I just got back from the junk yard and found a really nice center t-bar since mine is severely rusted. I decided to strip it down to the bare metal on the top side since the paint was scratched. I was amazed to find that when I stripped the center part, it had a nice shiney aluminum surface to it as seen on the pics. I was also looking on how GM built this thing and tried to find out what's causing this to rust since alot of us with t-tops have this problem and how to prevent it. This bar has 3 parts to it that's tack welded and riveted together. Water is seeping in through the cracks shown and sits there rusting any exposed metal down in there. My solution is to seal the crevise all the way down and on the ends to prevent water from getting down in there. This part is very expensive at the dealer (about $180) and I intend for this to be the last center t-bar that I'm buying. I plan on coating the bottom side of this thing with a rubber undercoating and paint the top gloss black. Any input on this?

 

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If your weatherstripping is done properly, water should not even get near those seams that you are sealing. Better safe than sorry though, I suppose.

 

I got a new oem one, and mine is composite material... Bad thing is it doesn't shine up as well as the old one did.

 

The weather stripping must've been installed on a Friday at 4:29pm before the whistle blew at the factory because they didn't do a very good job. My t-tops have been leaking since day one when I bought it brand new in 92'

 

hmmm $180 for a new one at the dealer, damn i gotta get there before they start discontinuing more parts from our cars.

 

Here is the final product

 

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looks good shoulda jus polised it tho

 

nice, i was actually thinking of getting one and powdercoating it

 

How would it look with a polished bar on the car?

 

I was just thinking that. I don't think that would look right.

 

When I replaced mine I filled that seam in with POR-15.

 

good idea