When I pull my tops off my 69 I hear what sounds like small rocks rolling around inside. I took the trim pads off and noticed there is no way to get inside. Is there a way to get in under the weatherstripping? Any idea what could be rolling around in there? This is one of those little things that annoys the hell out of me. I will put new weatherstrip in if I can get to it this way. Thanks for the help.

 

check to see if you are missing any rivots.... could be that if they were ever replace the ends could still be in there.....

b

 

nah, it's not that kinda sound....i have the exact same thing in my driver side t-top. it sounds like rust bits or sand or something....i'd like to know some way of getting to that too if anyone has any ideas.....

 

Never heard of that before, mine doesn't seem to do that?

 

Unless you are missing some pop rivots I'd guess the rattles are the small plastic barbs that hold the weather stripping in place before the adhesive sets. They're about 1/8" diameter and break off due to age. I'd have to guess 16 or so on each top. I removed mine (the rattles/plastic pieces) by enlarging the vent hole (to about 1/4") on the side with the hold-down clamps. Then after shaking the tops to get the loose pieces over to the side with the enlarged hole I used a flashlight to shine into the screw hole that hold the interior liner. I could see the pieces thru the 1/4" hole. I then placed a small amount of sticky sealer to the tip of a small, thin, long screw driver. I put the screw driver in the hole, stuck it to a single piece, and fished it of the cavity. I did all the pieces that way. Did take some time, but I agree with you, the rattles are a pain in the ......

The enlarged hole is covered up the the interior liner.

Good luck.

Andy

PS. If by chance is your interior black, and if it's black, what color is the interior edges around your T-tops? Can you see any of the body color anywhere in the areas of the tops that show, even with the interior liners in place?

 

There are cute little plastic bayonette like ends of the plugs that hold the original weather strip in place. If you pull the old strip off too energetically, you can break the tips off. I'm not aware of a way to get them out. i suppose that you could spray insulating foam into the channel.

Dang Andy; you beat me by 10 seconds!

 

I have the same problem on my 70. I have been told that it is probably the pins on the weatherstrip that fell into the TTop when the weatherstripping was replaced.

I have looked high and low and it looks like the only way to get inside is to cut rivets and open it up. Closing it back up looks like a b---ch so I moved that down significantly on my priority list.

If you find an easy way let me know.

 

Again, don't cut it up until you try my suggestion. I've fished out about 20 pieces out of each of my covers. And no more rattles.

Andy

 

cool....i'll try that fishing out method when i get home....good advice

 

Thanks Andy, that looks like a good idea. I will give it a try as well. Thanks again.



Bill

 

My 69 tops have the exact same rattle, as if there were small stones trapped inside the head liner. I've contemplated removing the liner several times to see what is in ther, but was afraid of what I might find. Still rattlin.

Mark

 

We've had some rattles in our T-tops ever since we bought the car 3 years ago. Nothing I really hear on the road but things that I could hear anytime that I took the T-tops out. Since I had them off for other reasons earlier this week, I decided that today was the day I would try to silence the rattles. I searched the forum here and found many posts similar to this one. I went the route of drilling a 5/8" hole in the rear corner of the panels in an area that would still be covered up by the rigid snap-in headliner. Here are the goodies that I got out of mine.


I found 6 rivet backsides, one plastic post (probably from the weatherstripping that many others have mentioned), and a few minor pieces of shrapnel which are probably fragments of the rivets. I don't have any idea why the picture tone looks like it does but it sure makes the rivets appear to be copper; trust me, they were definitely aluminum.

All my rattles are now gone... except for one which is some sort of item that's loose but captive. If I had to guess, it's a backing nut for a screw --- a screw which has its head under the weatherstripping somewhere. It will rattle if I really shake the T-top but it will not budge from where it is no matter how many gymnastics I put the T-top through. So, it will stay there until such time that it becomes totally free and then I'll fish it out like I got the others out.

 

Even though this is a 20 year old thread, I have the same rattle. Now I know what it is.

 

You guys should really start a new thread. This will get closed soon.