power to manual top
 

anyone remove the power motors, etc... and convert to a manual top?

I did. The pump had a leak somewhere and I'm trying to drop weight any way so I just took it out along with my spare, jack, rear seats and carpet backing and put it in a box for safe keeping. That little sucker has some weight to it too..

How hard is it to put the top up manually? Does the top stay secure when it is down? Any pics?

Its easy. No pics required all I did was make sure the top is up disconnect the hydrolic extenders from the top. then you unhook the pump, remove the hydrolic lines and pull out the pump. I then pushed the extenders down in order to drain the fluid and left them down so I can manually lower the top if I want to. It takes about 15 min to do lol.

Is the top secure when it is down? How about at high speeds?

probably not lol. But I don't drop the top anyway. I'm sure you could just reach in and put the pins back in when you drop it.

Hmm.... I'd be interested in doing this as well if the weight savings was worth it. Around how much weight did you lose by doing this pj4553? Just the items for the top, not the rear seats, carpet, etc.

I dont really know.. Maybe 15-20 lbs? I'm really on this whole weight reduction kick right now. I'm keeping comforts like a/c, ps, and pb but anything unnecessary is going to go..

If your car is a daily driver and you enjoy putting the top down and cruising around town then I wouldn't do it. I'm building a streetable car for track duty and to take to LS1tech meets by the N.O. lake front.

On my other manual top cars that I have owned none of them had any type of locking system to keep them down, it was just by weight and gravity, I would think the same would be true of the Camaro and I wouldn't worry about the top coming up at speed.

The power is more for easy of raising the top than holding it down.... at least that is my understanding of most tops.

I know it is your own car to do with what you may... but at which point do you just say its a convertible, and deal with the nicety in that, I mean honestly why buy a vert just to strip it down more? just curious not trying to start a pissing contest

I bought my car for the motor and nothing more. I wanted an LS1 powered car and thats what I got. It was for a very good price from a desperate seller otherwise I would have gotten a ttop or hard top b/c they are indeed lighter.
Any more questions?

nope, like i said, they are their to do what we will, if ya got a vert in good shap for less then a hardtop/ttop, then thats the way it is.

I have just been noticing alot of vert weight loss program threads thats all, and was wondering what I could have been missing...

I would never destroy the car and cut into metal if thats what you were thinking. Thats what fox bodies are for:D Anything I remove can be easily put back in place. If I were building an all out drag car just for track use I would have a notch back mustang with an LSX motor. It would take me maybe 5 min to put the pump back in.

If anything, I saved the car. Just check out my fquick page in my sig to see before and after pics

Yesterday I cut out the rear speaker panels and rear seat belt brace...

You have any pics of your progress?

Before:

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3..._weight014.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3..._weight012.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3..._weight011.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3..._weight010.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3..._weight009.jpg


Now:
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...vertbar003.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...vertbar002.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...vertbar001.jpg

Still working on it...

Not to be a jerk. But that was stupid. For the loss of maybe 10 lbs you weakened the structure of the car. That cover accross the back between the shock mounts is Vert speciffic to strengthen the car.

Next time buy a coupe, they're lighter to start with.

Re'

Yes it is vert specific..... to mount the rear seat belts.... How exactly is it weakening the structure if it only mounts to the back of the seat...? It is only mounted on the front and back, the sides have a piece of metal the width of my thumb attaching them to the top of the wheel well. If this was a structural piece, it would have been more securely braced to the sides. It was not. Regardless, it was not 10lbs I assure you that....10lbs is still 10lbs when you are going for the lightest possible car. What I should have done was buy an LS1.....

Anyways my 6pt will be finished today... will post pics b4 and after it is painted.


When I dropped it off:
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...inished010.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...inished009.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...inished008.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...inished007.jpg

It's not too late. I converted mine.

Re'