k3000

I agree with you inspector. It's kind of sad the price gouging that goes on. I guess it's all just part of "the car game."

I have to remember, it's "cosmetic" and on the top of the car where no one really sees too much.

I'm going to wait until I find someone I'm comfortable with to do the job -- preferably someone who's done the job before.

I hear it's "easy." Everything's easy until you mess it up!

Richard_Strahl

This is true, but something is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. Like you said, it's only cosmetic, and mine hasn't even gotten near as bad as some of the ones I've seen on here. Luckily third and fourth gens are super common in my area, so the market for parts cars is pretty saturated. If I can snag one for about 100, I'll be super happy XD

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

It's glued in similarly. Here is a pic from when I did the hardtop to T-Top conversion on my old 99 Z28:



There is glue holding the skin down on the sides (you can barely see the black residue next to the strip of clean metal where there is no paint), down the center of the t-bar panel (it's a zig zag shape) and near the front windshield. I've helped friends remove hardtops from 93-mid 98 cars in our local pick and pull and it's pretty much the same process, just takes a bit longer. I always pull the windshield molding first (so when you push the roof up it doesn't chip the end that sits just under the molding) and all the interior pieces. You still use wire saws on the back sail panel and sides, you just have to get more creative in how you work the saw since you can't sit on the roof and pull upwards. We would get in the car and brace our feet against where the back speakers sit and keep tension on the saw while cutting upwards. Use a wire saw on the two side pieces over the door and the center t-bar in the middle, just fish the wire through where there is a small gap and go to town. For the front near the windshield (and the back if you cannot work the saw through without damaging the roof skin) we used a Japanese hand saw. The are thin and super flexible, so you can maneuver them in to tight spaces and saw through the glue. It looks way harder than it is, but you can get it done. Just take a friend and be patient!

k3000

This is great information Matt, thank you!

I love that GM had gotten smarter and made the structure of the roofs the same for both the t-tops and the hard tops.

Too bad they didn't pick their plastic contractors better and use better sealers on the sail panels from 98-02!

inspector

Well it happened today!Drove my car to my wife’s work and left it sitting in 95 degree heat for about an hour.When I came out bubbles all across the top.So my plan to cut the metal off the donor just got moved up.I’m in no hurry but it proves what has been repeated over and over on this forum.It’s not if,but when.

k3000

That's incredible. Sorry to hear but thank you for sharing.

I find it amazing that the problem can lurk in there for years, just waiting for enough heat to come out!

inspector

Well I got busy the past couple of days and separated my sail panel from the metal top.Not an easy job.I used the method that JOHNNY59 posted above.I cut all the sub structure out from the bottom down to a single layer and then heated along the adhesive and slid a putty knife along as I heated it.Worked pretty darn good!The hard part was cutting all the metal down to a single layer.But it’s doable.I was concern about this top coming off a 98 but after removal you can see the primer around the underneath edge at the old adhesive.So it has to be a early 98 donor.I was not able to verify build date but this panel hard no signs of bubbling after several years of being in the bone yard.I would post some pics but do not have a hosting site since Photobucket pulled their crap.For the life of me a don’t understand why gm stopped applying the epoxy primer.How much could it have cost them to spray a 3” strip around the perimeter of the top.Now I need to clean a little more urethane off the top and get it painted.Anybody know if I need to take it down to fiberglass and get it all off or leave a trace amount and not have to epoxy primer the top again?Or will the new urethane adhere to a small trace amount of the old stuff?Don’t want to go thru this again.It will be hard to get absolutely all of it off.

JOHNNY59

iTrader: (398)

Glad to hear you got it off in one piece! Now you know all the work involved! I use a razor blade scraper to remove all the old adhesive. I sand with 100-220 grit paper to remove all traces of adhesive. Blow off and tack and 2-3 coats of a good two part epoxy.

inspector

Thanks.Good info.So now I can proceed with your suggestions and it will be ready for epoxy and paint!And yes,it’s a lot of work!But better than going the 6le route for sure.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Folks who believe otherwise are kidding themselves. There is no magic point at which the problem just goes away, it will remain dormant until the roof is exposed to the right amount of heat/sunlight.

No need to worry, if you can see the primer underneath the adhesive then it's an early-mid year build date and will be fine, same as the '93-'97 cars. Remember, the vast majority of the '98 cars are fine, the only ones that potentially have the issue are those built in May of '98 or later - that's only the last ~12 weeks or so of production. Early and mid year '98 cars are all OK.

Agreed. This one little change has caused a big problem for literally 10s of thousands of cars across four full model years.

Richard_Strahl

How big of a pain was it to get the original off your car without jacking up the neighboring parts? I get that you can heat the replacement to soften the glue, and with it being off of the car you're able to kind of manhandle it a bit. But getting the stock one off sounds like it's going to be the real kicker, any tricks for that? :/

inspector

Video’s are available on taking the old one off.Just google it.They are also links to video’s on this site.I have not removed mine yet.But from the video’s I’ve watched it does not look to be a hard job at all.Just cover the surrounding area and just tear it off.I mean literally tear it off!

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

I took a hammer, smacked a hole in the side of the old panel and then shoved a crowbar in there and pried up. It doesn't matter if the old panel comes off in one piece, just get it off there, lol.

inspector

For those who have replaced their sailpanels,what seems to be the easiest way to get the metal piece in between the t tops loose.I know it has screws and two sided tape.But what has everyone done to get the tape to let go.Is a heat gun the best way to go.In all the videos I’ve seen they just say you need to remove this piece but no one shows them actually taking it off.Then the videos show it removed and like I said it does not show them removing it.Looking for the easiest way someone has done this and had good luck.Trying to get all my ducks in row before I dive into this.Want to be be sure and make it as easy as possible and not mess anything else up.On the donor roof that I separated the clear strip was still on the top side of the tape next to the metal piece.I guess so it would not stick and be easily removed if need be.Is this what the factory did.Or just a lazy person on the assembly line?

inspector

Come on.All the people on here that have replaced their sailpanel.Someones got to have a good way to remove this.

JOHNNY59

iTrader: (398)

PM sent

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

All I have ever done is just pulled up on it and it comes off. It's not really stuck on there too well, the "tape" really seems to just serve the purpose of being a barrier for moisture. The screws are what really hold it down. Once the screws are out, I've always been able to just pull it off with ease.

Double Aught

iTrader: (5)

I cut multiple wood wedges out of 2x4 and used them and a dead-blow hammer. Others have used a wire saw.

wannafbody

iTrader: (2)

Mine is an early 2000 and I've never had a bubble until I did a repaint. After a couple hours outside small bubbles started to form.

k3000

I knew 6LE became Magg, but I didn't know they had started producing these sail panels again.

Has anyone used the Magg sail panel, to be able to comment on it's quality and fitment?

https://maggperformance.com/product/...op-fiberglass/

Thank you!