i have aftermarket ttops and dont want them... i want a hardtop.. is it possible for a body shop to do this and how much do you think it would cost?
anyone ever do this before?

 

I'd imagine a competent shop could do it. Either fill the holes or cut off the top from a hard top car and weld it in. You'd have to pull the windshield of course. Maybe a smoother option.

 

in 6 years I've never seen that request.

 

Just buy a hardtop car...the time and money you'll invest in this venture isn't worth the trouble.

 

my car is an 88GTA with 55,000 original miles.... its really nice. i just dont want the ttops. selling it and trying to find another will be impossible.

 

I've seen rusted roofs(rooves?) being replaced by chopping the top of the bad one and the new one put on. You'd have to measure both exactly and cut the top, and swap them. The weld, the filler..... and all that

 

1.) Find someone who can weld well

2.) Carefully cut and remove the Roof Skin from a Hardtop.

3.) Then cut the pillars that run horazontal where the top of the window touches, and weld those onto the same area on the T-Top car.

3b.) Cut the old Center Divider Roof Skin for the T-Top car out and remove it.

4.) After doing so take the roof skin and weld that to to the front 2 pillars, and to the back pillars, and all along the sides. Grind off excess weld, sand to a smooth finish and whalla.... all you need is Paint!

5.) Check the headliner that you'd have to get as well, and make modifications as needed (Thought I don't imagine to many are needed)

Don't have tons of experience in this area, but I'd imagine that there is MORE than enough structural integrity to withstand a hard top conversion (Since you can run the car without the tops in.) All you gotta worry about is making it Weather proof around the edges (Clean that up with welds) and making sure that the hard top roof skin will line up properly.

Heres somthing I just thought about.....

1.) Get sheet metal that is the right Diamater....

2.) Cut it to fit in where the T-Tops went.....

3.) Get a brace of some sort that is the right length and diamater to fit in the area that is between the front window and the back sail pannel area. And weld that in there.... Preferably the brace area from a hard-top.

4.) Clean out the t-top area and weld in the metal sheets.....

5.) Weld in the sheets of metal.....

6.) Make the Asthetic and Visual modifications to make it look like a hard top. (Such as window molding and such.)

Just somthing I would do before any of this, is coat ALL the **** with POR 15... can't be to safe.

Maybe I'm nuts guys, but this seems like the only way to do it. If you can think of some other way, please, by all means... take the floor Well, hope that helps give you an Idea of whats needed....

Adam

 

If it's a NICE, low mileage car then why HACK it up???
Start looking for another GTA with low miles and hardtop.
They are out there, and posting somewhere on this board might produce leads to get a hardtop GTA.
There's probably someone out there who wishes they had T-Tops on their otherwise perfect low mile GTA.
Not that these cars will ever be worth a fortune, but if it's that nice it is a shame to hack it up. Buy dome of the T-Top shades that were available through GM.