint
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t-top thirdgens are cheap, not worth the time & effort to try to retrofit t-tops to a hardtop car.
also, think twice about getting a convertible instead of a t-top car. convertibles have a considerable amount of body flex. they are effectively death traps too if you ever manage to roll one onto it's "roof".
how much would it really take away from the structural intregaty of the car? ive heard ppl say that t-top cars use heaver materials, but ON ONE has ever been able to back that up w/ anything offical from GM.. what really are the differences between a hardtop and t-top (other than the obvious hole in the roof)??
I dunno enough, but I don't think it'd hurt the cars body all that much. Find a v6 and take a circular saw to it, drive it a few weeks and see what happens, lol always an idea.
if your heart is set on putting ttops in a hardtop car then i think it would be better to cut the entire roof off from the A pillers and from the quarter panels. drill out all the spot welds around the top of the hatch and then cut across the quarter panels. there is a factory weld there under the paint. go cut a ttop roof off a wreck. cut a lot more then you need. then its just a matter of getting the new roof to fit 100% in the right place or your hatch and windshield will not fit right. I was thinking of doing this and examined a few ttop and hardtop cars in the boneyard. if the cuts are right it can be done right. how do you think GM put the roofs on from the factory. bottom of the A piller at the firewall to the rear qaurter panels. I have decided its not worth my time and agervation to do it though. i guess if you have alot of time on your hands and good body shop skills then anythings possible.
Screw all of that, why not just make a Targa top ? Find yourself the Targa glass roof of a 1990 vette, cut the roof to those dimensions and use that. ( i'd like to see one ) .
the hard top of a 3rd gen is about 30 percents of the strctural integrity.. you take that off and I can bet you will be able to almost bend the car in 2 before it breaks. What the guys at GM do is wield some kind of fake subframe beneath the car to add resistance. Without that, your car will be like putty. As for the way you need to do it... the cutting the hard top and wielding a t-top way is the best... but really not worth the investisment because really... it would cost you more and take more time than find a mint condition IROC... you guys are crazy
A friend of mine made a T-Top in to a convertiable and it looks factory!!! But i would not cut up a hardtop... they handle better than the t-tops plus they dont twist as easy.
Yeah, if you've ever seen a T-top car without the headliner, you'll see that there's a larger bar down the center of the "T". This bar is used for strenghtening the roof, and therefore the subframe.
I don't imagine welding in your own bar would be too hard, but I would also use things like subframe connectors, and maybe an 8+ point cage, if things were still flexy.
I saw a Trans Am with the roof lowered a few inches. It also looked like it had a notchback since the back was flat, with a tiny little flat window. I don't know what would possess you to chop-up a notchback, but it didn't look too bad. Aside from the fender skirts that had been added.
I think all you would have to do is find some of the hotrod guys that have chopped an older cars roof down, and ask them how they mate it up nicely. Then you have found out how to put the T-Top roof onto the hardtop body.
Hell, with all the welding I'm about to do (see the 1/4 panel replacement thread!), I'm actually thinking of welding in a T-top roof. At this point (see my pics in that thread), it might not be a lot of extra work!
Don't forget about the extra latches that the T-top cars got, on the doors, a few inches above the regular door latch/striker combination.
__________________ -Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)
Perhaps somewhat halfbaked... but I wonder if it would be possible to cut the middle bar on a T-TOP and somehow make it so that it was replaceable. A T-Top/targa. That would be pretty smooth.
i've been thinking about this since i'm a huge g-body enthusiast and i have an 86 regal. i want to get a monte carlo and give it a go some time, or like that mikekey suggested, a v6 beater regal, drive it for a few weeks with holes cut out and see what happens. i'd imagine if you reinforced some stuff you could pull this one off.
The targa top debate...this has been discussed before.
The best way (in my opinion) to make a targa top car is to find 2 cars. One Convertable and One T-Top/Solid Roof. Just cut the roof off (so that it would match to the convertable body panels) of the T-top/Solid Roof Car and weld it on. The Convertable car has enough structural support to not have a roof and adding that much more weight is like adding a car full of passengers. Then you just modify your ghetto-fabbed roof for a targa top. Wala! Targa Top Camaro/Berlinetta/Trans Am/Firebird/Formula/Z28/SE/SC/RS/whatever
always an idea. 
