Just wondering if anyone here has or knows someone that has choped the top off there car i,m just looking in to this to see how much work is involved, so if you have any good input let me know. ty all
TONS of work!!! Convertables have all there braceing in the under carrage where as a regular car uses its roof to brace it up. Its way more then just hitting it with a sawz-all.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
Seriously. It will be cheaper to just trade in your car for a convertible Cav or Sunfire.
thanks guys but i wasent looking for someone to tell me not to do it but was looking for someone that has or knows someone that has done it.
Justin&Lisa Barber wrote:thanks guys but i wasent looking for someone to tell me not to do it but was looking for someone that has or knows someone that has done it.
thats because its not worth it on a cheap car to begin with to do all the work. you have to strengthen just about everything in the car. cutting the roof off will make it structurally weak and all new bracing is needed. its alot of work and time on too cheap of a car
you wanna waste your money? go for it, but think....you're putting a lot of hard work, and hard earned money....to look just like me. and no one will be able to tell...so we're just trying to save you the headache before you ruin your car....don't like our honest answers? don't ask
this is all aside from the risk that your car can buckle in the middle.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
There's a company that you can pay $15,000 to turn your car into a convertible. I just read about them last night in an old issue of FHM.
Rest In Peace, Saint. Oo Rah
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Alexis wrote:There's a company that you can pay $15,000 to turn your car into a convertible. I just read about them last night in an old issue of FHM.
For a sunfire/cavalier they'd probbaly just take your money and go buy a vert one, haha. (j/k)
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Alexis wrote:There's a company that you can pay $15,000 to turn your car into a convertible. I just read about them last night in an old issue of FHM.
proves my point...cuz I bought one of mine for 1000, and the other for 9000, so I would own 2 convertibles...for less then yours...and we'd all look the same. this is why we say hey don't waste your time and money, but if you wanna be all big and bad, and somethin really special (yep, I'm kidding) go chop your roof off. I know if/when I get in an accident, I'll be back here to post pics of what went wrong....you might be having your friends/relatives passing the news onto us.
ya great thanks for your help or na forget it.
i'll look somewhere else.
Seriously, for factors of safety alone, it would be cheaper to flat out buy a vert.
J's, being of unibody construction require additional bracing to maintain structural integrity.
Justin&Lisa Barber wrote:ya great thanks for your help or na forget it.
i'll look somewhere else.
There is nowhere else. You need to listen to the advice given here. Its not like you could easily do it and people just dont want to tell you. There are some honest and helpful answers in this thread.
2000 2200 Cavalier: 9/14/2000--10/23/2006
2007 G85 SS S/C: 10/23/2006--Present
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careful people, we have a j-body veteran here with a wealth of knowledge about the unibody structure. apparently, just because 30,000 people know how extremely difficult it is to make a coupe into a convertable, we are all wrong. he must know something that we don't. i say let him try and prove everyone else wrong, that it's actually really easy to chop the top off and keep the car structurally sound.
cannon fodder wrote:i say let him try and prove everyone else wrong, that it's actually really easy to chop the top off and keep the car structurally sound.
agreed.... so to Justin&Lisa Barber, this means progress pics
(as well as a cost breakdown of the project)
You'd think that the average person would be able to tell why a convertable car usually costs between $3-5K more then a normal car either its used or new . . .
Obviously there is a lot involved with bracing, support, mechanics for the top, safety concerns, wiring the switches, weather-proofing, etc. By all means, if you want to spend the $10K plus just to convert, go for it, but when you get into an accident and your car literally gets crunched in HALF with you inside, then you can say "damn, those JBO people were right!"
