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Leaking from roof area

Manarius

Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
Messages
7
Location
Pennsylvania
Corvette
1977 Silver
I got caught in the rain today with my 1977 w/ T-Tops and water proceeded to leak from the back of the T-Top area near the window and at the front of the roof near where the A-Pillar meets the roof line (there's a crack there in the plastic). I think from what I looked at on my T-Tops, I need new gaskets but I'm unsure about what to do about the water leaking at the front of the roof. I know the best solution would be to not drive in the rain, but for the time being, that's not a possibility.

TIA...
 
I got caught in the rain today with my 1977 w/ T-Tops and water proceeded to leak from the back of the T-Top area near the window and at the front of the roof near where the A-Pillar meets the roof line (there's a crack there in the plastic). I think from what I looked at on my T-Tops, I need new gaskets but I'm unsure about what to do about the water leaking at the front of the roof. I know the best solution would be to not drive in the rain, but for the time being, that's not a possibility.

TIA...

Hi Manarius :

Yes our C-3's will leak.. mine does it a bit in the car wash and it is always the T-top.. either the seals on it or a crack in the glass will do it everytime. Check out the CAC tech center for info on fixing this as it is a common issue among us and also check out the various catalogues for replacement seals ( corvette america, Eckler's..etc..)

I have been fortunate enough to stay out of the rain !

Welcome the CAC btw !

Tom
 
If you decide to replace the t-top weather strip before ordering first make sure if your 77 is an early production or late production 77 model. The early model has 19 pins on the weather strip and the late model used 18 pins. Also, don’t count out Willcox Corvette as a vendor. Check out the repair help on the left side of the page from the link attached. Once there you will find the section on our t-tops. Follow that link and there will be an image that when you click on it that blows up very nice giving you a great expanded view.
Hope this helps,
Brian
http://willcoxcorvette.com/advanced_search_result.php?cPath=1960&keywords=t top
 
...(there's a crack there in the plastic)...

The crack might only be in the paint. Have you removed the trim panel and checked the underside of the top? If you can see the crack on both sides of the top, it's time for a little fiberglass repair.

Crack probably came from a PO adjusting the top latch too tight.

:)
 
When I bought my 1982 I could almost take a shower in the car. I replaced every piece of weather stripping. That solved 90% of the leaks, but I still got pretty damp.

What I finally had to do was take some black RTV silicone sealant and put a small bead all around the edge of the weatherstripping. Lucky for me the car is black so it isn't noticeable. Now I can drive in the rain and I know I'll come out dry.

(they also make red and clear sealant, and they all work very well).

Good luck!
 
The crack might only be in the paint. Have you removed the trim panel and checked the underside of the top? If you can see the crack on both sides of the top, it's time for a little fiberglass repair.

Crack probably came from a PO adjusting the top latch too tight.

:)
By a crack in the plastic, I mean a seam. Sorry for not being so clear. The crack is where two pieces of trim come together. I should probably take a picture of it so it's easy to see.

From what I can tell, it doesn't seem like the T-Tops are causing that leak at the A-Pillar. The gaskets seem to seal fairly tight. When I pulled them off after my shower on my wrist, it didn't look like any thing had gotten past the gasket. However, I may be mistaken on that.

I was searching around a bit on the forum threads and I saw something about taking off the chrome strip on the top of the roof and filling a bit of the area under it with some sort of sealant. However, I will refer to the repair guide.

Also, thanks for the welcome Allthumbs. If you look at my join date, it's about 3 years ago :p. I've just been lurking the forums and using the model center to learn about this Corvette. It's been in my family all its life and just now have I been given free reign with trying to do some repair on it. It's been a garage queen the past 20+ years and just recently have I needed to put it back into service (loss of my DD).
 
Corvette Showers!

When I bought my 1982 I could almost take a shower in the car. I replaced every piece of weather stripping. That solved 90% of the leaks, but I still got pretty damp.

What I finally had to do was take some black RTV silicone sealant and put a small bead all around the edge of the weatherstripping. Lucky for me the car is black so it isn't noticeable. Now I can drive in the rain and I know I'll come out dry.

(they also make red and clear sealant, and they all work very well).

Good luck!



Can you tell me a bit more about what you did? My 82 leaks like a shower but only at the top of the windshield / TTops. I replaced all the car weather stripping, and adjusted the ttops down tight, but it still leaks like there is NO weather stripping at the windshield/ttop meeting place. I really can not tell if its the top of the windshield leaking or the ttop seals or a combo of the two but its GOT to be fixed. Any suggestions?
 

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