CC_HotRod

To make a long story short. I had a windshield replacement that went horribly wrong. A lot of rust in the windshield frame (pinch weld). The easiest way to take care of it according to some body shops is to replace the roof. I have a coupe and since I have to go that route I was thinking of switching to T-Tops, but I thought I read on here somewhere that the frame is different between the coupe and T-top equip car. Is that right? B/C of the windshield leak I have to redo my headliner also and one of my A pillar interior panel's clips got busted so I have to replace at least on of those also.

KrisW

iTrader: (5)

Wow.

I don't know what body shops you are talking to, but I don't think that's right. It might be the easiest "hack" but not the best way to fix it.

As you probably know, our cars don't have a "frame." As such, the top of the car is actually part of the frame structure. There are extra supports in the unitized body structure in the middle sections of the car that are used to make up for the missing rigidity of the roof. That's why T-top cars are heavier from the factory. If you just slap a T-top roof on your car, it will bend and flex like mad. Did you ever notice that all of the non t roof cars are torn at the top rear part of the window holes on both sides? That's from flex. Imagine if there were no roof to take that flex!

If you run subframe connectors, you'll probably be okay. Good, weld on, subframe connectors.

I still think you ought to find a body shop who will fix it right.
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Use the door wedges from this thread as well.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...ss-cracks.html

AmorgetRS

iTrader: (6)

Kris - IIRC the weight difference between a t-top and hard top comes mainly from the weight difference between the glass vs sheet metal and other hardware. I don't think anyone has ever proven there was a different between t-top and hard top cars when it comes to the main body area, outside of those little door thingys you posted. SFCs are a good idea anyway.

Verts have added structural support, kind of like SFCs, but like I stated, I don't think anyone has ever proven the extra support theory for T-tops cars.

KrisW

iTrader: (5)

I wish I had taken pictures of the cars I cut up years ago. The one t-top car had different braces inside behind where the rear speakers are when I stripped it down. Maybe it was just a difference in the years, but I'm not so sure because the 83, 85, 87, and 90 hardtop cars weren't the same as the 86 t-roof car. The 86 was a loaded T/A so maybe that's why...

AmorgetRS

iTrader: (6)

That would of been interesting to see. I didn't see anything special in my 84 T-tops when compares to a 85 IROC Hard top when I removed the rear quarter from the IROC.