Does anyone know if a 1987 camaro convertible top will fit on a 1984 z28 please can’t find a top for an 84 anywhere and if not do you know what year will fit

 

The Camaro White Book says a factory convertible was discontinued in 1970 and not offered again in a Camaro until 1987. If you have 1984 Camaro convertible, it was most likely built by an aftermarket company. I'm not knowledgeable enough about this topic to point out who those companies may have been. The replacement top listings state the 1987-1989 tops will not fit other years. Not sure if this is a reference to pre 1987 aftermarket convertibles, but probably so.

 

I pretty sure those where custom made replacements even in the 80's. What I am saying is even in say 1986 if you had to replace the top in your 1984 it went to an upholstery shop and you would pick your fabric and they made it for you. I can remember making bushing to tighten up the frames because of rattles on new cars right in the dealership.

 

I lifted this from another site:


Here is the History of the 84 Z28 Camaro Convertible for the NON BELIVERS.

Camaro Convertible Conversions
(From Camaro, The Third Generation by Michael Lamm, Third Printing)


Half a dozen ragtops made their appearance on the third-generation Camaro base, the most recent and recognized being the dealer RPO version from ASC Inc. (Automotive Specialty Company). Customizers were taking the roofs off these cars, though, as early as March 1982.

The first announcement of a commercial Camaro convertible that I ran across came from Autodyne Corporation of Lincoln Park, Michigan that month. Autodyne offered complete cars or would sell conversion kits to qualified builders. The kits included all necessary floorpan and bulkhead reinforcements to compensate for lost structure in the roof. Most commercial conversions a used handraised top mechanisms and had some sort of fiberglass or metal decklid for access to the trunk.

Coach Builders Limited in High Springs, Florida came next, and their $6,000 conversion included a padded roof with color-coordinated headliner that disappeared under a fiberglass boot. American Custom Coachworks of Beverly Hills began converting Camaros in Sept. 1982 and sold complete cars in the $20,000 price range. Other converters who began advertising around that same time included John Greenwood of Longwood, Fla., best known for his Corvette conversions, and Hi-Line Kustoms, Inc., in Valley City, ND.

An excellent convertible conversion was engineered in 1983 by Duquet-Sawdy Inc., the specialty carbuilder in Warren, Mi. Duquet-Sawdy offered a choice of 10 coordinated top colors, flush-fitting latches, and three-piece heat-sealed rear isenglass. Their idea was to license various converters around the country and then drop-ship the reinforcement hardware and other components to them. Duquet-Sawdy did, in fact, sign up a number of subcontractors and distributors.

In 1984, Chevrolet decided to make the 1984 convertible available through some dealers as a limited production option. Auto Form Corp. of Elkhart, In., made a Camaro conversion available as a 2-seat ragtop, the rear seats being covered by a large, rear-hinged fiberglass decklid that hid not only the folded top but the entire rear-seat area. Auto-Form Corp. (P.O. Box 2118, Elkhart, IN 46515).

Richard Straman, the Costa Mesa, Ca., coachbuilder, joined the fray in late 1982 and, according to Motor Trend, hoped to interest General Motors in some sort of roofless joint venture for the 1984 model year. Straman’s experience in converting all sorts of cars ranges from Honda CRX’s to Bimmers and Rollses.

It fell to ASC Inc., however, to convince Chevrolet that the division needed a Camaro convertible to compete on a nationwide scale with the Mustang softtop. (Mustang conversions are done by Cars & Concepts.) Before that agreement took effect, though, ASC’s earlier efforts involved signing up individual Chevy dealers and doing conversions to order. In July, 1986, ASC’s price, including return freight, was $4,390 per car on a custom-order basis. Any series of Camaro could be converted, including the Berlinetta and base Sport Coupe, but most 1986 ASC conversions were Z’s and IROC-Z’s.

Regarding the 1987 convertible, ASC Inc., originally developed this body conversion for the aftermarket as a limited-edition project. It subsequently became a Chevrolet-approved program and, as such, required minor retooling. Tooling changes were mostly to let ASC product the convertible in higher volumes because, according to an ASC spokesman, the program went from a projected 500-1,000 cars per year under the aftermarket plan to more like 10 times that with Chevy’s blessing.

As for modifying the Camaro coupe to become a convertible, there were about 1,000 parts unique to the ragtop. For example, the loss of the steel roof meant structural gussets and braces had to be added to the inner floorpan, the inner rear quarters, and the outer rockers. The engineers likewise added inner floorpan/rocker reinforcements that tied into both the A- and B-pillars.

The ASC Camaro convertible’s top mechanism took its concept from the Corvette roadster. Like the Corvette, you opened the spring-cantilevered rear deck, which hinged from the rear. Once up, you then lifted the top stack out of its well behind the rear seats. You raised the top manually, latched it to the windshield header, raised the rear of the roof, lowered the deck, then pushed the single anchor pin at the trailing edge of the top down into a lock in the deck, and that did it. Very slick and simple.

The convertible top mechanism didn’t interfere with rear-seat or fuel-tank capacity. A fiberglass or SMC (sheet-molded compound) extension wrapped around the outer rear compartment, running along the tops of both rear fenders and into the decklid spoiler, to make a styling transition between the top boot and the metal decklid. Beneath this lid, by the way, stood a usable, fair-sized trunk.

The ASC convertible entered the order books as RPO Z08, available starting in Jan. 1987. It was optional in any Camaro series. Chevrolet stressed that the convertible marked a commemorative 20th Anniversary Camaro as well as a divisional 75th anniversary body style.