Hey guys,
Sorry I have kept you waiting for so long, everything got hectic at the end of summer with moving, school, and what not. Anyway...I was able to get the chassis ready for prep, and paint work this weekend...Hopefully this coming weekend I will be able to paint it, and fab the top completely, and call this portion of the car done!! Here are some updated pics! I also was able to get the dash completely ready for paint as well with all the final glazing done. I will paint it next weekend as well, and make it's own thread...

 

Looks awesome. I cant wait to see it complete.

 

Thanks if all goes well, and all the materials come in this week, and are waiting on me when I get back home next weekend, hopefully I will have completed Targa Top, and dash pics for you guys come next Monday...I will keep you posted...

 

It gonna look sweet when its done.

 

Do you think your roll bar/cage is going to be enough to prevent the car from warping? I'm worried you'll go over a large speed bump quickly and hear a large snap .

 

I am glad that somebody finally thinks the same thing as me. Although this is a great idea and all and looks cool at the same times its not such a great idea. That bar is what helps the car from twisting when launching. So i hope thoes who do this conversion don't plan on putting in a extensive cage as well.

 

Looking nice...btw...I was looking at your cardomain and noticed you switched to the newer Firehawk front clip, just wondering what you did with your old front clip. Like the ram-air hood? Do you still have it? Would you be willing to sell it?

 

i've been interested in this conversion for years now after seeing Whistler do it...

and i've been worried about this as well.

However, I've seen many T-Top conversions, and the small peice in the middle does not seem that thick or supportive. And not only that, but convertibles have nothing there, so I can't imagine it would be any worse off then a 'vert.

Sure, verts come with some sort of subframes, but I have full weld-in SLP subframes, and I'd hope anyone doing this would also have such things as a minimum...

It should be no different then a vert really... so depending on what your using the car for, there shouldn't be any worry at all (i hope, hehe)

jeff

 

He's got a ****load of support to help prevent twisting -- I questioned it on another site he posted pics. I'm still a little leary of this, mostly because I've seen the damage to cars that have a stock LS1 that have seen the dragstrip too many times and didn't have an STB. So if a stock LS1 with drags will twist and get damaged simply without an STB, I can't imagine a 396 stroker not twisting when it's been targa'd.

 

You guys are over reacting. The car would be fine with stiff sfc.

 

some frame tie-ins, sub-frame connecters and that roll-cage he has will be more then enough.

Make sure to post the finished product!

 

I had wrote to whistler several times after he had done the conversion. It was roughly six months after it. The only thing he had done was weld in subframe connectors, tie them in to the rocker panels and call it a day. The car had held up fine even when measured with 3 ft micrometers. Granted he wasn't doing tens in the quarter, but still. Take into account that the 3rd gen convertables were farmed out to sunroof design and basically had nothing more than their roofs cut off and a conv. top put on and you can see that these cars will handle it. If a 6 pt and subframes and welded in it's still going to be stronger than it was stock. Regardless tortionally these cars aren't great, hell neither are the vettes. But you need extensive cage work for that. Horizontally the cage and subframes more than make up for the roof work that was lost.

As for the STB comment, seriously, do your homework. The majority of the load you seem coming in through the front suspension are transmited through the lower A-arms into the front crossmember and the lower subrames. The simple fact that the sheet metal and upper a-arms are so thin and the spindle is very narrow towards the top should show that intuitively. Unless you are at the drag strip and pulling the front wheels there should be no need for a strut tower brace. How many serious RR and AC cars have them? Nearly none. It's unneeded weight on the front end, regardless of what the vendors that are trying to sell products are telling you. If it makes you feel better, get it, but the odds are extremely good that it is useless weight.

 

i want to do that to my car but dont have the ***** to do it

 

what are you going to use as a top?

 

ditto?? ..... sunshine as the top?