T-top cars

[1987BuickGN]

Hey guys,

Im kinda thinking I want a second turbo car, and gotta question. Is there any drawbacks or advise on these cars that should keep me away from a t-top car? Are the more prone to get rust? The car I would want wouldnt be driven in the rain, or poor weather. Just something to cruise when the weathers nice. If it wouldnt get dusty inside, I probably wouldnt ever put the tops on. Whats your feedback? Yes or no?

 

[turbojimmy]

Hey guys,

Im kinda thinking I want a second turbo car, and gotta question. Is there any drawbacks or advise on these cars that should keep me away from a t-top car? Are the more prone to get rust? The car I would want wouldnt be driven in the rain, or poor weather. Just something to cruise when the weathers nice. If it wouldnt get dusty inside, I probably wouldnt ever put the tops on. Whats your feedback? Yes or no?

If they leak it will rust, and they will leak. My 100k-mile car was bone stock when I got it and there was some surface rust under the weather stripping but nothing too alarming. I replaced the weather stripping with GM replacement stuff and made the leaks A LOT worse. There is an art to sealing them up. I don't drive the car in inclement weather anyway, but I have been caught in sudden, unexpected downpours and I think I'd stay more dry if I just took the tops out. At least then they wouldn't channel the water to drop directly on my console and left knee.

My brother has a hardtop T with many more miles on it than my car. Every time I ride in it or drive it I'm amazed by how tight and solid the car feels. The difference is the hardtop. The t-tops take a lot of rigidity out of the ride.

All that being said I'd never trade my t-top car for a hardtop. I love pulling the tops on a nice day and cruising around. The sun on your face and the sound of the engine through the open roof is awesome.

Jim

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

I had a t-top Monte and loved it more then any other car I ever had.

But every thing Jim said is dead on.

BTW the first clean T-Top regal or Monte that I can afford to get my hands on I will get my hands on it.:biggrin:

Every time I see a T-Top car go by it almost makes me cry in pain for selling mines.:frown:

 

[1987BuickGN]

Thanks for the insight so far.

Assuming there is rust traces to be found, where all do I look for damage? Front floors? rear floors? In the t-channels? Where do t-tops drain off their water? Are there any drain ports or do they just channel off the sides? Sorry if these sound like stupid questions. I just wanna know what to look for/at.

 

[turbojimmy]

Thanks for the insight so far.

Assuming there is rust traces to be found, where all do I look for damage? Front floors? rear floors? In the t-channels? Where do t-tops drain off their water? Are there any drain ports or do they just channel off the sides? Sorry if these sound like stupid questions. I just wanna know what to look for/at.

The t-tops just channel water off to the sides and rear. There's no drainage mechanism like with a sunroof/moonroof. You'll want to lift the weather stripping back, particularly above the windshield and along the "T" bar.

Here's a link to a guy that recently found 'a little' rust on his (shows you where to look, too):
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/show-car-restoration-body-repair/209554-found-nice-surprise.html

Jim

 

[Turbo1dr]

I've had a few t-top GN's and one T-type with t-tops. I also had a Monte Carlo Aerocoupe with it. The Monte was a low mile car and I was very pleased with them. They didn't leak the whole time I owned it. On the low mile GN I bought that was garaged all the time it was the same way...didn't leak but I did have to adjust them a few times from squeaking. All the other Regals with T-Tops i had leaked and were rusted where you couldn't see it. So my suggestion would be not to get a t-top car unless the seller lets you remove all the rubber seals and lets you take a look beneath them. This car below looked to be a good t-top car and it was a low mileage one with only 62,000 miles. Needless to say this roof was replaced with a hard top.

 

[madhat]

I have rusty streaks down my A Pillars and the rattles, oh the rattles, and the wind noise because I dont have official GM stripping...softseal just happens to outsource for G-bodies.
Also, even with my tops on, I can see the top of my windshield shake on bumpy roads - I love 'em, but I dont take them off enough to keep them, especially since I know how bad the rust is...I'll probably turn it into a giant moon roof rather than just a hard top though.....

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

I'll probably turn it into a giant moon roof rather than just a hard top though.....

thats a good idea.

 

[madhat]

well, I love being able to see out the roof...maybe even take it out, but I hate the problems associated w/ t-tops and if I do it right, I think that does everything I want.

I have a wondering about our t-tops though:
Do ALL t-top cars have this much of a rust problem or was it mostly G-bodies? Take the Stingrays, not Sting Rays, their rubber was on the tops themselves not the body. How did that go over? It seems to me that if you built the top right and put the stripping on the tops themselves, that you could build a pretty rust free setup. I've put alot of thought into it and I need to see how Chevy did it(and know if it worked) to see if my idea is as good of a concept for t-tops as I think it would be...and fast - you can even see rust cracks coming through the bottom of the A-pillar on the outside of my almost 90k car

 

[turbojimmy]

I have a wondering about our t-tops though:
Do ALL t-top cars have this much of a rust problem or was it mostly G-bodies? Take the Stingrays, not Sting Rays, their rubber was on the tops themselves not the body. How did that go over? It seems to me that if you built the top right and put the stripping on the tops themselves, that you could build a pretty rust free setup. I've put alot of thought into it and I need to see how Chevy did it(and know if it worked) to see if my idea is as good of a concept for t-tops as I think it would be...and fast - you can even see rust cracks coming through the bottom of the A-pillar on the outside of my almost 90k car

Stingrays as in Corvettes? My dad's '80 leaks worse than my Buick does. But it's fiberglass so it won't rust. I don't think his '99 Camaro SS leaks though, nor did my brother's '02 WS6 TA. I've never looked at them close but I think the rubber is on the tops on those too.

Jim

 

[turbofish38]

I have a wondering about our t-tops though: Take the Stingrays, not Sting Rays, their rubber was on the tops themselves not the body. How did that go over?

Its a common misconception that 3rd gen Vettes(or any Vette for that matter) dont rust because they are fiberglass. Dead wrong. Look closely at the next one you see and you'll most likely see that the windshield frame,which is steel is rusting. If the car was driven or had been sitting outside for a long period of time the windshield frame is probally even gone in a few areas. Dont believe me just punch in Corvette windshield frame repair in a google search and you should find lots of hits on the subject. This goes for both hatch roofs and convertibles. You'll even find the frames rotting out on the salt belt cars. Where the weatherstrips sits has no relation to where and how they rust. G-bodies have it bad because of the design. Its to easy for water to drain onto and into the windshield frame.

 

[turbojimmy]

Its a common misconception that 3rd gen Vettes(or any Vette for that matter) dont rust because they are fiberglass. Dead wrong. Look closely at the next one you see and you'll most likely see that the windshield frame,which is steel is rusting. If the car was driven or had been sitting outside for a long period of time the windshield frame is probally even gone in a few areas. Dont believe me just punch in Corvette windshield frame repair in a google search and you should find lots of hits on the subject. This goes for both hatch roofs and convertibles. You'll even find the frames rotting out on the salt belt cars. Where the weatherstrips sits has no relation to where and how they rust. G-bodies have it bad because of the design. Its to easy for water to drain onto and into the windshield frame.

Yes but do leaky t-tops cause the windshield frame to rust? I've never seen one with a rusty windshield frame, but I haven't seen too many neglected ones. Both my dad's are fine. We had the body off of his '67 and had the frame repaired because it rotted behind both rear wheels.

I was just commenting on t-tops contributing to rust.

Jim

 

[strikeeagle]

Funny how popular opinion changes. Years ago I disclosed my feelings about t-tops on this board and got nothing but **** for it...

Why would you want a car with a collander for a roof?

strike

 

[usetaboost]

I just all comes down to build quality. My 86 z28 had tops and had a bead of rust all around, and wherever else it was also. Did a lot of readin on that car and quality improved every two years. 90-92 are very solid cars. A friend had a 91 RS with ttops that was beat to hell and tops NEVER LEAKED. My stepdad had a nissan 280 z or some crap like that with ttops. It was the first design style. Barely leaked compared to my camaro and had no visible rust up there either. The rest of the car was different though.

 

[darkred87T]

T-tops are cool but to me it wouldn't be worth it for all the trouble they seem to have. I owned a WS6 that was a t-top car and I wasn't all that impressed with the "open air" feel. A GN is probably a little better because the T-tops are alot bigger.
Over all, if I wanted an open air car I would get a Jeep again. It was a blast with the top down. Nothing compares to it.

 

[ineil]

I have 186,000 miles on my T-Top 87 GN with original weather stripping and little to no leaks and no noise. Love to drive with the tops out. Wouldn't trade for anything.

 

[madhat]

I'm glad to hear that you had a good experince w/ them!

OK, well good to know about the corvettes.

My dad's 02 SS had 10k and I saw it drip a few times on the drivers side....

It rained pretty good today and I got in and what did I see? A soaked driver's seat and passenger doorpanel

 

[Turbo1dr]

I have 186,000 miles on my T-Top 87 GN with original weather stripping and little to no leaks and no noise. Love to drive with the tops out. Wouldn't trade for anything.

That's probably the reason they are doing so good. You take them out and let them air out for a while. My first GN had t-tops and about every 10,000 miles I'd pour motor oil on top of the rubber and soak everything up there. I think that worked because I had very little problems with that car. Also, the car was always garaged and had 44,000 miles on it when I bought it. So it pretty much sums it up that if you take care of them from the start they will last longer.

 

[STAGE 2]

As with anything, t-tops require maintenance. Anyone who thinks that they can park their car outside for 10 years, or have it rained on, washed etc and perform as well as the day it was bought without any care is just nuts.

I have an 87 turbo T and I replaced all of the ttop weatherstripping myself. The car was well cared for by the previous owner but parked outside for its whole life. Its had very minor surface rust on the metal panels that screw in under the tops.

After replacing all the stripping and the panels (properly I might add, GM just slapped these things together which is 90% of the cause of the leaks and noise IMO) I have zero leaks and zero noise. A large majority of the problem isn't the t-tops themselves, but the alignment of the window against the t-tops. Get the kirban book and adjust the windows properly.

If you do this, you car will be as quiet as any hard top. Just make sure to wipe down the seals about once a month with some kind of rubber care to keep them soft and supple.

It can be done.

 

[madhat]

Hey, Turbo1dr, did you brace the body on the interior for that or did you just "cut n paste"?