im thinking of buying a t-type that has that terrible moon/astro ulgy ass whatever you want to call it and i want to make it a hardroof car, so i was thinking taking out the moon roof and welding a sheet metal peice from inside then finishing it off with body filler after all the welds have been ground down, has anyone ever seen this done or done it them selves??? thanks
anyone ever make a hardtop car out of an astroroof car?
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You've got to be kidding...?
Why would you subject yourself to that kind of trouble and torture? If you don't like the astro-roof, then by a hardtop! You will spend more time and money making that sort of mod, than you would ever save from the car being a "good deal"!
Not trying to sound harsh, but, it's just a ridiculous proposal IMO.
These cars have flex issues under their heavy torque launches, and are already prone to cracking the metal around the rear quarter windows.
Having said that - would you want a bunch of body filler on the roof, after doing hard launches, and watch it begin to crack under loads?
It doesn't make sense to me, but then, I'm not a bodywork guy either. I'll be interested to see other people's responses.
I do agree that the moon-roof option is not desirable. I've seen them leak, creak and rattle. Much more so than my T-Top car.
Why would you subject yourself to that kind of trouble and torture? If you don't like the astro-roof, then by a hardtop! You will spend more time and money making that sort of mod, than you would ever save from the car being a "good deal"!
Not trying to sound harsh, but, it's just a ridiculous proposal IMO.
These cars have flex issues under their heavy torque launches, and are already prone to cracking the metal around the rear quarter windows.
Having said that - would you want a bunch of body filler on the roof, after doing hard launches, and watch it begin to crack under loads?
It doesn't make sense to me, but then, I'm not a bodywork guy either. I'll be interested to see other people's responses.
I do agree that the moon-roof option is not desirable. I've seen them leak, creak and rattle. Much more so than my T-Top car.
Last spring after a fender bender in my t-top GN,i had the top cut off my car,and a hard top put back on.(thanks Bweavy !} My body man has done this before and it turned out perfect.Most people dont belive it is the same car! later-kurt
jtoups386, i see what you're saying about the cracks by the rear window, but by welding in a panel and filling it with body filler i dont think it would crack, go up to any hardtop car and press in on the center of the roof and it will flex with ease, so by putting alot of power to the wheels i belive it would effect the roof line only above the rear window like on all turbo regals, i guess what im saying is the center of the roof is not a structual peice that would be affected by making it into a hardtop, and if you think about it its not a very big job to do,.....
Well, I suppose it's all in how you look at it, and what you consider "easy". With the abundance of these cars still on the market, (and it's a buyer's market right now), I just can't see why you'd want to go through that kind of effort when it would be far easier to buy one w/ a hard top. Again, that's just my opinion. If you think it's a worthwhile venture, and want to spend a couple of grand doing it the right way, then you'd at the very least have an interesting topic for conversation around the hot rod crowd.
One example above was done due to the car already needing body work. Not because he had a wild whim. Also, I've rarely seen cars with lots of body filler/bondo, that did not eventually show signs of it. Unless of course, you're paying top dollar to an extremely skilled body man. But then again arises the issue of cost. Lots of money unnecessarily spent.
Anyway, there's no need to debate this. It's certainly up to you to do what you feel is best for your situation. I was merely trying to offer some food for thought, and logic to support it.
Let us know how it goes. It'll be interesting to hear/see.
Best wishes.
One example above was done due to the car already needing body work. Not because he had a wild whim. Also, I've rarely seen cars with lots of body filler/bondo, that did not eventually show signs of it. Unless of course, you're paying top dollar to an extremely skilled body man. But then again arises the issue of cost. Lots of money unnecessarily spent.
Anyway, there's no need to debate this. It's certainly up to you to do what you feel is best for your situation. I was merely trying to offer some food for thought, and logic to support it.
Let us know how it goes. It'll be interesting to hear/see.
Best wishes.
I don't see this as a big deal. The roof won't be especially prone to cracking. The cracking by the side windows isn't actually cracking sheet metal, it is cracking of the lead filler used to fill the seams-there is a ****ty overlap/folded area by the windows. I know this because I dug out the lead by my driver window due to rust behind the lead. You will often see these seams swollen for this reason.
Back to the moonroof-the most critical thing I can see is the weld. It needs to be done properly. Too much heat in one area will cause a lot of warping on a roof. I wouldn't hesitate to do it but it obviously depends on one's bodywork abilities. Good luck.
Back to the moonroof-the most critical thing I can see is the weld. It needs to be done properly. Too much heat in one area will cause a lot of warping on a roof. I wouldn't hesitate to do it but it obviously depends on one's bodywork abilities. Good luck.
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