Does anyone make an aftermarket t top stowing kit for a third gen that works like a fourth gen? I really like the way I can lay them in the slots and lock them down if I want to on my 98 Camaro. I'm not crazy about the "baggie" thing on my 92 'Bird, and wondered if anyone made a kit like my 98 that will work with my 92. I don't have any sub woofers back there--just yet. Anyone know? I haven't seen anything online so far.

 

I'm not familiar with the 4th gen. approach. But if there's a better way, I'd be interested.

I used the bag for the first time a few weeks ago, and with each pot hole I hit in our Michigan roads with my WS6 suspension, I wondered if anyone had ever shattered their t-tops in that bag.

 

Yes. WS6's are great for handling if they're working right, but can be absolute murder on rough pavement, railroad tracks etc. I thought my shocks were shot, but unbolted them from the axle and had to use both hands to push them back up, so they seem ok. It's just that the ride was that rough. My t tops are Lexan, so I don't worry about breaking them in that way, but I'd almost rather have glass because they have gotten dull and need to be wet sanded/polished. Great tech thread on here for doing that, but I'm more concerned with how long it takes to mount them in that bag compared to the 4 gen approach, and am also afraid the 22 year old bag will someday rip. Anyway, 4th gens use a plastic bracket mounted on each side of the well in the hatch (pictured below). You turn the t top handle side down and it slides into the bracket. It's not usually necessary, but if you want to you can pivot the handle into the locked position and it locks to the bracket just like it does to the t top roof frame. I had the thought that maybe the 4th gen brackets themselves might work if bolted into a 3rd gen. I know the t tops are shaped a little different, but I'll have to investigate if the difference is big enough to prevent using them on a 3rd gen. To really test it I'll have to unbolt them from my Camaro and do some test fits in the 'Bird.

 

The 4th gen tops are a bit smaller than third gens, roofline is narrower. Hard to get the third gen tops to fit anywhere but flat on the back trunk area.
I have had this idea as well, the bags are very cumbersome.
I'm planning to make a fiberglass case for the tops that will hook into the stock ttop tie downs, then the tops will lock into the case.

 

Yeah, that sounds interesting, let us know how it goes and post some pics if you do it. What I'm wondering though, is that even though the tops are shaped differently--if there is an outside chance that just the outer edge of the top would slide into a 4th gen bracket? Probably not. If so, someone would have done it by now and we'd heard about it. But, I'm on vac next week, might give it a shot just for the heck of it. But then, 3rd gen tops are so much bigger, they might be too tall for the hatch to close even if the brackets worked. Have to look into it.....

 

The third gen hatches are definitely too big to fit in the well with the hatch closed, already tried this. I don't know for sure that the outside edge isn't the same length. The width across the roof is much larger on 3rd gens. The other idea I had was to install the brackets on the rear bulkhead, then the others on the trunk flat area and have them overlap each other. Haven't got as far as mocking it up though.
I'll be sure to show it off when I get around to making the box.

 

Aaggghhh! Way to crush the dream! LOL.....

 

Check out this thread...that's my moldy '91 Firebird owner's manual in the photo. Apparently the factory had plans for it, but not sure how it would've worked if the tops are too big to fit with the hatch closed...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...p-storage.html

 

That's interesting. I'm going it fiddle with this next week. I'll post if I come up with anything interesting......

 

What I don't understand how that made it into your owners manual. You didn't have the brackets? And if the well isn't deep enough, why would they bother? That's a mystery. And you say it was a 91? Strange.

 

I downloaded this picture from this site a few years ago. I always wanted to try it, but never have. Looks like it would work to me. Not sure if a camaro has a deeper trunk than a bird though.

 

Yeah, that's a good idea. I don't imagine there would be any difference in trunk depth.

 

Yes, that idea was what i was thinking too, but when I tried it, the hatch couldn't quite close. Maybe I didn't have it positioned right. The trunks are the same on firebirds and Camaros. Seems too close for comfort if that is the case. Do you have a link to the thread ? Pic of trunk closed?

 

If it helps, when I have my t-tops in their holders in my '02, they sit at an angle; the long side of the t-top that's not facing the ground points towards the front of the car.

jichniow -- no brackets in the back of my car, although the car was a total insurance loss to fire when it was 2 months old, so far all I know, they could have been there and burned up and were never replaced. More than likely they never made it into production though.

Would be interested to know if that photo made it into the '92 owner's manual as well though. Always though the t-top bags were a hassle/dumb idea having owned a 4th gen before a 3rd gen. It could be worse though...at least we don't have to spend 10-15 minutes removing bolts with a torx socket before taking them out like C4 owners do with their targa tops.

 

Yeah, I rode in a C4 today and noticed those bolts. Couldn't believe it. Anyway, you're right. My 98 Camaro t tops sit at a slight angle too, that may be part of it, although I'm sure they are also smaller. I don't think there's any picture like that in my 92 owners manual, I will look again, but I don't think so.

 

.....I really wish an engineer who worked on designing thirdgens would join this site. He could answer a lot of questions!

 

A quick search on "ttop holder" brings up some other threads on this.

I kinda like this one.

 

Wow, that was an old thread! Looks like an interesting idea, and not too hard to do. May have to look at doing something like that. It wouldn't be hard to put a couple pieces of foam rubber in there too to keep them from moving around.