t-top woes
 

Lost my drivers side t-top on the road the other night, had it latched in and all and heard this whistling. I remember latching it in real good because the first time I latched it it didn't go in right. I put the window down then up again to see if that would stop the whistling and the wind rushed in pushed up on it and lifted it up. I tried to grab it but it blew out and another car ran over it and all I had was the shade in my hand. Should have locked it. I knew better. Anyways, I'm looking for a used one and I know I can get one for $125 used. Anyone know if there's any difference in models or years? Someone has one from a 02' t/a and I'm thinking it should fit my 00 nbm firebird, but I want to be sure. I figure they are all black and all basically the same.
thanks

Ouch! Dude, that sucks...sorry to hear! Actually I would go on ebay, OR a local junk yard. The t-tops fit the same from 98-02....There is also an adjusting nut, so you can tweek it a bit..

Did it F*** the other car up?....

thanks man.
Yeah, it sucks. I've heard of it happening to others. I grabbed the top the best I could to hold it down and I was slowing down and getting on to the side of the road and as I'm breaking hard 50-40-30-woosh, it flips up and the wind catches it and I realize I only had it by the sun shade and the velcro was all that was holding it. Then it didn't blow straight behind me, it blew off to the left into the right most lane and a few seconds later another car ran right over it and I heard a nice crunch. I sat there and watched them drive on, they never stopped, I waited about 30 seconds, pulled up to catch up to them to see if they stopped but they didn't. I was hoping they might see it in the road, but it was dark.

Thanks for the ebay tip, I'll try there too.

Also check the "sales department" on here too! There are a few guys selling parts from recked cars! Probably get one for 100$ or so...Everyone on here is cool..

00-02 will be 100% correct. with right ebony interior panel.

95-02 should be correct, with interior panel color differences, ($12 part at the dealer, for the ebony ones)

but i would try to find one as new as possible, to make sure the rubber is in good condition, the older the car, and the less you use diaelectric grease on them, they turn brittle and white.

Ryan

also I believe some of them have dot matrix on them and some dont...not too sure

Man, I had the same thing happen to me last fall. I was lucky enough to have mine fly off onto the median on the highway. Scratched up a bit but otherwise fine. I was doing well over 80mph when mine flew off though, with the windows down. I was just flying along when I heard a *whoosh*. I look up immediately and my driver side t-top is a good 30-40 feet in the air, just flailing around. Thought for sure I was going to have to buy another, but I found it with only minor scratches on the interior plastic section.

I'm 100% sure I had it latched as well, just didn't have it locked. Now I always keep them locked.

Keeping the T-tops locked will not prevent them from falling off. All the lock does it 'lock' the latch handle. What happens is air gets between the rubber/t-top and moves out the slider, after that all you have to do it tap the t-top and it will fly off. Their was a fix for this posted somewhere on the 'other' board.

Heres one on ebayhttps://ls1tech.com/forums/images/sm...ch/gr_wink.gif

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2464415014

The slider and latch handle are mechanically tied together. The slider can not retract without the handle moving, or something internally breaking. If the handle is locked in place, the slider can't be retracted (again, with something internally breaking).

You are correct that driving without them locked can cause the sliders to get pushed back into the t-top, but the handle is pushed open at the same time. When I retrieved my launched t-top, the handle was indeed open.

They CAN fly out with them locked. I've read many a post with them doing so although I agree that locking them greatly reduces the chance of them launching. They've always been at high speeds though, usually 100+. If the locking rods are not engaged enough from the factory, the t-top and plastic interior trim will flex enough to send 'em flying with high enough air pressure.

If you unscrew the the interior panels where the t-top locking rod goes into the holes of the a-pillar and b-pillar, there is an adjustable metal slide. Just loosen the bolt, and adjust it to engage more of the t-top locking rod. :usa:

The rods on my t-tops both engage by more than an inch. It would take a serious amount of flex or bending to pull them off while they were locked. Plastic interior trim has nothing to do with holding the t-top in place. The rods lock into holes in the metal A and B pillars. The trim is just that, trim that covers the structural components.

1. There's no way the unibody is flexing enough to spread apart far enough to release those rods (unless some t-tops are engaging significantly less than mine do). That sort of flex would crack the windshield and cause significant gaps with the door windows. Just not going to happen.

2. I've seen the interior of the t-top mechanisms. It is solid enough that it would take a serious load to cause enough bending internally to push the rods in far enough to release the t-top. We're talking several hundred pounds at the very least, if not more. It's also a load that needs to be transmitted longitudinally as well, and there's just no way to generate those kinds of loads on the pins while driving down the road. 99% or more of any loads are going to be shearing loads on the pins, which will not induce any sort of retraction at all.

Another problem is that if the car does not have sub frames, and the owners beats on the car alot, it may twist the frame enough to unseat the t-tops. All it takes then is a gust on the highway and it is all over...

All of these stories are gonna have me paranoid :secret: and doing this :eyes: all the time.

No kidding! Loosing my t-top would be bad enough, but I don't need the lawsuit if it hit anybody. I've heard WAY too many stories of this happening locked/unlocked, high speed/low speed, but you can be sure I'm going straight home to adjust my rods and then lock them just to be safe.

What he said^

Wow! That's crazy. I'm gonna check my tops regularly now. That just shouldn't happen.

Heck just do like I did on my WS6, I put a big ol strip of duct tape across the front and back of them, that stuff is good all the way up to 200mph. It kinda looks good with the NBM paint of the car :shiner:

Seriously though, after reading around some.. this is more common than I would have ever guessed. :eek: