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Been drive the 81 with the ttops off and not liking the interior wind. If we take the rear window out, is there a vinyl/cloth rear cover for it? I've seen vinyl/cloth ttop cover is there something similar for rear window. Going full convertible isnt an option just yet. Cost of conversion or finding a donor is rare. Any ideas?
Glass t-tops?
If you pop the rear glass, you'll increase the interior wind significantly.
If you don't like the wind, a vert shouldn't even be a consideration.
Not sure if this is a workable option, but these are my first thoughts. Since the rear window on an 81 does not open, I would check into converting to a opening unit from a collectors edition. The reason I suggest this is that a friend of mine has a C4 and when the targa top is off he uses a latch of some kind that keeps the rear window open approximately 4-6" to allow air to flow through instead of creating turbulence in the car. The air flows through it just like my truck with the sliding rear window open and door windows open.
Another, much lower cost option may be to get a piece of clear rigid lexan to mount behind the seats to block off the rear compartment. I believe this would function similar to the wind screens found in some convertibles for use when the top is down. I own a 77 which has the flat window directly behind the seats. I have found that with the t-tops off and the door windows up, my car has very little turbulence. I have driven my car comfortably with the tops off when the outside temperature was 38°. Whenever I have the door windows down, there is quite a bit of wind in the car. The same 38° day cruising with the tops off and windows down was downright cold because of the wind inside of the car.
You will have much more wind with the back glass out. I have a convertible, not a corvette, and would rather have the T-tops or Targa top. The wind will wrap around the top and sides and come in from the back. One way to keep wind out is to roll up the door windows. That is where most of that wind is coming from anyway.
Been drive the 81 with the ttops off and not liking the interior wind. If we take the rear window out, is there a vinyl/cloth rear cover for it? I've seen vinyl/cloth ttop cover is there something similar for rear window. Going full convertible isnt an option just yet. Cost of conversion or finding a donor is rare. Any ideas?
So, is more air the answer? You mention removing the entire rear window (a lot easier to do in a sugar-scoop C3). Perhaps replace the rear glass with lexan, and install some NACA ducts to let air exhaust from the cabin? I don't you'd want to mess with the fiberglass, especially with the fuel tank back there, but you could also consider venting out the rear of the cabin itself, not through the glass. The astro-ventilation cars did this.
Was driving on the highway today and thought of a 'bikini' top like the jeep 4x4. Not sure if we could use the bikini top on the 4x4 as a donor, or how to lockdown the top when driving with the bikini top on.
As mentioned above you need air deflectors in front of the t top openings. Every car I have had with either t tops ( 300 ZX) or sunroof(Mini Cooper,dodge nitro) had some deflector. Forget putting some
thing in back unless you can open the window and latch it so it only is open a few inches like they do on a c4. Anything made of fabric will either blow the fasteners out or tear the fabric. I would follow up on mr. Engage's suggestion. Try it before doing major surgery on car. If it doesn't work you can always sell it on the forum.
81 Corvette rear window ideas
