Topic: C3 roof removal
in Forum: C3 Body
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I have a 76 that served me well as my report card improver for my oldest son 7 years ago. He was failing grade 9 when I bought the car and we (mildly) rebuilt it over the summer. I then promised him 2 hours driving for every score on his report card over 80%. Needless to say, he was on the honor role for the rest of highschool and I now have a full head of gray hair. Well, my next two sons are reaching the age, and I want to pull this baby out of storage and give her a complete facelift.
My question is this. Can I chop the entire roof off and replace with a roll bar? I wanted to do the back interior similar to the C5's with the fiberglass wrap coming down between the seats. I was thinking of adding a connector to the windshield if necessary.
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Dave, nice deal with getting your son to make the grade.
Well nice thing about fiberglass you can cut and mold with out a set of tourches. We have a member that put a 63 splitwindow on his C3. That will make you look twice. So it should not look to much different than a convertable. Search out How to make my C3 a convertable and see what comes up.
Sure sounds like a project......so how do the other grades fit in this time?
Good luck, keep us posted.............and welcome to the site
ebo
ebo
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Welcome to C3VR, Dave!
The roof "hoop" does have metal in it that serves as a semi-roll bar, as well as adding structural strength to the car. Can you cut it off? Certainly...lots of coupes have been turned into convertibles. The factory converts actually use a different, thicker panel behind the seats to help strengthen the body when the top is taken off, so just cutting the roof off will definitely make the car flex more.
There are roll-bars that can be installed without cutting the top off...
The roof "hoop" does have metal in it that serves as a semi-roll bar, as well as adding structural strength to the car. Can you cut it off? Certainly...lots of coupes have been turned into convertibles. The factory converts actually use a different, thicker panel behind the seats to help strengthen the body when the top is taken off, so just cutting the roof off will definitely make the car flex more.
There are roll-bars that can be installed without cutting the top off...
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I like that lower structural adder rather than a roll bar. I'm hoping to get pure clean lines from ther rear interior to the back clip. I'd like to have the seats embedded in the inner back wall of fiberglass that blends right into the top of the rear clip with speakers between the seats. Then blend a fiberglass console right up to the dash.
Does the windshield need to be supported or are the door posts sufficient? My posts are in good shape. (no door sag).
Appreciate the input. I live in Northern Ontario. (pickup truck land) The answer to my first and only question up here was ...... A quadra-what? I'm pretty much on my own!!!!
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Sounds like a great project. Before I got so old, my favorite car projects were the ones that involved major re-inventing. I am jealous!
The only advice I can offer is that the convertibles had a door alignment device that aligned and held the door. You could use convertible doors, and find a way to mount the reciever part to the lock pillar.
Have fun!
Larry
The only advice I can offer is that the convertibles had a door alignment device that aligned and held the door. You could use convertible doors, and find a way to mount the reciever part to the lock pillar.
Have fun!
Larry
in Forum: C3 Body
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