Ok. I've been doing a lot of thinking and I just want to bounce some ideas off anyone who is willing to listen. About a year ago I bought a nice 1980 Camaro that I was going to restore off a friend of mine. He had done some work to it, and the owner wouldn't pay. So after a long battle, the owner just signed over the car as payment and that was that. From then on the car sat on the side of the shop and wasted away. When I bought it, basically just the interior needed some redoing as well as some engine and tranny work. All in all, it wasn't a bad buy for $75! But, the night before I took delivery someone stole the carb and most of the ignition setup, broke in the trunk and then set the car on fire. The only real structural damage to the car was done to the roof, it was seriously messed up. It has a ton of waves in the metal and there are even a few small quarter sized holes in it. So from then on I had a shell of a car. I was going to scrap it, but then I had some ideas. At first, I toyed with the idea of just chopping the top at the factory weld points (which were now very prominantly displayed thanks to the paint and body filler being melted off) and welding on a T-Top roof from a donor car. Then I realized that the idea of finding a donor T-Top car that was rust free enough to swap roofs with was just plain silly. I could just throw the body panels off my 80 on the T-Top car and start from that. No.....I had to do something else.... So now, my sister moved back home from a three year stint in Las Vegas and she brought back the first camaro I ever owned, a 1997 Camaro Convertible. I was waiting on her to show up at my apartment one afternoon and was sitting on the steps at my apartment reading about a 79 Z28 in an old issue of Chevy Hi Performance. Right then she pulled up and the notion hit me that the basic shape of the roof on the 4th and 2nd gen were pretty similar. The wheels turned and soon I was looking at the roof structure in the 97 on the way to my parents house and wondering if the dimensions were close from the 4th gen to the 2nd. So now we come to my idea (Which should already be pretty obvious); Grafting a Convertible FRAME onto my 1980 Camaro. Notice I bolded the word, Frame. I know that the exact top from a 4th gen will not work, but I can always modify the frame (bend it, weld it, whatever I want) and then have a shop make a custom top for it. Does anyone else have any ideas on the subject? I don't care about the whole money issue, that will come in time. This project will probably take a few years anyways, but I think in the long run it will be a very beautiful car. The 2nd gen had some lines that would look awesome topless! Anyways, just wanted to leave this open for any ideas..... Thanks in advance,

 

If the length/width is close, I say go for it, should be a wicked ride when you are done, first thing though, get a kick a@# subframe welded in

 

ive seen a few local TAs with drop tops of the second gen era. it can be done and has been done. i suggest you hit up www.nastyz28.com for more suggestions. but as far as i know it can be done using a mustang rag top of that era.

good luck to you as i too thought of doing it on my 79 since someone decided to macgyver in a sunroof onto it. now im leaning towards installing a power moonroof off of a newer cavalier in its place because of the costs involved of swapping in a ragtop.

 

Cool, thanks for the links! I'm probably going to put up a site detailing my conversion so anyone can follow along if they have the nuts to tear into their cars, lol. But now I'm off to do some more homework...... If anyone else has any ideas, let me know!

 

be sure to pm the site then if you decide to go thru with it!!!!

 

Will do! I'm DEFINANTLY doing this conversion now. I figure what the heck, the only other thing this car is good for now is the junk yard. So I may as well try and give it a new lease on life. Once I get started and have some pics and a game plan on the web, I'll Post the link to the site.

 

i hope to catch it as im not on this section very often, if you remember me please pm it to me as i am seriously interested.