well I have a dilema here. I bought an 84 Firebird mainly for parts. I have also been looking for quite a while for a straight rolling chassis that I could have caged and tubbed. my problem is this. the parts car I bought has fixable rust from what I can see so far and it looks like this car would be great for a pro-street project that I REALLY want but my only problem with the car is it is a hard top and I really want my future pro-streeter to be a t-top car. is this a straight forward swap for an experianced body man??? please don't tell me that the hard top is better for a pro-streeter b/c is will makes the car stiffer, T-Tops and F-Bodies go hand in hand and the Trans Am I drive right now is a T-Tops and I love it that way.

 

As i understand it it's a lot of work and really expensive, and a lot of people will say it's not worth it.

 

Not worth it. Buy a beater T-top car, turn it into a prostreet car, you will save money.

 

Aside from the cost. The frames are built differently to handle the T-tops versus a solid hard top

 

are you 100% positive the frame is diff??? it sure looked the same to me unless the frame was made with a smaller guage steel.

 

On The Third Gen's I am not 100% sure But on the Second Gen's I know they are different. Check with your local frame and or body shops and they should be able to confirm it.

 

8-9000 to do the conversion. You have to cut the top off a t-top car at the b pillars and the firewall, and weld it in. There is a place that does this, they specialize in building kitt/karr replicas. Mikes custom kitts I think is the name of it.

best is to buy a striped t-top body and transfer it over, check ebay you should be able to find a running v6 t-top car for under 1k on there..

The frame on a third gen t-top vs a hard top is the same, and since you are making a prostreet you will have a roll cage so structually there isn't a problem. Only other difference between them is a little wedge in the door frame to tighten up the door.