before you guys denounce me as a crazed lunatic, i just wanna say that im curious about this, not too serious. Is it possible to put t-tops on a car that didn't come with them from the factory? This is assuming you have a t-top donor car

 

i'd say yes because i believe anything or most anything can be done. id it worth while or practical is another matter.

 

yes of course, alot of the 350 t-top cars are after factory (not all though) you know how the factory ones look right? they have a real small painted area from the top of the windsheild until the t-top area starts. alot of the add on ones have a good inch to 2 inch extra painted area. and the metal does not form down nicely like the factory ones. plus you can just switch whole roofs over but, I am no body guy so what you need to do to keep it safe and up to codes is something that will need to be answeredby some one else

 

there are a few companies that will swap a t-top roof onto a hardtop car, but it was like $7000 for the whole thing...

 

damn, 7000. thanks guys, i was just curious

 

There was company called Sunroofs by Chetty near the PA/Delaware border that did t-top conversion for $750 back inthe day when Third gens were new. They have since gone out of business.

 

There have been a few people who swapped to t-tops, but its kind of expensive. There are even a few people on this board who went straight to a 'vert.

 

I think I would go to a vert if I was going to lay down the cash but, if I had a t-top doner car and a really sweet setup on a none t-top car (and for some unknown reason I thought I should keep everything in the none t-top car) I would switch entire tops

 

the reason i ask is that i like t-tops. They're cool but i also like my car a lot, which doesn't have t-tops. I know its crazy, but im kinda attached to my currently-not-running-rust-bucket RS. She was the second car and the second camaro ive bought. Well, at least its not IMpossible.

 

this guy will do it:

http://www.markscustomkits.com/T-top_Conversion.html

 

i looked at that site, 3000 doesn't seem too bad. I need a new paint job and i know somebody who could the rest of the body work required and the paint. i gotta think about this...

 

your better off taking the whole roof off a t car and welding onto yours. you have to get a PERFECT measurement though or the winshield wont fit. its kinda like chopping the cab down on a truck. it can be done with money and experience. going to a glass place and getting the tops cut isnt worth it. if it was me, id leave it hard top. car is more stable with a soild roof

 

that guy does take the whole roof of a ttop car and besides, i wont be running that much power in the car. Subframe connectors, wonder bar, and strut tower brace ought to hold it together well enough

 

yeah it would. i cant see why youd want to give up the hard top. i wanted Ts so bad when i had my hard top, then i bought a T car. lol back to hard top for me. sucks a pain to have the tops, but they are nice on those warm summer days along the beach

 

if you can weld then it is easy. although i have experience with these kinds of things. just take accurate mesurments before on both tops and write them down. weld in small segments to avopid warpage.

you can pick up a t roof with tops and everything for about 400- 650 around here. i would suggest buying new seals though. i just bought new door and t top seals and with my discount they ran me 400, without it would have been over 500.

coming from a t top owner, i will never buy another one again unless it is a steal. i wanted a hard top but believe it or not i couldnt find one with what i wanted so i settled for the t tops.

anyway, also rememer that t top cars are considerd convertables by the nhra and reaquire a roll bar to go fast.

just weigh the pros and cons.

thanks
anthony

 

Check this out.

http://www.dw-zone.com/t-tops/t-top.asp

He does it on a 4th gen. But its still the same basic idea. Its pretty impressive if you ask me.

 

My friend has one with the retrofit t-tops. Body flex caused them to leak and it ruined teh interior and rusted out the floors. Kinda like what happened with my car taht has teh factory t-tops. Cherish that hard top. Its a blessing in desguise.

 

hardtop is the way to go, hands down:hail: HardTops

 

The 4th gen is COMPLETELY different! They used the same roof for all 4th gens. A hard top has a t-top roof only with a bar installed where each window lines up and a full roof section attached over it. To convert to a t-top on a 4th gen, you just have to remove those bars and add the t-top hardware. I saw a hardtop 4th gen in a junkyard that was completely burned and you could see this structure. i wish i had my camera with me! it was an aweful site, but showed exactly what i'm talking about.

 

this is all interesting... im beginning to think against the t-top idea. Simply because my twin striped paint scheme im thinking up would look retarded if it only went up the grill, the hood, the t-tops get in the way, and then down the back of the car. Lol, i could paint the t-tops too. ha

 

Here's some thinking out of the box (not trying to be a smart ***). What about taking the donar car and moving your parts over to it! Fix up the donar car with the 350 etc. and get a good paint job . But I'm sure since it's a "donar" it's probably been in a wreck or needs more money worth of work than the t-top conversion...

 

lol, thanks J but for some inexplicable reason that i am at a loss to explain, im attached to the camaro i have now. Ive tried selling a couple times but when it comes down to it, i just cant do it. So im gonna keep it and make it the camaro i would've bought new if i hadn't been 7 at the time the car was made.

 

no doubt i feel the same way about all of my irocs (3 of them) and my toyota supra (1st car), so i dont ever intend on getting rid of them? why i thought about selling the supra then the motor locked up, it showed me didnt it . so i decided it was ment for me as are the irocs.

i say make it yours, then you will enjoy it that much more.

thanks
anthony

 

amen dude

at least its not impossible if i ever decide to go that route. Just gathering options right now.

 

dont. ever. get. t-tops.

The thirdgen t-tops are a nightmare. Retrofits are no better. I wish I never bought a car with them.

Although since you live in texas you probably wont have the curse of the musty interior sicne there isnt much rain.

 

lol, thats funny what you said about the rain. It may not rain often down here but when it does, its time to hide somewhere attached to the ground w/ more strength than cinder blocks.

Why does the interior smell musty? T-tops leak even w/ good seals?

 

t tops will ALWAYS leak. youll be replacing seals a lot to keep from leaking. the sun dries the hell outta them since they are ontop of the car and all, always in the suns way. i believe that is the reason they leak. also from having those heavy tops on them wears em down, not to mention taking them off and on is enough abuse in itself

i love my hard top. i dont think ill ever get a T car again unless its an excellent deal i cant pass

 

i knew a guy that had a 91 300ZX with t-tops and his didn't leak. He also never took them off. I guess not taking them off helps?

 

could be. and the fact that they are smaller and prob lighter then the 3rd gens. that might be a reason why later years came with lexan. i think the lexan is lighter

 

Theres no doubt Lexan is lighter. Somethin like 40% or so over glass.

 

yep, hence the redesign

 

Nother problem is body flex with the ealier t-top cars. W/o SFCs, the twisting really loosens up the t-tops.

 

im sure someone has said this already, and i dont feel like reading all the posts lol *sorry*

anyways....chop the top off of T-top camaro, then chop your top.....that would be about the best approach .....other than that...i mean you gotta cut up the top anyways.....that a lot less cutting welding and sanding doing it that way.....

 

agreed. but the 4th gens chassy is almost the exact same thing as the 3rd gens. and they dont come with frames either. give them a few years and see what happens

 

I had no problems with my T-tops at all. Just add some amorall to the rubber, especially if you cruize without the tops alot.

I was alos going to add that T-tops allow more flex, but a roll cage will take care of that.

I have a hardtop 3000 GT, but i feel clausterphobic in there....I miss my T's in the T/A. If I ever get another Thirdgen, it will most definitly have T-tops.

It is entirely possible to cut the roof off of a donor car and put it on yours. How do you think those really screwed up salvage title cars get put back together so well? I worked at a salvage yard and cut unibodies up for body shops, I've seen it all.

 

i have had both t-tops and hard tops they both have pros and cons. the hard tops are nice cuz they stay cooler in the summer dont have to worry about leaks and the stress. BUT the ts are so so so sweet in the summer time you get a bad *** tan (burn) alot of people wish the had them and i think they look better then the hard tops. one of my hard tops cars even looked better then the t top one but just could not sell it. and i have had mine for 5 years now and dont have any leaks at all and they always come off.

just my 2 cents

 

ok so if you get sfc's on your hardtop, then do this conversion, it will give the strength needed to make up for the loss of the roof support? Been pondering having my hard top turned into a t top too, but i do kinda worry about screwing it up and ruining the whole car. That would be a big old sucky .

 

yeah

 

our 84 z28 had t-tops and they never leaked we had them out when we drove it and loved the way it feels

by the way if either of you are interested in a t-top roof im parting out a 91 camaro with t-tops and id be happy to chop off the roof where ever you wanted and sell it to ya for lets say 300 bucks

 

Ouch, 300 bucks?? That seems a little high if you ask me. Not trying to sound like an a$$. Say 200 tops and I'd probably be interested.

 

sure you come over and cut it off and you can have it for 200

 

My old man has an '83 T/A with T tops. He's had 'em off a bunch of times, and it hasn't leaked since he bought it... in '83. Of course, he drives like an old lady on tranquilizers, so it's never seen much body flex either. Go figure...

 

Actually there are a few things on the early cars that just don't seem to break, unlike on the later cars they never seem to work right.

My '83 has never had any t-top leaks (it eventually had a window leak but that was after something got caught in it and tore a 3" section of it), every newer f-body that I've had has had at least a drip here and there. Same deal with the pop up headlights... they just worked, for 200k miles, no problems, no issues... newer ones seem to fail fairly regularly...

 

Just wanted to chime in, about 10 years ago, i cut a t-roof off of a donor car and put it on a hard top car, cut at the windshield halfway up and at the sail panel area. Welded together and smoothed out. Worked perfectly, took about a day to do it.

 

You know… I bought my ’87 formula 350 as a parts car for the ’83 crossfire car, then a tree fell on the ’83 and the ’87 became the project car, but really it’s more of a test mule, it really has too much rot plus a messed up frame so I’ve been looking for a new body. The problem is that since plans for the setup involve way too much hp it pretty much looks like I’ll need a hard top car to fit the cage that I’ll need in it and I can’t seem to find a decent body with a hard top. I’m ready to pick up the next nice car that I find and swap the hard top from my formula onto it.

 

not so much lossens them up but as the body gets twisted out of shape... nothing lines up anymore, this includes the T tops and the T top seals...
I just bought a 89 GTA with T tops, yesterday we got a deluge of rain.
The interior was perfectly dry, the only thing that happened was after I went for a short drive and 3 drops came in at the passanger front corner on the Pass T top.

The car is bone stock 213K and no tears in tops of B pillars, and no signs of deflections in B pillars.

 

I would do this:

Go to all the salavage yards in your hood and take a peek.

If you find one while walking in a junkyard, get the salvage yard to cut the top off for you (or talk to them and bring your own battery powered sawzall). Depending on several factors, you could probably get this part for as little as $100. Now the other things you will need will be pricey, A-pillar trim, T-Tops, headliner, and weather stripping. If you need to replace your front windsheild because it's already cracked now's the time to do that also.

And lastly is the issue of welding it up, plus paint and body work.

It probably can't be done well for any less than $400, even if you have mad skillz and toolz and do it solo, cause paint and weatherstripping will kill you. If you have someone else do it, and have to pay average market price for all the stuff you could be looking at close to $3000.

TheWesman

 

i paid over $575 for both door and both t top weather strips last year, and that was at 20% over invoice, well under list cost.

i know that we would not do a job like that for under 5 grand, (the complete paint job is a 3200 base price) because there is a tremendous amount of labor involved in the installation.

 

I just have to say .... wow! I gotta hand it to you guys for even considering the concept of T-Tops in a hardtop. That's way too much work for me.

I too wanted T-Tops, and I did it the lazy way - I bought a T-Top car! $900 for a 1992 RS T-Top in great shape (minus paint). And I've since built the car they way I wanted (much faster than stock).

I saw $7000, I saw $3000 - $900 was much better in my book! When I get to the point where $7k is spent, I'll be in showroom condition.

But more power to ya!

 

My last camaro was a '97 hard top and simply by sitting in the car and looking up you could tell that it had a T-Roof. The headliner was contoured like a T-top, all you need to do is cut off the hard top from the windshield to the line conveniently found at the back of the roof (the whole body excluding quarter panels and hood is fiberglass on 4th gens), sawzall the side bars off, bolt up the T-top hardware and slap on the tops.

The only real way to do it in a third gen as has been said many times is to transplant a roof from a T-topped car... actually the best way is to buy a T-topped car and put all the good parts on that.