I need help. I just bought a 2000 z24 convertible and the rubber around the windows is causeing it to leak slightly into the car. How can i replace it? does anyone know where I can fidn it? The top is fine, its not coming in from the top just the rubber around the top near the windows is shot. Someone please help me. Also what all should I do to the car? I already have a 2002 ls sport still just all factory stuff done to it. This is gonna be my first cavalier with the 2.4 engine instead of the 2.2. I wanna get an intake for it though since I have one for my 02. Any advise would help. And does anyone know how to clean the plastic windows in teh convertible because i can not see out my back windows i just use my side windows.
Welcome to the club of Vert owners! Since ur rear window is plastic its obvious that ur top has been replaced. The seal your talking about is called the header seal. Ebay has them, also so does a place called Soff Seal. Just type it in google and it will take u to the right place. But unfortunatly they are expensive as hell. About 275 bucks, and thats just for that one seal. The whole kit (7 pieces including that header seal is well over 400 bucks. If you search the Exterior, Maintenance, and Third Gen Forums you can find some people have been using black RTV sealant, and if done right, works just fine and doesnt look tooooo bad. Sure as hell beats spending all that money on a new one. But be warned it is only a temporary fix. Cleaning the rear window is probably pointless since its plastic, and is just weather beaten to hell. If your mechanically inclined, Ebay has tons of rear windows that you can put in its place for our cars since the rear glass coming un-glued is a common problem with our cars. Other then that, post some pics of her, and enjoy!! Hope this helps!
mmmm another droptop in the fam. welcome !
ok another issue. Since you have said my top is not orig, i put it down today and tried to put the boot on it or whatever that thing is called and it doesn't seem like the top is all the way down. I am just a lil worried about me buying a @!#$ty car but the body is like perfect. ummm Also why would my trunk be wet near the tire on the passenger side? I doscovered all of this when I was trying to put my wires in for xm.
Top Issue: Now when I said the top isnt original, doesnt mean the mechanisms inside the top arent original. Those are, the actual fabric and rear window have been replaced. What you can do is when the top is all the way down, and you put the "Boot" on it, tryu and push it down a little bit. It wont hurt anything, since its just prolly out of adjustment. I know this because I replaced the complete top (Mechanism and fabric with rear glass window) as a complete assembly on my girls 96 Vert and we have the same issue with the top not going fully down on the passenger side, and all we do is give it a little push and done. It probably needs a adjustment so I would nto worry about it, as long as it goes up and down, with ease, ur fine. Also, I would get familiar with the top override switch located on the drivers side of the trunk, towards the top of the trunk. Its a black switch with a yellow mount that says "Top Override" or something along those lines. Thats there incase one of ur motors burn out, you can flip the switch, and open and close the top manually. Take a bit of muscle but can be done.
Trunk problem: That can be caused by a number of issues. None of which are major issues. Pull up the carpet, are there any holes you can see to the ground with, most likely not, but check anyways. most common issues with wet trunks are the bottom of the top isnt sealed perfectly, or the actual rubber seals on the trunk lip arent sealing at all. The top sealing at the bottom is kinda a pin in the butt, but I doubt thats the issue. Look at the back of the car where the top meets the body. There is a black metal piece covering it. Are any of those metal peices loose? Is any part of ur top coming out of them (meaning can you physically see the end of the fabric of the top)? Most likely not. I would bet its ur seals inside the trunk. Open the deck lid and see if that black rubber seal thats around the trunk (where the trunk lid and body meet there is a black rubber seal) and see if it is pinched or crooked or whatnot. should be smooth and plump. Its its broken or ripped then thats most likely your problem.
I hope this helps. And dont worry about buying a crappy car. These cars will last if taken care of right. These are fun cars, and for the price you cant really go wrong. Goodluck!! And if you have anymore issues dont hesitate to ask!
i got the car for 3k. Sadly i do think my top is slowly starting to go. But i found in my area someone who is selling the whole top for $125. Plus the motor and trans is still apparently good in the car so I will be sending my dad down to look at it. I don't know much about cars but I sure as hell love the cavalier and i have waited until I turned 25 for my insurnace drop to be able to afford it. Its a nice car. White with black top. Now I wanna get an intake for it and change out the tail lights. Maybe frind a lss kit for it but i dunno. I kind of beat the crap out of my lss from hitting curbs when pulling into parking lots lol.
HA! You have a 00 Z Vert, white. Hmm, could almost be my vert twin
Its cool to see females getting into the scene. Yeah they are fun cars. Hell, I paid 5k for mine about 4 months ago. So i think you did well lol. Good thing is the parts for these cars are relatively cheaper then what they were when I modded the hell outta my first Cavalier. I finally got back into it after I found my girl her first Vert for 500 bucks. Needed a engine rebuild and a new top, but all in all not a bad car. Thats when I got the itch again for these things. My advice to you would be this. If your going to get a new top installed, get one with the glass in the rear window. This way you dont have the discoloring of the plastic window like you do now, and you get your rear defroster back. Also, invest the 400 bucks to get new seals for the top. Yeah its pricey but worth it in the long run. Chances are they wont go bad again and you will prolly junk the car before those go bad. And keep up on the maintence. Your Z has the 2.4 motor in it, which are prone to spin rod bearings. My Vert is sitting at about 123k on the motor, and its not if, but when, the rod bearing will spin, it happens to all of them. Not trying to scare you, but if you keep up with maintence you can get some good life out of the car. As far as intakes go, ebay has them, but remember, you get what you pay for. Just enjoy the car, and have fun. But a LSS kit would look great on a vert. I had a hell of a time finding one, so I went a diffrent direction completly with mine. Hell, now mine dont even look like a cavalier anymore hehehehe. But like I said, dont hesitate to ask questions. Idk how long you have been on this forum, but some ppl here are @!#$s, and some are nice and will help out. Just make sure you have your thick skin on
Now, get some pics up of ur vert
how do i get pics up? and i have not be able to take any because it has been raining pretty much ever since i bought it on Saturday. I will get pics eventually but it is nothing special. Like I said i also have a ls sport banana in color.
Tamara Hawthorne wrote:how do i get pics up? and i have not be able to take any because it has been raining pretty much ever since i bought it on Saturday. I will get pics eventually but it is nothing special. Like I said i also have a ls sport banana in color.
Well, you have to host them, then copy the URL, and at the top of the white window there is a little box thats green (looks like a pic) u clock on that, a box opens up, then u just paste the URL of the pic from where u hosted the pic from, and click ok and it will pop up on the white screen.
And hey dont knock the yellow LS Sports, Again, I had one, and I miss that damn car lol. But its cool, just start a post in Photos and Media and show what you got (cars wise that is
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ok I think i did this right but I am not sure. That is my 2 cavaliers. All the decals came on the yellow 1 when i bought it. I know its not much but still i love the cars
Nice! Now, the scary part is this, Ur vert, looks like mine, except the black top, and ur yellow Cavalier looks like my old car, except mine was the Ls Sport with the fog lights and chrome wheels. Ha! Even scaryier is I looked at ur profile and my bday is Aug 19th! Interesting
Lol. Well, welcome to the site, and obviously I love ur cars, but im also a little biased!!
why you biased? haha weird who people with the same general birthdays think alike. lol. yea my ls sport got the short end of the stick. No fog lights, no automatic windows no auto mirrors, but yet it had auto sun roof. Thats that only think i hated about it. I was hoping to find a yellow bumper with the holes for the fog lights to then wire them up to the car but i could never find one in the yard. As for the top I thought about finding a white top and putting it on but my father had said it gets dirty too fast. I need new rims though lol i saw someone with cobalt rims maybe I should find something like that though i think there is something else that you gotta do to them to get them to fit. But i like your vert and i can only see your front end of your ls sport in your pics. lol
Hahah yeah I guess we do think alike, it is weird
as far as your bumper goes, the 00-01 Z24 bumpers without the lip are the exact same thing, and you can always transfer your lip over. Not too hard, but kinda hard to find a nice one. Your father is right tho, a white top is a pain in the a$$ to keep clean. Which reminds me i really need to clean mine lol. Actually Ill probably do that tonight when I get home from work. The white vert in my sig, altho is my car, is not what it looks like. That is a photoshop that Azncavi did of it when i first bought it. She is under major construction and im not posting pics of her till its done. The end of this year she will be going under the knife and getting a huge transplant done which I cant wait for
If you wanna see the pics of what my old Ls Sport looked like
Click here and it will take you to my profile on here, and let you see the mods I did before I sold her. I miss that damn thing and actually want to buy it back, but the guy wants to sell it to me for more then I sold it to him for, so it wont happen. But either way, im happy I bought my vert, there fun cars. As long as you take care of them, they will take of you.
OMG its like yellow LS sport heaven there. lol nice car though. Yet again my problem is my dad has been in the business for so long he doesn't like body kits because half the time they do not line up right righ the bumper and such he said. Plus he doesn't want me throwing all this money into my car especially since it is my like every day drivers. I do like the looks i get though in my yellow one. Plus I work with children and they all go OMG i love the car. lol
Yeah they were popular back in the day. Now, not so much and I dont know why, there still sexy cars to me. As far as bodykits go, the one I had on the yellow car was prob the best of the best. It was the Rk Sport Type J kit. There all plastic, and never have fitment issues. At least mine didnt. usually with bodykits you get what you pay for. So if you buy a 300 ebay body kit you will have fitment issues. Especially since there fiberglass they never really fit right and usually take some work to get them to work. But if done right can make a car look absolutely beautiful.
I need help again. My vert top is leaking pretty bad. What it looks like is the rubber where the door and the top meet is cracked and its coming in from there. Any sugestions on what to do for about 2 weeks before we stick on the new top and new rubbers? I'm driving out to ohio that's why I ask just in case it rains while I out there
Well, if your going to replace them, I have heard of some vert owners filling in the gaps with black RTV silicone gasket maker. Just gotta make sure 3 things, one you do it when its not raining outside, and 2 you cant roll ur windows up, and 3 the top cannot be on the silicone while its drying or will will glue it shut. Just lift it a little bit, put something in there to prop it open, fill in the crack and put a little extra on the end where the top meets th windsheild/top corner of door window to give it a little extra seal, and let it dry. Make sure before you close anything that its 100% dried. Best bet is to leave the car in the garage if you have one, overnight, to let it cure. Then you should be good. Other then that, being short of replacing the seals theres not much more you can do.
