Removing roof

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slantflat

slantflat

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Hi everyone.

I'm considering cutting off the roof of a 67 Valiant 2 door. The car isn't worth very much and I thought it would be a hoot to make my own convertible out of it. My question is, where can I brace/strengthen/weld so I can still open and close the doors? Thanks everyone.
 
From what I understand most Mopar convertibles have reinforced longitudinal braces in the rockers boxes.
 
Convertibles had reinforcements in the rockers and torque boxes.

Subframe connectors may help.

I doubt you'll get it as strong as the factor did, close enough?


Alan
 
It’s a crap ton of work to do it anything close to right. The chassis stiffening is significant, most of the interior parts and trim is different, and if you want the convertible parts they’re hard to find or obscenely expensive.

They either end up looking like Joe Dirt built them, or they take a ton of work and cost a lot of money. And resale, forget it. Even if you do it well, most folks won’t touch them because they’re rarely done right and doing it wrong requires a ton of work to fix.

My Challenger needs roof structure replacement and a new skin, and not for one second would I consider making it a convertible. Replacing the hardtop structure and re-skinning it is significantly easier and cheaper.
 
do you want to cut the top off because the car is a rusty POS and needs a roof or because it's just an old beater?

if it's past the point of no return, and you don't particularly care about the quality of the finished product then i don't see why not. but know going into it that you're looking at more than just a saturday afternoon with the sawzall.

as mentioned above, the amount of structural reinforcement is fairly involved. and i would 1000% add a roll bar.
 
junkyardhero said:
do you want to cut the top off because the car is a rusty POS and needs a roof or because it's just an old beater?

if it's past the point of no return, and you don't particularly care about the quality of the finished product then i don't see why not. but know going into it that you're looking at more than just a saturday afternoon with the sawzall.

as mentioned above, the amount of structural reinforcement is fairly involved. and i would 1000% add a roll bar.
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Exactly, all about what your expectations are.

If Joe Dirt is the expectation then update your tetanus shot, break out the sawzall and weld in frame connectors and a roll bar. Have fun and don’t expect it to look right.

If you want it to look right, sell what you’ve got and buy a ‘vert. Even with the substantial purchase price for a finished ‘vert you’d probably still be money ahead, let alone time.
 
Thanks guys. This car is just an old beater and I wanted to have some fun with it before it went to Valiant heaven. I may reconsider because I don't want to put a lot of work into something that will quickly become scrap. I want the doors to work because I'm too fat to jump over the side. I'd be more like Uncle Jesse than Bo and Luke.
 
slantflat said:
Thanks guys. This car is just an old beater and I wanted to have some fun with it before it went to Valiant heaven. I may reconsider because I don't want to put a lot of work into something that will quickly become scrap. I want the doors to work because I'm too fat to jump over the side. I'd be more like Uncle Jesse than Bo and Luke.
Click to expand...
:rofl:Honesty is the best policy. Thanks-G
 
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