MustangEater82

I have done a search and have links to sites...

At the moment, I have
-T-tops
-Center trim
-T-top recievers(in the mail)
-T-top holders(in the mail)
-rear t-top reciever covers

Right now what I need is
-t-top weatherstripping
-t-top headliner(Probably gonna wait till t-tops are installed
-T-top 97+ front pillar covers(can wait till after t-tops are installed


Am I missing anything guys?

-off hand what do you guys reccomend for the center trim piece? I was thinking of lining it up, and using self tapping screws to hold it in place, then drill and use a small macine screw w/nut and possibly superglue the nut on(I trust it more then loctite in my experience on soemthing like this)


Any special tools and/or techniques you reccomend?

Any other parts I need to get? that I am just missing?

AronZ28

Just sell your car and buy one with t-tops. Please don't butcher a somewhat rare hardtop car, most of these cars had t-tops anyways. It would be real easy to find one with t-tops. I looked in the classifieds and there were 10 Camaros with t-tops for sale in the Nashville area.

I am being dead serious, because you cannot do as a good of a job as the factory does, no matter how good you are. It will also be a real turnoff to a potential buyer if they find out that you did the t-top conversion instead of it being factory. I would also be worried about them leaking if you are doing it yourself.

If you are still going to do it, I wish you good luck, and I told you so.

MustangEater82

*sigh*

Every case of the t-top conversion, I have read and researched, not one has had leaks, structure problems or any problems. Only complaint they had is they did not do it earlier.


Sell my car and get a t-top car. So sell my car that ran what is a considered factory freak time, my dad was the original owner, I personally have done 90% of the routine maintenance since mile 0. I have drove it to mile 100, mile 1000. So I can buy a used car I knwo nothing about likely lose some money in the deal for t-tops?

Sounds like a better idea then doing a t-top conversion myself, with a guy that has already done one, had no problems, helped others do theirs perfect, and is pretty good with body work.

and only spend as fo right now looking at $300ish

MustangEater82

btw rare hardtop? my car is a v6 it will never be of collector value unless I become famous.


btw, t-tops raise my KBB in trade in, private party, by $750

LT1 Bunny

Have you ever done his before?

Actually....I think I have some screws that belong on the center piece of the ttop. It'll look better than what your doing. I do have a few pictures if you want them of the ttop conversion. Also...you dont have to drill ANY holes for that center piece to go in. ALL camaros were built with provisions for ttops....they just werent blessed by the ttop god to be a ttop car.

Make sure you have a dremel with lots of reinforced cut off wheels, and I did the majority of my work with a sawzall. I have a lot of experience with body work on numerous cars...this job takes very little knowledge. Just grab the saw and cut! Although I would be worried about leaking ttops. I've seen a number of them leak from the factory, and a couple members on here said they did the conversion and it leaks some water. There are a number of ways to get around this. Mine don't leak a single drop and it went through Hurricane Francis.

AronZ28

i'd still be worried about it leaking. Mine are factory and they still leak at the door near the windshield where the two pieces of weather stripping meet. You are also asking for more wind noise on the highway and my t-tops have started to rattle too. All I am saying is that the factory t-tops weren't perfect, so even if you do it to factory specs, don't expect it to be rattle free, leakproof, and quiet on the highway. And if you don't do it right, you are asking for a complete disaster on your hands. If the t-tops trap water along the center divider, windshield and back part of the roof, expect to see rust in a few years down the road. This is actually a common problem on third gen t-top cars, some of them have rust holes in the metal up there, causing further leaks.


Also, if you ever sell the car, would you not tell the person buying it that you did the t-top conversion and it isn't factory. I know I couldn't lie to somebody buying the car.

Put yourself in the buyer's shoes. Would you rather buy a car that has t-tops from the factory or one that somebody did in their driveway with a dremel and you have no idea if they did a good job. I say it will hurt the value of the car when you try to sell it because the buyer can go buy one of the other 10 factory t-top cars for sale.

You do have a good point of not wanting to sell your car. I wouldn't want to sell that car either, but I would just live without t-tops and enjoy a quiter, leak free, car without t-top rattles.

MustangEater82

abotu rattles and wind noise... I am currently driving around with an open y-pipe, so they are not an issue

Mellowdork

I say go for it. Mine leaks and its stock. They say "neven my factory one leaks cant inmagine what yours would do" What i say is you cant do worse. And i know what you mean on that part of tradeing in your car and such. Forget it. I just did a A4 to T56 swap. The money i spent on the swap is alot cheaper than what i would have lost out on the car buying a new one with a t56. Also when it comes to not doing things because of selling it later. Me in the buyers shoes i was actually inspect the handy work of the person i was buying from and actually see if it leaks <ie> water hose or bucket of water. The kind of person that wouldnt buy a car because ofafter market t tops are the same kind that wouldnt buy a car because of after market exhaust or hood or speakers in the door.These are risks we take by modding our cars. We all do know we wont ever get what we put into them. But we mod for us. Kinda like riding a motorcycle, If we have to explain why we do it then they will never understand.

LT1 Bunny

Exactly....

As for ttops rattling....why dont you try to shim it some more?????? Wind noises, not to sure how to fix that but at 150....I cant hear anything, even over the true duals. Its right by your ear so you can hear wind noises, but I dont hear any at all. Ttops have always leaked and will always leak. Mine actually leak when I run it through a touchless car wash. There is a little tiny bead of water that drips from the weather stripping on the driver window.

red blur

Since the rest of this thread got hijacked (shame on you guys, that NEVER happens ) I thought I'd try to lend a hand. When you initially cut the roof off, and you look where the center bar will go, you will see 8 (I think) screw holes ALREADY there for you. Hmmmmm, does this mean the car was meant for t-tops?? Yep. The only hole you should have to drill for the ENTIRE project is where the headliner goes--right underneath the cernter bar, but on the interior. That was the last thing I did, just put your headliner up there and then drill a hole with it already there. Everything else is cutting. That should be the only hole you have to drill.
As for parts: this is all you need

Hope this helps!!

Jeremy

detroit1994z28

Like aronz28 said just buy one with t-tops. Theres no room to make a mistake on a project like this. The car is done if you screw up - Well just trying to look out for you buddy. Hate to see you screw up a nice z28. Hey dont let me stop you. I have a 94 camaro z28 with t-tops. I giving it up for a 93 z28 hardtop. Yeah I will miss t-tops. But I would never consider a t-top conversion.But hey thats your car - you do what you want. Good luck.

LT1 Bunny

Didnt I say that? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention about the ttop headliner. That will be the only hole you would have to drill. The rest is removing metal that you dont need and bending it to finish the rest of the weather stripping channel you have to create.

MustangEater82

Out of curiosity how hard is it to bend the metal for the channel?

AronZ28

All I am saying is that if it were me, I would buy one of the 10 other cars that came with the t-tops from the factory. Just like I wouldn't buy a car that has been wrecked and then put back together when there are 10 other cars out there that haven't been wrecked.

LT1 Bunny

Not very hard at all. I just used vise grips and bent it VERY easily. Then I just cleaned it up with a dolly and dinging hammer. it's only a 3.5 inch section. ANother thing about the weather stripping channel...if you make it too tall, the weather stripping will not seat itself properly. You MIGHT (everyones is different) have to take a little off the top so the weather stripping can lay as flat as possible.