C5 Removable Roof Adjustment

This is what worked for me, it differs from GM's official instructions.

This is for a minor adjustment and assumes a course adjustment has already been made. This may be different for a 2000 or later.

You'll need a 2mm Allen wrench and a T30 Torx driver. If you have an old roof which is properly adjusted take a look at the gap between the housing around the front latch handle pivot point and the striker assembly, you will need to unlatch each front latch to see this.

On mine the passenger side was almost touching and the driver side was less than 1 mm. GM's instructions say that this should be at least 2 mm, apparently the factory people disagree. My money is on the factory. Unlatch and latch the rear handle several times to get a good feel for how tight this should be.

Remove the old roof.

Place the new roof on a blanket on the ground with the bottom facing up.

Loosen the set screw perpendicular to the hook on the rear latch with the 2 mm Allen wrench so that the hook can be rotated a full turn. On the front handles above the pivot point is a cover. To each side of the wide end of the cover is a small hole. Take a dull 10 penny nail or equivalent (sorry, I don't have the GM tool number for this ;-) and put it in the hole on one side, that side of the cover then pops out a little.

Hold that side of the cover out and put the nail in the opposite hole. This should pop the cover off. Do not try to remove the cover by any other means or you will likely damage it. Slightly loosen the 4 Torx screws just enough so the bases of the handles can slide around, you will need to point the handles toward the rear to get to two of the screws. There is a hole in the handle (under where the cover used to be) to get to two of the screws.

Notice that in front of each handle is a pin pointing up. This pin slides into a hole on the striker assembly on the windshield and this is how the roof is aligned. Put the roof in the car and make sure the pin of the handle slides into the hole of the striker.

You will need to close the front latches for the pin to go all of the way through.

Since the latch handles are loose they will move around so the pin can go through the hole. Carefully close both latch handles completely while checking to make sure each pin goes through its alignment hole.

Do not force the handles closed, they should be no tighter than your old roof. If they are too tight, make sure the pin is going through the alignment hole. Slightly open one latch just far enough so you can push it as far forward as it can go. Continue to open it just enough so you can tighten the Torx screw closest to the pin and tighten it. Make sure the handle does not slide back.

Continue to open the handle until the hole that was under the small cover plate is aligned with the other Torx screw and now tighten this Torx screw. Follow the same procedure for the other front latch.

The gap between the housing around the pivot point of the handle and the striker assembly should be about the same as the old roof. Now close the rear latch, but do not close it all of the way if it is tighter than your old latch. If it is tighter that your old latch loosen the hook one turn. One tightening the rear latch is looser than your old roof, tighten the hook one turn at a time until it is tighter than your old roof and then loosen it one turn. Tighten the set screw using the 2 mm Allen wrench.

Raise the windows and look for water leaks as a friend hoses down your roof. If it's water tight, pat yourself on the back. If there are leaks you're on your own! Replace the small cover plates.

Sorry for the vagueness of the instructions, it's not really practical to be more precise. The shop manual doesn't come anywhere close to this level of detail. For squeaks only, check the gap I've mentioned above, if it is really tight, remove the little cover plate, move the handle toward the back until the hole in the handle under the cover plate allows you to loosen the Torx screw, loosen the other Torx screw just enough so you can widen the gap just a slight amount, and then retighten the Torx screws.

Paul K Johnson

Special Thanks!!

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