T-TOP repair pics

[jpwalt1987]

I have been working on repairing the rotted out sheetmetal. I have had several people asking about how I did it so I figured that I would put up a post with all the pics I have. I wish I would have taken more detailed pics but I wasnt planning on starting a thread on it. If you are going to tackle this dont sweat it. I am not a fabricator or welder by any means. The tools I used are as follows: Matco 110volt mig welder w/C25 gas, Electric angle grinder with a Tiger disc, Air powered die grinder with a 3inch cutting disc and Ro-loc discs, Tin snips, Hammmer and Dolly, cordless drill with a uni-bit, vice grips, and a torch(to heat and bend). I know alot of people dont have these tools but you are bound to know someone that will let you borrow them:biggrin: .

I started by cutting out the sections that were rusted out(duh ) On the front... I cut out the section outlined by yellow. I then took a piece of 22 gauge sheetmetal and cut it to fit the shape that I needed. 22 gauge was the thickest I could find in a small sheet. I bought it from the local hardware store. I would have rather used 18 gauge but...oh well. When I cut it out I didnt try to make the exact shape of the hole. I made it to where it would fit down inside the hole and I pulled it up tight to the remaining sheetmetal. I then welded it in place. Space your welds and go slow. I didnt go slow enough and it warped alittle. Nothing a hammer cant take care of!!:biggrin: I then ground down the welds with the Angle grinder with a sanding disc(tiger disc) until I was satisfied with the result. I did have to go back with the welder and fill a couple of holes. I then coated it with POR-15 and chassis black. When it came time to add the weatherstripping holders from GBODYPARTS.COM I drilled 4 holes in them. The holders that I got were not powdercoated because I wanted to weld them in. I had to scrape some of the por15 off of the sheetmetal underneath. I then plug welded the weatherstripping holders to the sheetmetal underneath. To make sure that the spacing was correct front to back I screwed the holder down to the sheetmetal then placed the weatherstripping on there along with the front trim. Adjust as needed. When I had it correct I welded the holders down making sure to keep the pieces tight. I then coated it with por15 and chassis black. here are the results Oh yeah I almost forgot.... on the front left at the A pillar it was totally rotted out. I had to put together about three pieces of metal to remake the indention there. It came out perfect.

I will continue in another post!!

 

[gmpower]

Great Job!

 

[jpwalt1987]

Now for the back!!

For the back I pretty much did the same thing. At the section were the roof bends and goes under the T-Top I cut out the width of the car. I had to break the spot welds with an air chisel. It wasnt pretty!! After that was taken apart I used the hammer and dolly to staighten out the bottom piece of metal. I had a piece of sheetmetal bent on a brake at the local hardware store for free. I then cut it out and trimmed to fit the opening. It took several adjustments to get it right. I had to butt it up end to end. Not a lap weld. I also had to sharpen the bend in the metal by using a pair of vise grips that are wide and flat(not sure what they are called) and hitting it with a hammer. I used three pieces of metal to go across the width of the car. On the weatherstripping holders I had to heat and bend to make it follow the contour of the roofline. I also had to do the same for the replacement sheetmetal. I also drilled holes in the bottom section in order to plug weld it to the piece underneath. More grinding and welding, grinding and welding. I am still not done grinding and welding!!! I want it perfect. Here is where I messed up..... On the weatherstripping holders I placed them up against the center rail and then tacked them in place. The first time I placed them too close to the roof. I couldnt get the weatherstripping retainer(rear trim) to go on. cut, grind reweld This time I moved the holder further away from the roof and retacked. Good distance front to back, but what about side to side!!!! I am still trying to figure out exactly how far out they are supposed to be. I believe it is about 24 inches though. I will place them just right and weld them in. Before its all said and done it will be coated with por 15 and chassis black. I am going to strip the roof down to the metal and repaint also. I hope this gives a few people some hope that its NOT impossible to fix. Just some time and effort and LOTS of patience. Good luck! Jeremy

 

[nos487]

Looks good to me. I hope mine is not that bad when I look but your info helps!

 

[fitz3820]

Nice work - mine isn't too bad yet but I do have one hole and some rust:frown:

I will probably tackle it this summer.

 

[TURBOV8R]

Dear god,now I don't wanna look at mine!! .......Good job though!

 

[Red C5]

Good work, looks nice.

 

[Bweavy]

Jeremy I took the pics you asked for the other day. Now my camera is not working. I'll re-measure for you.

 

[fc227]

Looks good, I have to do the same thing to mine.

 

[jpwalt1987]

Brian , thanks a million. I just dont want to have to reweld and cut and grind more than needed.

 

[STROKEN6]

Jeremy, Thanks much for your time and effort to make this thread! Oh yea, and Brian is the man! G BODY PARTS, Top notch customer service!

 

[JimP]

Wow that looks like a lot of work! I Krown rust proof my car and it's not driven in the winter, I regularly take the t-tops off to inspect and make sure they are dry after washes.

I was recently at a body shop and a guy was putting a hard top on his t-top GN. Was talking to the body man who I have known for years, said it was easy, well maybe for him. They had already cut the roof off of another regal and transplanted it. It appeared seamless. Car was just about ready for paint, wish I had my camera. Guy gave me both t-top glass and I took the plastic interior trim as well as stamped trim pieces. I offered to pay him for it but said just take it.

I would have taken the whole roof because it was triple mint but have no room for it. Guy is making a GNX clone and is doing it right down to the suspension.

Good work!

 

[charlief1]

Thank you Jeremy. I haven't taken the top off the 82 yet but this is very helpful. Hopefully it's not as bad as this since it's a Texas car but you never know.