rusted T-TOP

[Saladin45]

Oooh. GN's look somewhat nice without a top to them.

 

[Turbo1dr]

Forgot to mention....do what Brian W says. Unscrew all the window mouldings and look underneath. Looking at the pictures above I posted, you can see that the black metal trim pieces were hiding major rust holes.

 

[Grumpy]

I was quoted $4500 to replace the roof on this car. I wound up doing it myself and saved a load of money. This car is now a hardtop car.

ya you and I can do it but not many people would

 

[jpwalt1987]

Seeing that makes me feel better about my rusty t top roof. I started cutting today!! jeremy

 

[Turbo1dr]

ya you and I can do it but not many people would

Replacing the rusty firewall in my Malibu took some time also. Drilling out all those spot welds took a while.

Replacing the roof on the GN required everything to be measured for proper fitment. The alignment also HAD to be perfect so the black paint wouldn't show faults in the body work.

 

[Turbo1dr]

Seeing that makes me feel better about my rusty t top roof. I started cutting today!! jeremy

You might want to take off the black trim pieces and look under them also.

 

[jpwalt1987]

That is a pic from when i first started taking it apart. I have it stripped it down as far as it will go in that area and it is all good under the mouldings!:wink: Its really bad on the passenger side by the b pillar though.:frown: jeremy

 

[turbojimmy]

Those pics turn my stomach. I really need to take a look at mine. I know it leaks but the car is never out in the rain. The only time it gets wet is when I wash it, but that's probably enough to make a big mess.

Good luck with it!

Jim

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

Here we go

That’s what my Monte looked like
I would first go try route of a good donor car that’s what I did with my Monte and it worked out great
I followed a scrap metal truck with another T-Top Monte in it for 1 hour before he finally pulled over he let me climb on to the truck and let me hack away on the side of the road while he had lunch. I cut the donor top off at the very edge of the fire wall and did the same thing at the rear deck with all that extra metal I was able to replace ALL the parts that had rust on them
I helped my dad do the job on my car and id have to say it would cost about $1k to $1,500.00 to do that job the right way the way we did it to my car.
and BTW take a close look at the door area down to the floor. the water travels in side all that area then on to the floor.
Good luck Dude
David

 

[Chuck Leeper]

My $.02...

The water didn't stop at the roof...
Look in the areas behind the kick panels, the qtr window areas, and the bottom of the qtrs near the back of the trunk.
Also, look at the body mount areas...
Could be, the entire car is a crusher candidate.
Should the majority of the problems be confined to the roof, whack that sucker off, and put a HT roof on it. That's not a difficult job.
Making repairs to the current roof is effective ONLY if 100% of the rust is removed. Miss some, and it's coming back... GUARANTEED!! [In the case of the double panelled areas, there's NO WAY to be sure the rust has been removed].The shop guy knows this, and is covering his a$$, so when you bring it back for problems, he's covered from the $$ standpoint.

As far as repair costs are concerned.. Most body shops want ONLY the "quicky" jobs. [IE: wrecks] Bolt on the new, slap some paint on it, and it's gone. Sitting there, cutting out the rust, then cutting out the repair panels, then doing the welding, body working, is actually doing the job twice.
Labor at $35-55/hr, paint at over $150.00/gallon. [Some at near $400/gallon!], all adds to the cost.
Could be, they don't want the job, and rather than totally pi$$ U off, they shot U a price that exceeds the value of the car
In the FWIW dept:
My bud's streetrod shop is at $56/hr, for "custom" body work, such as repairs like this. A "done correctly" paint job, with minimal repairs is 15K...Sure, it's show quality, but why do it 1/2 azzed??

I'm "mr picky", so some of the above is opinion only.

 

[wallyp]

Did That, used a donor roof from a Monte for parts.

 

[Turbo1dr]

Rusty t-tops will cause water to leak to the inside of the "A" pillars and run down to the bottom. Usually rust will appear where the door weatherstrip seals against the body. It rusts from the inside-out.

 

[turbojimmy]

Rusty t-tops will cause water to leak to the inside of the "A" pillars and run down to the bottom. Usually rust will appear where the door weatherstrip seals against the body. It rusts from the inside-out.

A wet ECM is a good indication of a problem, too. Took me a while to figure that one out. It was running down the a-pillar.

Jim