How bad does this appear, what can I expect when I dig a little deeper? How should I go about repair? Will repair damage weather stripping currently t tops don't leak i know amazing right?

 

To repair correctly you will need to remove the weatherstrip.
use a wire wheel and get all the rust out, spray some converter on it then sand and fill in any holes with epoxy and sand again then prime and paint.

 

How bad does this appear?, I've seen worse.
what can I expect when I dig a little deeper? The panel is no good, the track where the weather stripping slides into will be gone
How should I go about repair? Buy a New T Panel
Will repair damage weather stripping? Hopefully the track is so rusted the weather stripping will lift right off without ruining it. Most likely your going to have to replace it.

 

That's never a good sign. However the real damage is typically underneath and you won't know without pulling back the weather stripping. Some are glued down really well while others can be pulled back a bit. Just be careful and mindful of keeping the weather stripping intact. The main thing is if water was able to get under the T-Bar and sit there for extended periods.
IMO, the real tell tale is if the head liner is water damaged. If you're lucky what you see on top of the T-Bar is just surface rust.

 

Car has no headliner in it...

 

Never been in that situation, but you could try probing the metal from underneath and or the T-Bar to see if it's structurally sound.

 

I feel for you as I've seen this quite on this site and also pulled a few apart in the junk yards. To be honest it's hard to tell until you pull the T-Bar which typically ruins the weather stripping (which is expensive).
If you have the stomach for it try image Googling "t-top rust" to give you an idea of what you're looking for. Some may link back to this site and give you more info.

edit: FWIW, there is a source for channels now if you end up needing them.

 

This thread might help too.

 

I'm sure there's nothing really bad underneath. It looked worse than that on my T/A and it was near perfect underneath. The issue was on the front and back edges where the was some pitting, and the front and back channels had a bit of rot. But you should be able to see that without removing the weatherstripping.

I've replaced the center bar with a very good one.

 

I'm just really reluctant to mess with the seals, even though I know that's the right way to fix the rust.

 

They didn't use a lot of glue on mine so I managed to remove them without damage. I haven't glued them back and they don't leak at all.

 

Wish me luck, gonna work on it today. What's the best tool for the job (pulling up weatherstripping) a putty knife?

 

I used a small screwdriver,worked slowly and be aware the weatherstripping goes into a a little channel at each corner where the t top rods go in and is held in there with little push in clips.you will have to remove the trim pieces that cover those latches up to gain access to the push pins.I was able to reuse my weather strips.once the weather strips are out remove the screws holding the t top bar in place and you can then remove the t top bar.it may or may not be glued in place mine was but easily came loose.doing this will not only give you the option to repair or replace the panel but allows inspection of the body underneath the panel to see if any rust exists underneath the panel

 

So far better than I expected one side off.
may be taking care of this middle section just in time

 

Its rare to get the seal out without ruining it. Ive taken 6 or 7 out and only one didn't rip. They're kind of pricey to replace, good luck!

 

Nice ! Looks like the front channel is starting to rust, I'd just grind the rusty area and paint it with a good rust preventive paint for now.