had one blow off tonight on my 92 while towing to the track, only ones i have seen on craigslist are off an 84, will they work?

 

There were the GM t-tops and then there were the cars and customs t-tops. They are not interchangeable. However, I cannot remember which cars got which or how to tell them apart.

 

theres two types one is gm and the other is i think called cc, the gm ones are pretty common, all the ones in the junkyard i found fit my camaro and you said you have a 92 which means you have the crappy plastic ones so find some glass ones

 

Early T-Tops for our cars have a different latch. I think 82-84 cars have a hook type latch, and 85+ have a newer style. I may be wrong with the years, but there are def 2 types of latches. My 83 has hook style.

 

There are 2 latch styles. Like you said theres hook and the other is a pin style latch. I have an 82 and it uses the hook style latches.

 

And two pin styles as well as they changed mid 89 ... from just a metal pin to one with plastic spring loaded pins at the ends .. so what you have on the 92 there .. the "older" pin style will work but you will need to readjust the body side receivers.

 

All factory thirdgen tops are interchangable like said earlier. However there are plenty of idiots on Craigslist selling tops they claim will fit from 82-02. This is Thirdgens got the largest t-tops out of them all. CC tops will not fit, almost bought a pair. There were different tint designs and latches, and those without locks and those with, and also later years got plastic tops instead of glass. Whatever you do just try to get a pair so that they will without a doubt match.

 

So are you saying you can use the pic or hook style regardless of what the car was designed for?

 

So beside the Car and Concepts tops (CC tops) that will not fit ...

You WILL need the same style locking mechanism as you have on your t-tops today or you will have to replace the hardware on the body side to get them to fit.

Saying they are all interchangable is not correct .....

When you get the replacements for you 92 you will need the later 89 style or you will need to adjust (or change) the body side hardware so not just a drop in and it will fit.

If they are glass or not the locking mechanism have to be the same as what you have today ...

 

now on that idk, to be honost I didn't know there were two styles till now. I assumed they all where the same since my previous pair I pulled off of a 82 bird. I've had three and a half sets from various years, none of them were the cars original set, and I've never encounted a hook style

 

I guess I'm just lucky and have only found on e style or mine was changed to a later style by a PO. The ones I have now are from an 85 IROC..

 

Sorry for all the posts, but if you latch wasn't destroyedyou can just swap that onto whatever pair you find. I've swaped a latch from broken glass to good glass with the handle ripped off no problem

 

I did the same thing. Too the handle, mechanicals and lock from the broken top and transplanted into the replacement top. That way you still have the same key for all the locks.

 

I see several things wrong in this thread:
1. Thirdgen tops were NOT the largest tops on a GM car. I think that honor belongs to the Monte Carlo or the Vette. I almost bought the wrong ones from the yard when the guy had the whole van of them (which is why I'm not sure what car they came from). A set was curved wrong and was longer front-to-back, but was pretty close (same latch style, same handle, etc, just different size).
2. All tops interchange that have the pin style (except the C&C tops which are shaped differently). The pins have spring loaded covers on the later tops but do NOT have the same weatherstrip mounting (later tops have glued on weatherstrip that's NOT adjustable and older ones have strips that push into the retainer and are held in place by screws and allow adjustment). The pin retainers on the body are the same, and the plastic covers retract once they're against the retainers. I have a spring-loaded set from a 91 on my 87 that had the older regular pin retainers and they work just fine. I had to drill a couple holes in the plastic frame to screw the weatherstrips into since the factory glued-on strips weren't even close to the roof strips.

The body retainers can be swapped over with just undoing a couple of screws and nuts on each retainer. But make sure you label which one went where or you can easily put them back on wrong .

Almost had the driver's side fly off on mine myself. Good thing I noticed and caught it, or I'd be a little . Which is why I keep mine locked 24/7 except when they're out .

 

i wish i had known when the one flew out. It was dark and the car was on the trailer. Found a set off an 83 that were pin style, they need weatherstripping but they fit and will get me through the NHRA Gatornationals and Cajun Sportsnationals over the next two weeks. I'll replace the weatherstripping after that. The 83's went right on and even latch tighter than the plastic ones.

 

The pin style from an 87, an 88 as well as from an earlier 89 do not fit on mine with the spring loaded pins as the pins are actually in different locations ... hence me saying they will work but you would need to adjust the body side mounts accordingly.

Just my experience and findings when I did my research ... but looks like I'm wrong so good luck

 

The 91 at the junkyard I pulled the quarter panel and front end wiring out of has the exact same retainers as my 87 (should have nabbed the tops when I got the console just after it arrived at the yard ). I guess some may have different retainers and some not. May not hurt to grab the retainers from the donor (if possible) just in case they ARE different.

 

When I replaced the plastic tops on my car with 87-88 glass pin type tops I noticed that they needed to be adjusted as there is a noticable gap from the weatherstripping and the glass. Apparently there was alot of inconsistancy in the tops themselves based on what others have said about fitment.

 

Plastic was early 89 only. Also, the later t tops had no metal frame around the glass. But as stated, as long as they are GM t tops they will interchange but you may need to swap the latches.

 

82 tarecaro you may be right as plastic for early 89 but I call the lexan ones plastic also. As my car is a 91 it had the original lexan tops that leaked horribly. The glass ones I put on do not seem to be leaking and look much better.