So, tax return bought me a wonder bar, spohn fabricated strut mounts, bushing kit for my swaybar with endlinks and spohn bump steer kit.

forgive the wire, it will get routed properly later.

Sorry everything is a little dirty from the 1000 mile round trip I just made. Now heres my concerns, Ive pretty much got the front end tied together I just need a STB. I will def move to SFCs next but I have a problem. When i was painting the car and doing body work I noticed that my t top roof was cracking along the top of the driver side window. The body guy welded it in the sail panel but didnt go all the way into the cars interior to do it right. So, now a year later its recracking. My question is...is my frame tweaked? Should I atleast take it to a frame shop and have them look at it before I do the SFCs and if I do the SFCs and the frame is determined to be straight (which I doubt) the cracking shouldnt happen again right?

By the time Im done with the suspension, I will move to getting a cage installed too. I want to make sure that after all that rigidity work im not going to run into these limp noodle frame problems EVER again!

It's actually not as uncommon as you would think for the T-top cars to stress crack there. Yes it does come from chassis flex. I bought my 88 IROCZ about 3 years ago when I had no idea what to be wary of on these cars. The car had been in a pretty bad accident and dressed up to hide it so finally last summer I took it to a good frame shop and dropped 600 to have it straightened. In the end they were able to get everything within 1.5 mm of factory specs. The cars always has and still does drive beautifully so I installed a set of TDS sfcs and once I get the car back on the road will either weld them in myself or have the welding done. I was told by the owner of the shop that it would be fine to install the sfcs and as long as they were welded properly I wouldn't have anymore problems with the car. So I would have the frame checked to see if its tweaked and if so fix it and then install the frame connectors.

Yes, take it to a shop that has a good frame machine. Believe me, it's not gonna cost anywhere near $2,000. Once you do that, if you wanted to fix the roof right, I would think you would skip the filler inside or out, and weld the crack up first.

well we did fill the crack with weld in the sail panel metal. But i know what you mean gmgod and I will definately weld fill the crack all the way to where it begins! Well now I just have to find a shop around here that can tell me. I just feel like im gonna have a hard time finding a honest shop in a small town like Lubbock because they know how much money they can charge If they just tell me its twisted and I let them "fix" it.

Ill give you guys a little more history of the cars damages when i get home from work, I think you guys will agree the frame should be tweaked slightly.

I don't see why the frame would be tweaked. What you have are stress cracks. VERY common as already said for T-top cars and higher HP's. The frame will twist slighly on say a hard launch and without the normal roofs support the top rear corner of the side windows and where that lines up with the sail panel will crack over the years...anything from 1/2 to a full 1" long "tear" is what I've seen and experienced. This is one of the reasons my latest 3rd gen is a hardtop.

Now I will lay down the reason why I think the frame might be tweaked. I found some paperwork under the seat while stripping the interior with a bunch of paperwork from the car being in an accident. If i remember correctly the passenger side fender was hit and replaced and I dont remember what else was replaced. So i really dont know how bad the accident was. On top of that, the car was hit by a drunk driver on the same passenger side fender while I was restoring it. It bent my k frame and did some cosmetic damage.

When it was hit the second time (that i know of) of its life, I had my personal mechanic check the frame for being bent. He said that from his measurements he didnt think it was and that it only bent the stock k member. Once we replaced the k member the wheels sat even in the wells and all seems to be good.

Now, one thing that has still always bothered me is the car sagged on the passenger side. I had new ground control suspension, new k member and a arms, new koni yellows and the car still didnt sit lvl. Screw holes in the interior dont line up properly with some panels etc.

Im not saying that the frame is bent for sure, cause i dont know that, im simply trying to lay down everything ive noticed and the history of the car so guys with more chassis experience can tell me whether or not i should trust a frame shop who's goal is to make money check my car out and possibly straighten anything before sfcs are installed.

Why would you want to put SFC on the car before you know it is straight? Wouldn't that just make more work for the frame people if they have to straighten it?

yes, i think you should read the posts a bit more carefully.

I have an 82Z with a factory sun roof. To the best of my knowledge there are only 14 of these cars that were made with the sun roof option. My car only has 26,000 miles on it and it has had cracks where you taking about since when I purchased it in 1986 with 12,000 miles on it.

I would not be overly concerned with the cracks. I just deal with it. It is part of a 3rd gen issue. I have installed SFC on my car (custom built) but really don't want to address the cracks because my paint is still original and mint (less the cracks).

Take you car to a reputable frame shop. They should be able to give you a ball par estimate before they start on the vehicle. My friend has a body shop here in California and they know how much to charge put a vehicle on a rack and measure it. Once they have it measured, then is a reasonable time to give you an estimate to repair the frame. If it is a good frame shop. They will know once they have measured it how long it will take to straighten it.

ON A VERY IMPORTANT SEPARATE NOTE!!!

Be sure to have the SFC connectors welded in with the weight of the car on the wheels. If the car is on a two post life the vehicle will have a "bow" to it and it will be welded in to the car that way. You will not be able to get ride of the bow unless you cut out the SFC and reinstall them. The best way to install SFC's is to weld them in on a drive on four post car lift and then move the car to finish weld any spots you could not get to while it was on the four post lift.

Have any questions feel free to send me a PM.

Brett

To everyone, thanks for the replies and sharing of knowledge. Believe me!, i knew in advance that the cracks in the t top roof are quite common and that im not the only one. All im saying is that with sfcs and a eventually a cage will it happen again even after i go in and patch it up? I spent around $6000 dollars on body and paint and its now cracked within 1.5 years and its a weekend driver so i was expecting the paint to stay pretty mint for 5+ years. After im done with the suspension, cage and motor I will repaint the car again and I dont want this crap happening again.

I will make sure that my sfcs are installed on a full vehicle lift. When i get the chance ill call a frame shop and find out what it would run for a measurement and estimate. When the nearest and only frame shop is an hour away, it bothers me because i have no idea of their reputation.

Be sure to get the frame fixed FIRST!!!

Sound like your on the right track and thinking ahead. Good job. And you actually reading replies. I have posted a few replies to people and they just don't listen to what people have to say. They only want to listen to what they want to hear!

As for the frame shop. Ask if they have any references. Ask if they do frame work for other body shops in the area. If they do check with those shops and see if they are happy with their work. If you still do not get a good feeling. it is worth the hassle to go farther away to get quality work done. Obviously you have an investment in the vehicle and like the car. Don't let a an extra hour or two limit where you go to get work done.

For example. I had a set of headers made for my car. There is a guy who builds headers local but I did not like his workmanship. I ended up taking my car 6 hours away to someone who I had seen his work before and was very impressed. I sure did not want to spend an extra 24 hours (6 hours each way and two trips) driving to get my headers built but was glad that I did.

Yes. Weld the cracks, dont fill them LOL. If you weld a nice bead on them, slowly so you dont warp the metal, that will help alot.

After you weld them, take then welds down with some 40grit discs on a die grinder. Then use 80 and 120 grit to grind them flush with the body. THEN you can skin coat the area with the mud.

Common in coupes as well. No trouble with mine after the SFC's were welded in.

JamesC

Ok I went ahead and reedited my original post because ppl are getting confused and its bec of my poor choice of words. When we originally doctored the crack during body work, he filled in the crack with weld and then filed it smooth. However, he did say that he really needed to go all the way into the interior to fix it right and it would take more time, but we were rushing due to a lot of factors to get the car done so we just did a temp. fix. Trust me, I regret it.

Point though, we never filled the crack with body filler, ever. We didnt even have to skim coat it after he filed the weld smooth.

called around to a couple of local collision shops a day or so ago and was quoted by a recommended shop $400 just to measure and check for frame problems. I got a bit worried and then called another shop and was told that for them to put it on a rack and cross-section measure the frame would be around $80. The guy sounded pretty honest and even recommended i just take the car to a front end shop for this job but said if i really wanted to i could bring it to him and he would do it for me.

Next time i can get a hold of a $80 bucks to spend then I think im gonna try to take it by and let them check it out. Does this sound pretty fair?

That sounds about right. Most shops when they do work like that write the measurements down. Make sure the guy give you a copy of the measurements.

A front end shop just deals with alignment issues. You need to have the frame measured to determine if it is straight. If the frame is straight and there is still an issue. Then you KNOW it is just a front end issue and not a frame issue. Remember a front end issue can include the K Member. That is a bolt on part and not part of the frame.

When they measure the frame the entire car is lifted off the ground, leveled, and measured from the factory body measuring points. This will not bring to light suspension issues or rear axle issues. Unless they are measuring for those.

Last. It is very important to give the guy at the frame shop as much information as possible. That way nothing is overlooked!

When I call to setup an appointment i will make sure to ask those questions and make sure they do it right. I think the guy was talking about taking it to a front end shop to check the front end of the frame since it is a unibody but Im not sure about that. I dont know, he just said that it just needed to be cross measured.