I just purchased a 1989 Camaro IROC-Z Convertable. The car is in very rough shape, However here goes with my questions. I want to start by cleaning up the interior I went to take the top down and was kinda confused? I think the release that allows the back of the top to go upwards is broken. Is the release supposed to be behind the drivers seat? If it is broken off I did find a cable that looks like it goes into that part but goes nowhere. Is there anyway without a battery I can actually get the top down manually? Some pictures would be helpful. And if someone can explain if there is a easy way to hook that linkage back up or if I can manually just pop it open. I would really like to be able to have the top down while I clean the nasty inside out. I'll post up pics later today when I get home.

 

first, flip the back seat down so you can see under the targa cover. you'll see a lever, and a pin. turn the lever.

this should let the pin bend, releasing the back of the top.


flip the top forward.

now look around behind the edges of the rear panels... the ones next to the rear seat that the speakers are in.
on the rearward edge of each one, there should be a little black string/wire with a loop in it.

its a manual release. when you pull that string, it undoes that side... pull both and lift the tonnu cover.

flip the top down, unlatch the front two latches, and thats it. it should all fold into place.

 

Awesome!! Thanks man I'm not sure about how you talk about turning it but I do see the pin etc that looks like the back part drops into. Which way do you turn it toward the rear of the car or forward? I did see the little strings on each side and was wondering wth they were. Is that cable I found supposed to go into that part to make it open?? Could you snap a picture of the release for that for me? Thanks a bunch.

 

this is a pic i made of the tonnu cover hold down latch



thats as close as i can get... if you do a search, im sure you can find what you're looking for though... id take a pic but i didnt drive the vert to work today.... its down for mods...

 

Yes, yes, pictures please!
I, too, just bought a vert in a horrible shape and don't know how the top and tonnau cover are release exactly. I mean, I can do it but am not sure how it was originally.

 

MrDude, thanks. You type faster!
So this is just a mechanical lever? No cable attached to it or anything? So the proper procedure to unlock the top is to fold the seat and turn the lever manually?
Thanks for the help.

 

no.. theres a cable that pulls the lever.

the cable connects to the handle on the tonnu cover.


however, that handle breaks off easily. no matter how nice you are to it.

its a poor design.


i only suggested he turn it because his handle is broken.
normally, its pulled by a cable that moves when you slide the handle.







i actually made a handle out of scrap billet alum for mine... back when i had access to thoes machines

 

Soooo, if I can just find a piece of tubing that would fit exactly over the tube inside and weld a lever to it, I could probably hook up the cable. Sweet!
Is there supposed to be a return spring holding the lever in place? Ah, don't worry, I'll figure it out, I got gazillions of springs at home.

Thanks a lot! This helps.
Lou

 

I did a search before posting but found no good pictures of what it looks like. I'll take some pictures of the linkage when I get home also so you can see what I mean about the wiring hanging off.

 

ok it took me awhile, but i animated it.


notice the hole in the center... at first, the clip is holding the pin in... its in that groove.

now as the lever turns, the clip bends outward... notice the middle hole getting bigger.

that makes it so the top can pop up.

 

I don't remember seeing a pin holding the little thing in the hole though. Could it not be there or is it small?

 

Thanks MrDude! That's a lot of help. And thank you especially for the animation!

The pin looks like a big cotter pin. That's the only thing that's holding the rear of the ragtop down. If you don't have it, your top most likely doesn't "sit" very flush on the tonneau cover.

My new vert has the cotter pin but no levers or cables so at least I can put the top up but taking it down is a PITA (for now).

 

Snapped a few photos while I'm home. I did get the top down finally but I had to kinda pry at the little **** that goes down into the car to hold the top on. There was no clip and no cable attached. I took a picture of the part that holds the back of the top down and a picture of the cable I think goes to it. Sorry for poor lighting the car is in the garage and its tough to move around by myself. Here are the links to the photos.

http://members.hmcltd.net/joe/MVC-006F.JPG
http://members.hmcltd.net/joe/MVC-007F.JPG
http://members.hmcltd.net/joe/MVC-008F.JPG
http://members.hmcltd.net/joe/MVC-010F.JPG
http://members.hmcltd.net/joe/MVC-011F.JPG

 

On a side note too. The top didn't go down very easily. I had to kinda adjust where it goes down to to get it to shut good and get the backseats to fold all the way upright.

 

Thanks for the pics, that's exactly what mine looks like, no lever. But at least I have the cotter pin.
Folding the top: I've read up on it. Sometimes, the top doesn't fold in one specific place, where it's supposed to. It's about one foot aft of the front edge. When you're folding it into the compartment, try to push that part upwards/rearwards to help it fold. This part should fold automatically by itself but the rods that do this are pretty thin and bend a lot (you can see them on the sides of the ragtop). I gotta do this by hand as well.
My top folds down fine, I don't need to fold the seats first or anything like that. The only thing I'm curious about is how much force should I need to apply to the tonneau cover to close it. When the top is inside, it feels like I have to put about 50lbs of pressure on it to make it close. Otherwise it closes fine.

Lou

 

the windows NEED to be down BEFORE folding the top down. (or you have to have the doors open most of the way)


and yea, you are missing some parts.


that cable you have pictured goes to the lever, and the lever bends the clip and that lets the pin pop out.

 

So what all do I need to fix it? Just the little pin and attach the cable to it? Any idea on where I can get this little pin? Does it sotter onto the lever or just attach somehow? I mean I did get it open and the top does stay down even though I'm not driving it around but it would be nice to fix so its easy to use the top. Also where could I get a lever for it since unless I find it in the truck or something is non existant.


Yeah same here it folds down good but I do need to kinda push it backwards a little to get it to fold right. I'll tell you that damn top is heavier then it looks thats for sure. The top on my car is in Awesome condition. Its only a year old from what the driver told me it looks great.

I didn't need to just had them down when I started to do it. Keep in mind this is the first time I've even seen a 3rdgen vert in real life. My tonneau cover goes down pretty easily and sits flush around the seats. The very back of it doesn't sit flush with the trunk however and needs adjusted. I just got the car home yesterday and its the most beutiful pile of junk I've ever seen!![B]

 

It's so annoying that people tend to remvoe parts off these cars before selling them. Mine is missing the electric motor that ASC installed to do a power release of the top from the tonneau cover, and of course I have never heard of one for sale...anywhere.

I think I am going to have to pay top dollar on eBay to buy the parts for the manual release cable/assembly/lever setup and convert my car.

Right now I'm holding the top down against the tonneau cover by using a very, very small pair of vice grips on the pin, under the cover. At least it keeps the top down!

Then again, I only drive the car on weekends, so it's okay...for now!

 

is that part that you think is broken the one that releases the back of the top from the "hatch"..?

if so, then it should be an adjustment on the underside of the hatch itself...the two "wires" behind the back seats are emergency realeases in case your switch in the console doesn't work you can still let the hatch open.

 

I have two issues - one, the motor that releases the top from the tonneau cover is missing, Gone. For that I use patience and vise grips. Two, the solenoids that 'pop' the tonneau cover when you want to put the top up or down don't work when you press the switch, so I have been using the pull cables you describe. But I don't want to do that forever, or until the fray and break someday (I live in SoCal, so I put the top down almost every weekend...).

 

See MrDude's post above with the animated picture of how the top is released. The tonneau cover should have a tube with a cutout on it and if you put a bit cotter pin in there, it will hold the top down (instead of vicegrips). Then you need a cable and a lever to unlock the top from the tonneau cover by a simple tug on the cable (should come out in the tonneau cover on the driver side). I fabricated that cable and lever because mine were missing too. I only had the cotter pin holding down the top. See this picture album for details: pictures.

Also, if your tonneau release solenoids are not working, check the wiring under the console. It's pretty simple. There is a relay that has constant power through the orange wire, chech for 12V. Then check that the switch actually grounds the relay. Because the switch gets ground either from the parking brake (when activated - manual cars) or from the gear selector switch (when in Park or Neutral - automatics). Not too difficult to trace.

If you have any more questions, just ask, I know this system by heart now.

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

if you're lucky, you'll have the same problem i had:

when my switch stopped working, all i needed to do was re-connect the wires to the solanoids...somehow all the rattling and shaking made them come loose and the wiring to the switch no longer was connected to the solanoids...what you need to do is unscrew the mounts for the "side wall" on the interior, which is really just a thick peice of cardboard lol. get a nice flash light and see if everythings connected like it should be. if something looks out of place you may have found your problem

 

also, if you go to a dealership, they will print out a diagram of what it SHOULD look like

 

bump

 

I havn't put any time into the car lately do to the birth of a daughter/son in the last year and a half however I've started doing more work on it and are moving toward the paint process. I should start sanding and bodywork hopefully soon. However i'm a novice at this and expect it to take much time to get it down but it seems like a easy process just very time consuming which is fine. However, I am concerned about this dent in the drivers side piece that goes along the outer windshield. What will I have to do to repair... Knock it out then bondo?? Here is the picture http://members.hmcltd.net/joe/iroc/MVC-096F.JPG

The rest of the car is in good shape paint wise but I'm going for a remake of the entire car. Currently the front under the pedals to underneath the convertable top is completly dynomatted. I can post pics if anyone is interested. I'm curious should I use some primer type spray to go over the dynamat for extra protection/sound deadening or should the dynamat be more then enough? I also have new carpet and new upolstered seats to go in but am not going to install them until the car has been painted for the most part. Also what do you guys think about carpeting the center console piece. The car interior was gray and drab so I repainted the plastics using Krylon Fusion which looks amazing however I had to rip the carpeting off the center console and want to put it back on. Anyone know somewhere I can purchase a roll of carpet that will match my new black carpet?? Also in my 89 t-top camaro the rear panels are all carpeted in the trunk but my convertables are not. Should I add the carpeting to them similiar to my 89 t-top car or do you think that it would look better without. I know this is a personal pref question but I'd still like to know. I want to wire the car audio a trunk popping and keyless setup to pop the trunk and unlock doors etc before I put the new carpet in. What else should I look at doing before carpet goes back in? Any mods that I should work on. I'm purchasing the 91-92 style GFX and going to purchase a new turbo style hood. Anyone else have some ideas??? Here is a recent picture of the car assembled and dissasmbled.

Also will I need to take diff steps while painting the fiberglass pieces as compared to the metal body pieces???