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Smoothline Hard Top Installed!

37K views 87 replies 20 participants last post by  MattM 
#1 ·
Here it is! As per previous thread this is the one they custom made for me to accommodate the GM Luggage Rack. The standard Club Racer Hard Top has the back window coming out about three inches more over the trunk lid. This means you have to remove the luggage rack. As most of you are aware when you have this top installed you lose access to the trunk. When I went down to Smoothline in April of this year they took measurements and photos to build this one.

I love this top. It is covered in Haartz Black Vinyl with glass back window and acoustic liner. She gives the car a more aggressive stance. She looks like a "Racer" in my opinion. It is a quality item! Thanks to Jack and Brain at Smoothline for making this and for those of you with the GM luggage rack you can now use with this top!!! I have already had people come up to me and freak over the car!!!:thumbs::willy::thumbs:
 

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#49 ·
Door closed


Door open



Passenger side, hard to see but there's about a 1/8 gap between the seal and the window so it would definitely leak in a rain storm.


However as I said, I believe in order to get a tight seal with the hardtop you have to adjust the windows. I don't see the sense in doing that if you have to turn around and readjust them again when going back to the soft top.
 
#51 ·
I'm definitely using that etc sealant trick!!!!

When I get home after work I'll take pics of what I did for my driver side window. It looks like absolute garbage but I think it seals.

Essentially what I did was to use a shape weatherstrip and wedge in where there were gaps. Choptops. The a shape weatherstrip might fix your problem with the passenger side gap as well...then when you put the soft top up you can just pull the z shape off. It's really cheap on Amazon btw.
 
#55 ·
I'm thinking about going with something like one of the following two "fender protector kits" in carbon fiber as the "drip guard" for my top. Don' know how it would look but...It would keep water from washing over the sides right into that weatherstrip. I'm buying two versions to check. Hoping one will look good and will work well.

Tell me what you guys think:
 

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#56 ·
Ok....So....I'm thinking I fixed the leaking with the z shape weatherstrip and was anxious to get home tonight (since it was raining).

Well suffice it to say based on this picture:
Vehicle Car Auto part Trunk Metal


That didn't happen. Super flooded!!!!!!!

Here is what I tried to do with the z shape weatherstrip (it obviously didn't work):
Glass Architecture Windshield Automotive window part Automotive exterior


Here is a pic of what I'm trying to do now with a longer strip of the z shape weatherstrip. I'm hoping it will work (probably won't though):
Vehicle door Automotive exterior Vehicle Car Auto part
 
#58 ·
So, I did install the one fender guard I had onto the driver side of the top. I don't think it takes away from the look of the hardtop at all, and I definitely think it will help with controlling the water leaking in. Does that mean it will stop it entirely? I don't know yet. It definitely did help keep water away from the weatherstriping that came on the hardtop which I think is going to completely stop leaking from there at least. Here are two pics of the "hardtop lip" installed over the driver's side. I'll have to wait to install the passenger side until this weekend since they were ordered separately.
 

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#62 ·
So an update on the leaking issue.....

Friday it rained from around noon through the night (we got about two inches). I waited until about 6pm on friday to check for any leaks and opened the driver side door to find that all was dry. Now upon opening the some water drips in. I shut the door and went in for the night.

I went out on Saturday morning and found about an 1/8th of that "tray" below the door had water in it. When say an 1/8th....so the car sits in my driveway which is uphill. So the water would tend to pool toward the back of that tray. Well pooling toward the back of the tray the water didn't if come up to halfway to the top of the tray. That creates questions for me.

First the positive, even if it's still leaking a little bit it is way less that it did before (meaning that tray would have been full before).

Now the questions it caused.... so I know that between noon and 6pm (when I didn't touch the doors at all) it was completely dry. Then I open the door and some water leaks in. Now, the reason I had some water in that tray on Saturday morning might only be because I didn't shut the door right (correctly insuring the window sealed) after I checked it at 6pm on Friday (which might have caused a small leak) or that water could just be what leaked in when I opened the door to check it as well. Either way, I think I'm pretty close to fully stopping the leaking (at least on the Driver's side). *Knocks on wood to not jinx it.
 
#63 ·
So, it rained again last Friday and really hard yesterday into last night. I left the car alone completely. Came out this morning, and even with the heavy rain only had a little water in that door "tray." i'll definitely take that!

So far it seems to be working. One thing I'm worried about is the fact that even though I used heavy duty 3m double sided body kit tape (along the length of both the wide side and thin side of the l of the rain guard) it might start coming off when I'm driving at faster speeds. I'm hoping it won't, but I always expect the worst with my luck. If I have to I might get some very tiny headed screws and pop those on in strategic places to make sure it stays in place. Hope I don't have to though....
 
#70 ·
Chiffonte, I just wanted to verify that you are talking about the heavy duty 3m double sided tape I used? It's the stuff they use to attach body kit pieces. Did you use that stuff and it still came off?

Also, I wanted to update everyone.....

So we had really bad weather all day on Friday (heavy winds, rain, etc). I checked the car halfway through the day and it was dry as a bone. Waited to check it until today and still dry as a bone.

I'm wondering if the fact that it has heated up some has caused the rubber seals to expand a little (thus plugging and small remaining leak I had.
 
#67 · (Edited)
Well...I'm not sure, back in the day they were called cockpit covers. Their purpose was to help shade the interior from the sun so the interior wouldn't get so hot. They were made of a lightweight material (not waterproof). The top has velcro like loops to hold it in place. For awhile I used to see them advertised on Ebay but that was several years ago.
 
#78 ·
Wanted to post a few pics of my car (since I've gotten the leaking stopped I actually like it again).

Just thought these three pics looked awesome! I really love the way the top makes the car look!!!! Should have looked this way from the factory imo!

View attachment 95283
View attachment 95285
View attachment 95287
It did look pretty similar to that. It's just that the factory top goes up and down and folds into the trunk when not needed. :grin: :wink:
 
#80 ·
the eazy way to do it is a fiber glass /carbon fiber, 2 peice trunk with seals& latch, just unplug the oe latch and plug it into the new one so it opens with the same actions.the latch go's on the the short peice that the "wings" are sitting on witch stays put and the trunk lid opens as normaly., either leave the top in the trunk or remove it for more trunk space. not really hard to do at all an it could just be a option to go with the top if you want it, thus the top price stays the same.then add a $400-$600 trunk lid option...
 
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