i wish i had t-tops sometimes

 

t-tops do look cool, but they also leak horribly. the reason that they leak is because the torque from the engine actually twists the t-top bar making it impossible to totally seal. the new camaro wouldn't be any different. since chevy is putting in a 6.0 liter engine it would be guaranteed to leak within a year or two. and the only reason that some t-top camaros dont leak is because there engines dont have enough torque to twist the bar. so putting t-tops in the new camaro would be a bad idea.

 

Someone earlier in this thread requested a Photochop of a 5th gen. with t-tops. Here is one from the Camaro5 forum.

[IMG]local://upfiles/7354/02E839C127C741DE95F5D60D54A26371.jpg[/IMG]

 

I thinkthat looks pretty sweet

 

they twist which bar, the one in the middle? i always thought the t tops were better on the whole rigidity/torsion deal then a targa but i dont know too much about all that physics and junk haha. okay well that pic looks cool but its kinda some bad photoshoppin. maybe ill work on one tomorrow that looks a lil better.

 

Actually if you geta alota tourqe ona car with t-tops its bends the frame. Thats why almost 80% + of all drag car f-bods are hard tops.

 

How much torque til it starts bending? I doubt I'll have to worry about it, since my cars stock and probably wont ever get to that high amount of torque...

 

You can run a fast car with T-Tops, you just have to properly stiffen the chassis. Miller Race Cars in Southern CT runs an eightsecond 1995 with T-Tops, and I have personally spoken with Jaime and they dont leak a drop. That car has the SFC's that they make (the best out there IMO) and a full cage. However, he said he ran the car up to the 11 second range with just the SFC's and no leaks....they could easily make the new Camaro with T-Tops if they wanted to make it a priority- it is just all about money. I'm not sure GM sees people buying a car with T-Tops anymore in the days of retractable roofs and whatnot....might seem a bit outdated. Personally I think it would be awesome.

 

I have a 3.8L and it leaks like I dont have a roof, but then again its probably not from my chassis/frame being warped..

 

Well do cars with targas like Corvettes warp? Honestly I thought that since the T-top roof had a bar in the middle, it at least had a little bit more rigidity than a targa.