Howdy,

I need to drill a hole in the roof for a camera cable to pass through. The ideal place would be right in the center, about 6" or so back from the windshield.

The car has a headliner and it has to stay there (ESP autox car).

The inside of the headliner has a dropped section right in the center. Is this a boxed section or something in the chassis? If I drill a hole through the roof, will I be able to feed the cable into/out of it if so?

If nobody knows, I'll pull the headliner down and look, just hoping someone might have a gutted hard top car and could just look.

Mark

Mark,

As I remember, there is metal support there that's made of steel folded into a somewhat rippled shape. It looks like something you'd find between the T-tops of a T-top car. I think you'll find the headliner, a layer of steel (much of it is not flat) and then the roof panel. Can't you just run something around through the interior body panels and out the top of the hatch, tape the cord to the roof and be on the way? Is the cable long enough? Just thinking out loud.

Howdy,

Cable isn't really long enough for that.

I suppose I need to pull the headliner down and take a look for myself.

Mark

There is a boxed section of chassis running up the center of the roof - it's about 6" wide and 2" deep. To get your cable to the headliner you'll need to drill thru the top and the bottom layers of the box.

Howdy,

Hell. I was hoping I wouldn't have to actually pull the headliner.

Mark

This is what the center section looks like .... in a 96 Trans AM, anyway. I don't think there is any difference to speak of.

I'm pretty sure the HT versions have oval holes on the bottom side of that center beam.
Also, the HT outer skin is about 1/2" off the steel structure.

There are oval holes throughout the center beam and the cross beam.

So a T-Top car has MORE center structure than a Hard top car?

Yes - In addition to the holes in the center beam, IIRC, the sheet metal is thinner in the hardtop.