Has anyone ever Cut the top off to make a convert.

P

Poison Dart

Well-known member
Hi all, I have recently acquired a 73 Scamp, But the darn thing has rust holes all in the roof I mean be-yond repair
I'm thinking of making a rat ride convertable by cutting off the top, Has any of you done this? and how did it turn out?
It was sudjested to maybe take another top from a donor car and weld back on, But I'm not sure if I'm up to that task
Meaning my welding skills arn't the best.
So how bout it can it be Done and be Fun??????
I have seen a 4/door vally running around here somewhere
with it's top cut off, ((( UUUUGLY ))) but I think a 2 door would come out better.. Let me Know your thoughts on
this Idea,, Good or Bad..
Poison Dart
 

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Well, you won't be able to open the doors, if that's something that's important to you. :D

One of the most-stressed areas on a unitized-construction chassis (unibody) is the roof... particularly on a hardtop. Once that's gone, you'd better have a ton of reinforcement underneath to make up for the lack of strength. Make sure all that's in place before you saw the roof off.

You could weld a new roof panel on without cutting any structure, but why bother? It's a '73 Scamp. Find another one with a clean roof--there are tens of thousands from which to choose--and transfer the good pieces from this one to it.
 
a roof swap is easyer than you might think "IF" you go about it in an un-thought of way pop out all the glass and use some 1/4 inch square tubeing to make templates of ALL the window areas includeing the rear quarter glass..if you make the templates fit real good and snug puting on a new roof is a breeze just make shut the car is well suported and level befor hacking the top off and DONOT move the car till the jobs done

as for a vert...might i sugjest frame rail connectors and maybe a hell of a cage BEFORE you cut the roof off
 
Ya can put a roll cage in it after you chop the roof off. A cage will make the chassis stronger. Hell my 69 sagged so much, you couldn’t open the doors with out jacking up the middle. So I put a cage in it will it was jacked up in the middle and its holding her great. A cage is around 350 bucks.
 
What Jass said..


As for a donor roof: just do the skin. not the structural parts. As my good friend Norm Abram always says, "Measure twice. Cut Once."

If you need to work on the structural part, then don't bother. Just go find another car.

Get that donor skin bigger than you need it to address the bad areas of the roof. You can always make it smaller but it's tough to make it bigger...

When you weld, tack around in different areas and then fill in...

Grind it all smooth and I'll bet you'll be surprised how well you do..

About the only thing I can't figure out how to deal with is the underside. You won't be able to smooth that out. I guess just clean it up and cover it with POR or some other good rust encapsulator or inhibitor...
 
Thanks Guys for all of your input and advices, But after taken a step back and a second L@@k at the thing,
I an't to shoor I want to tackle such a job , I have always
been one that could see the best in any what some folks would call junks but I think this car might be a waist of time and effort, Now if it was an chally or charger or cuda or
something like that MAYBE, not to say a scamp an't worthy of the same respect , But ya'll know what I meen...
Take a look at some serious rust.....Damn anyone who
would let a car set out for 8 years and not even cover it..
This car actualy runs and can be driven if you could stand the sound of growing rust.
Poison Dart
 

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Son..... I do believe that car is returning to the earth from which it came.
 
Looks like you took a 12 gadge to that car there sir.

I do have a door that will match your roof holes just perfectly. Its for sale if ya want it...
4_sale.JPG
 
FUNNY.... I know one thing fer sure, I better hurry and get
the good stuff off of it before it spreds, And if I don't hurry and get it to the salvage yard while theres still some steal
left on it , It wan't bring didly, What's the going price for rust now-a-Days???
O-yeah and on another subject, how in the heck do you
View-select-and post another Emoticon faces.
Every time I go to view more and choose one, the curser goes away and then the 2nd choise screen goes behind the front page of this site, I've tried to copy and paste , but
that don't work eather. Am I just stuck with the BOOBY's
and EGG Eyes??? [smilie=b: [smilie=b: [smilie=eggface.gif] [smilie=eggface.gif]
 
actualy if that chunk of roof is the only bad section i would say cut it and paste it...but i suspect thats just the "worst" of it and that theres more everywhere
 
I would be tempted to do subframe connectors, weld the doors shut, cut the roof and drop the windsheild to about 5" high for a Scamp roadster. Drop it down, fiberglass the bad areas, then sell it to some high school kid..... [smilie=e:
Any good things to list in the "parts for sale" catagory??
 
Abodyaddict said:
I would be tempted to do subframe connectors, weld the doors shut, cut the roof and drop the windsheild to about 5" high for a Scamp roadster. Drop it down, fiberglass the bad areas, then sell it to some high school kid..... [smilie=e:
[/quote]

I like your thinkin... :D [smilie=a:
Click to expand...
 
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