HI,
OK , I am newbie here. once upon a time i had a 1980 TA with blade rims and glass t tops, ""MAN I MISS THE T-TOPS""!!!!!. stole 2 days before Xmas.
so once i graduated medical school i bought my own grad present a very perfect 1988 IROC. in 2003 i blew the tranny and 6 months later the motor hydro locked..
so now it has a crate tranny over built worked on at the calloway shop in Vegas as well the crate Vette zr1 motor.blueprinted, longer cam and the ""CHIP"", new hi pro injectors..think it needs NOS or dual turbo but not that rich.
i have only 4000 miles on it as i have been disabled but i can now drive her now and need to repair bits and bobs....but i ask the motor gods!! can i get the glass t tops i had on the TA or is that a very bad idea?????
i will never give this girl up....but she would have the best ***** on the rack with t tops. some here a small town....say they will leak forever others say it will cause body alignment issues. i can fix a human body to perfection but i don't want to treat my baby bad and with bad paint or hurt her putting the t tops on..
so will the super top guys teach me on my idea....
also she has a gun metal paint..i was curious would metal flake ruin her look with centerlines rims.. and do they really have a paint that can absorb radar from the front, i bought a bra that did and worked very well but has rotted so paint or bra....for when she is painted...
people this is the greatest 1988 ever. had chance to run on LV speedway was pulling 160 on straights. i love this. it was my gift to me...way better than briefcase or a frame for my diploma.....
so thank you in advance, id love to hear all point answers in advance...she only has 4000 miles on the motor and only ran it hard after 3500 miles.
so thanks again and a merry Christmas,happy holiday and Hanuka to all.
pacman63/mark

 

are you wanting to put t-tops on a hard top car? its been done, but requires a lot of fabrication and hard work. not a project for someone not VERY experienced in metal working. as far as the metal flake in the paint, its all personal preference. me personally i think a lot of flake makes the car look outdated. they were all about flake in the old days.

and yes, there is paint that can absorb radar, but its thousands of dollars a gallon. theres a reason you see it on stealth planes and not cars....

 

thank you for your honest answer. and i am no rich man...but i could live with the price of the t top, as i love it. but is it ok and not leak or pop off driving..just miss my TA....i wonder how much that paint is and if in gun metal grey....might be cool on fron of car...relly dont need it all over.....
thank you...maybe you have an idea if i had bodyshop do the work...could they give me aa pro job set of Ttops
thanks again

 

unless your the us air force, you cant get radar absorbing paint. its the paint they use in the stealth bombers and stealth fighters. its doesnt absorb all the radar, but it does greatly reduce the amount that gets bounced back.

 

coating your car with Radar absorbing "paint" would add 500-800lbs to the vehicle and cost more than any speeding tickets you would ever get.

 

On the T-Tops. there is a guy on the St. Louis Craigslist who is selling a T-Top roof only. You could weld this in your roof but it doesn't have the glass tops. He wants $75 for it and I am thikig you could have it shipped via Greyhound. Tops are cheap and hopefully this gets you closer to what you are trying to achieve.

 

getting the ttop roof isnt the hard part, having it welded on properly without destroying the car is the problem. most shops will charge you a ridiculous amount of money to do something like that. some shops wont even touch a project like that. its one of those things you either do yourself (if you have the proper tools and skill) or empty your wallet to have a pro do it.

 

I am not a metal flake person, saw way to much of it in the mid 70's and early 80's, I tell people weld a chair to the hood and its a bass boat, just kidding its not bad looking if done right. I can tell you a roof is no small project, you are talking top dollar. You will need to remove the entire interior and then almost a complete repaint, on top of the cost of the roof. You need to cut off a major area of support to replace an entire roof (sailpanels and A-pillars) We ussually just replace the skin in case of rust issues. Good luck in what ever you decide, I know your tired of homework after all these years but you will need to do just a bit more. My opinion, buy a second car down the road that has t-tops or even a convertible and build it the way you want.

 

First off,
thank you to everyone. it is nice that people are tolerant of a newbie.
im amazed of the weight of the paint. ""BUT< my bra was ""supposed to deflet radar"" glad i dint buy it but some way i got less tickets when i had it....
and i assure all of you im not wealthy anymore. but if someone could do the t tops it would mean a great deal. id sell some things to manage the price...i also agree on metal flake, i had a 914 2.0 with metal flake in the 70's. it was such a cool car but i suppose i need to stop wearing my angle flight pants and plat form shoes. hard to give up things...
and realize the interior may be redone. but id risk it...people look inside and it is perfect. not one blemish.....but to take a road trip with t tops would be a nice last time to have fun....
so hey ...thanks to all of you....merry christmas

 

Ok so you want to put a T Top on your car I can give you some quick numbers on the costs for doing it.
$ 500 Used Roof and Tops including some cleanup and polish of tops seals.
$1500 Materials cost for paint and primers ect. using low end quality.
$ 500 Subframe connectors welded in to to strengthen body for T Tops
$1500 Additional suspension work, braces, upgrades for performance upgrade
$2750 Labor for paint
$2500 Install of new interior and headliner this should include window and door felts and seals

So plan on close to $10,000 for T Tops. If think you can do a project like this yourself and save money. I can give you a realistic cost off the top of my head with time line. Roughly about $9500 and 5 years plus an additional lost work and social time due to injuries incured during this fiasco. Ask anyone who has been around this forum for awhile and they should concure with my final answer.

 

Fiasco yes, thats why I said buy one with tops down the road. Your numbers are great, wish I had you for estimates I would be rich

 

well guess i get the point...maybe i can find a TA or IROC with them out in...
thanks to all

 

I was just getting in the Ball Park I thought. I know how this stuff turns into a "while we have this apart" $$$$$. Yes I had a friend drop off a car in May to replace the rearend with a new posi, tune up with new carb and intake.
When it left at the end of October underhood and drivetrain had ALL been replaced, sandblasted, painted, detailed, polished you name it it was done. The budget of $10,000 was blown to $13,000 at the end and it was a nice running and driving car.

 

Just FYI... they radar absorbing paint can be bought from retailers and from what some of the purchasing agents from the Air Force told me (i'm prior AF in the maintenance field), its not as expensive as you might think but it does not last and it never come truly clean...