T top to hard top conversion
Yeah trying to cut out weight where I can. I don't know that it was worth it but seemed like a good idea a the time. If it ever ran a time of X.999 then the holes were worth it in my book! If it runs a x.001 I would hate myself if I didn't. haha...
Launching!
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 285
Likes: 0
From: Indianapolis, IN
I just put the T-top head liner back in because it is a racecar and you can't really see it with the cage in it. It would be no big deal to put the hardtop headliner in it if you wanted.
To get the sail panel and roof off the car, I took a 18" long 3" wide flat metal and put a knife edge on it and beat it through the black silicone that has it glued on with. It takes forever going 3" at a time but I tried all kinds of other methods with zero luck! I tried all kinds of wire and nothing would cut the silicone.
As far as the bar that goes over the side window, I had a junk yard cut the entire roof off another car. Once you get the roof skin off the car, you can see the differences in the roof. I just drilled the spot welds and with a hammer and chisel peeled back the sheet metal where it overlaps and pulled that section of the roof out. You can see how it goes in from the pics above. I got the interior panels and weatherstripping with the roof from the donor car. GM has discontinued a lot of those parts so you can't get it new any longer.
Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll answer them the best I can.
Jon
To get the sail panel and roof off the car, I took a 18" long 3" wide flat metal and put a knife edge on it and beat it through the black silicone that has it glued on with. It takes forever going 3" at a time but I tried all kinds of other methods with zero luck! I tried all kinds of wire and nothing would cut the silicone.
As far as the bar that goes over the side window, I had a junk yard cut the entire roof off another car. Once you get the roof skin off the car, you can see the differences in the roof. I just drilled the spot welds and with a hammer and chisel peeled back the sheet metal where it overlaps and pulled that section of the roof out. You can see how it goes in from the pics above. I got the interior panels and weatherstripping with the roof from the donor car. GM has discontinued a lot of those parts so you can't get it new any longer.
Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll answer them the best I can.
Jon
Also, can you post progress pics that you took during this? I'm interested to do this myself, so looking to learn from your experience.
I'm talking about taking the fiberglass cover off the sail panel. Not actually cutting the whole roof off the car. Then you get the whole fiberglass cover off the hard top car and weld in the roof supports from the hardtop in and install the fiberglass cover.
Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the install. Just some before and after. I had it all put in at one point but ended up pulling the windshield and stuff back out of it to cut the cage out of the car again...
Jon
Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the install. Just some before and after. I had it all put in at one point but ended up pulling the windshield and stuff back out of it to cut the cage out of the car again...
Jon
Launching!
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 285
Likes: 0
From: Indianapolis, IN
I'm talking about taking the fiberglass cover off the sail panel. Not actually cutting the whole roof off the car. Then you get the whole fiberglass cover off the hard top car and weld in the roof supports from the hardtop in and install the fiberglass cover.
Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the install. Just some before and after. I had it all put in at one point but ended up pulling the windshield and stuff back out of it to cut the cage out of the car again...
Jon
Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the install. Just some before and after. I had it all put in at one point but ended up pulling the windshield and stuff back out of it to cut the cage out of the car again...
Jon
Thanks.
