Cascade Crew

aaron_sK · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject: T-top seals

For you guys who've swapped yours out, what's the best stuff to glue the new seals down, and fill the gaps around the center beam/ect.? Should I just go to Lowes and get some black silicone, or is there any reason to get the Permatex or 3M stuff for weatherstrips?

Al Hasse · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:42 pm Post subject:

I've had mine replaced at an auto glass shop, also had them "fixed" by the same shop. I think they use the same or similar adhesive for the top seals as they do for windshields.

82camaro383 · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:57 pm Post subject:

How much did the shop charge to have the weather strippi installed?

Al Hasse · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 9:23 pm Post subject:

I honestly can't remember. It's been a few years, but it was just labor because I supplied the seals.

aaron_sK · Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 12:15 pm Post subject:

What the heck?

Matched up the new seals to the old ones today, and found something really wierd.

The current seals on the car are in two pieces. The narrow black rubber strip, and then some wierd nylon-ish crap. When I pulled the out seal it came apart and there was some red tubing on the inside.

Is this stock GM, or did some clown try and fix the seals with some off-the-shelf junk?

I set the new seals around the edge (you can see the fat black rubber strip in the pics) and it's the same size, but radically different styling.

Anyone know anything about this?

Xophertony · Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 1:24 pm Post subject:

never seen it on my cars old seals or new, or any junkyard car. i think you hit the nail on the head with the "joker" comment.

i use black silicone to seal mine. the only place they leak is where the body seal meets the seal on the top itself. squirting some dielectric grease in there solved that problem.

aaron_sK · Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 2:50 pm Post subject:

No joke Tony. I'm a bit pissed, but a bit wiser. Spent a couple hours searching TGO and reading up on t-top seal systems and I found that not all t-tops were GM installed. Quite a few were farmed out to a company called C&C that installed tops for GM on hardtop cars.

Went out to check my car and sure enough I found a tiny CC stamp on the corner of each top. Evil or Very Mad

At least a few things make sense now, like why I have hardtop sunvisors in a ttop car, why I have a ttop bag, but no bad hardware installed in the car, and why I have a wierd seal around my headliner.

The good news is that you can still buy the C&C stuff from Hawks, the bad news is that it costs $350 bucks for the set.

If any of you ttop guys have leaking seals, I'll sell you this never-installed GM set for $85 cash (what I paid). P/N 10198208 for ttop cars.

BigDaddyVu · Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 3:28 pm Post subject:

I was told the ribbed style was better.

aaron_sK · Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 4:28 pm Post subject:

It actually looks like a better design than GM's, were the seals in decent shape. Any water that makes it past the first seal hits a small trough and runs out the side of the car. The problem is right now all the water is getting past the first seal, and the trough is overflowing and pushing past the second seal.

Xophertony · Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 11:10 pm Post subject:

well i can see you headliner is trashed. one nice thing. i think CC made that out of a hardtop headliner, so a replacement in good shape is as close as the nearest junkyard. we just lay your old foam down over the hardtop headliner and trace it. then cut it and recover in. zing... Smile

aaron_sK · Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 7:52 am Post subject:

I've read conflicting reports that C&C used either a cardboard or fiberglass custom headliner. Some people say they got a hacked hardtop version, but mine doesn't look like it. You can;t see it very well in the pics, but the headliner actually curves up all around the inside egde of the tops and there's a small black gasket that attaches it to the roof near the weatherstrip.

You can see it better in the second pic. Where you see the triangular cut, that is the headliner curving up and you can see the black seal that holds it to the frame.

Right now my plan is to carefully remove the headliner from the car, and see if it is even salvagable.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 9:46 am Post subject:

Hmm. I'd be curious to see if your roof, underneath the headliner has all the braces that actual factory T-top cars have.

BigDaddyVu · Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 11:41 am Post subject:

there different just get the one piece abs plastic headliner the spray contact glue and apply your material. its simple

aaron_sK · Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 8:17 pm Post subject:

Xophertony · Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 9:55 pm Post subject:

i have never noticed a difference under mine, but i don't no where to look.

DBL_TKE · Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject:

Well I know that my car has a sub frame connector. It looks like it was meant to be with the differential as its not bolted on or simply welded on. It is like it's a part of it. Now as far as my knowledge go's, no Camaro's (except for convertibles) came with factory SFC's. This is true, correct?

aaron_sK · Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 3:47 pm Post subject:

Does anyone here happen to have a pic of a factory t-top car without the headliner? I pulled mine today and grabbed some pics, I'll post them up later.

It looks like they basically ran two rows of rivets, one about every three inches, on both sides of the roof (four rows total).

90droptoproc · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 12:49 am Post subject:

not my pic or my car but you can kinda see the roof in this one

Xophertony · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 2:27 am Post subject:

my god.... it's like tacky became a living being, and then threw up in that car.

90droptoproc · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 7:01 am Post subject:

ya, I have more pics of it, but I'm not sure I wanna subject anyone to them Laughing