(HT Conversion) I know it may sound stupid.

[Grimgor]

Hey guys.

I know it sounds silly but I've had my car for the better part of 11 years and I can't part with it. I went to school for six years in Asia and left the car to be driven by my brother. When I got it back the windows leaked like there was no tomorrow. I tried everything. Adjusting the angle of the window, shinetsu grease, guides, even what one person did by putting coaxial cable behind the stripping. Nothing worked and I dont want to give the car up. One person said to just convert it to hard top but I dont know if this is a good idea or the cost. Any input would be great guys.

[immorality]

Converting it to a hardtop would require thousands of dollars worth of custom fabrication. Have you not replaced the window seals? If so, I would try adjusting the window and the eccentrics again.

[camshaft]

Buy new seals but depends what year

[Goopi]

Ask your brother if he might have done something which caused them to be so bad with the good cop bad cop role.
Heck, even not being careful washing the car with a pressure washer could damage it enough.

You mention adjusting the windows, did you try adjusting the doors too?
Did you try clearing out the drain tubes, they could be clogged...after 20 years.
Where exactly is the source of water leakage?
Have you tried purchasing male guides as well? Most people do not think of them since the female guides usually do the trick.

It is possible that the seals are bad because of the age of the car.
Just to confirm, both of the windows are leaking just as bad?

[Grimgor]

Brother replaced the weather stripping. He actually went to Toyota dealership to buy them and have them installed. I adjusted windows and doors. I can see where the leak is. Even with the new weather stripping there is a 1-1.5 mm gap from the window to the stripping. Passenger side its only on the far upper corner. Driver side is worse. Has that gap I talked of all along the horizontal edge of the driver window.

[RePete]

At the risk of offering a flippant response, I'd garage your deuce both at work & at home. If you're serious about it, you'll come up with the parking fees.

I owned two T-tops, one of them had its leather seats destroyed from leaking. I had the seals replaced on both cars - reduced the issue by 50% I'd guess. I did notice it was dry going to and from work or shopping or what have you - even rainy road trips were fine. But the real damage was when they were sitting for 8 hours at night or all day at work while they were parked outside. Once I garaged them (at work too), no more issues.

[Bravo 5]

Have you replaced the seals ON the t-tops themselves?? Or just the ones on the body? I had the same gap but once I replaced my 20 year t-top seals to match my brand new body seals... problem solved... dry as a bone. The new ones will look alot thicker. Once you replace both it "should" seal up like it's supposed to... but you might still need to adjust the windows.

[Grimgor]

I do garage it at home and at work. I try to just usually make it a sunny day driver but you know living in BC there are those odd rain days.

I actually haven't tried replacing the ttop seals. They seem very supple though and when I do touch them they are quite soft and still has a nice rebound on them. I'll see if my brother replaced those. Thanks.

[Bravo 5]

I do garage it at home and at work. I try to just usually make it a sunny day driver but you know living in BC there are those odd rain days.

I actually haven't tried replacing the ttop seals. They seem very supple though and when I do touch them they are quite soft and still has a nice rebound on them. I'll see if my brother replaced those. Thanks.

Ya they may seem "supple" but when I compared my new seals to the old ones, the new ones were about 1/4 inch thicker. I still had to adjust the t-top guides a bit but once I did that it hasn't leak a drop since. I don't think I had to do any window adjustments and I had half inch gaps in the seals to start.