Convertible frame structure

[jeff_mopar]

I am wondering if anyone has cut a convertible in half and has also cut a hardtop or 4 door or sedan in half and notced what is in the rockers. I would assume that a convertible would have more metal in the rockers since the car isn't trussed by the roof, but I am curious to see if it actually is different and by how much.

What I'm looking at is a Valiant Convertible that got a front clip off a 2 door hardtop. The convertible was cut in half at the doors and the 2 door hardtop front clip was used. I'm wondering if this car is going to break in half if I go over a speed bump . . .

Any help would be greatly appriciated!

- Jeff -

 

[4spdragtop]

If its was done right Jeff you should be good. The verts have a solid piece of steel running inside the rockers. I have never seen them personally, just know is all

 

[WildCat]

I didn't cut my car in 1/2

but was completely apart

I'm under the impression that the only difference in a hardtop and convertible is the torque boxes front and rear.

I read or was told the steel structure in rockers are the same

A car cut in 1/2 and welded back together use to be common way to fix a crashed car. On a unibody i would want frame connectors.

 

[Dustedu2]

Even though this is a b-body acording to this article there were some differences in the boxes for hardtop and vert's Quote:Even though it's a basic 318 poly car, this rare '65 Coronet 500 drop-top shocked us. Still packing the unique, convertible-only, leaf-spring bulkhead torque boxes, this one reminds us of the handful of '65 Coronet 500 hardtops assembled with 426 Street Hemi power. Vintage magazine photos show those proving-ground test mules all had convertible torque boxes


http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/mopp_0610_mopar_salvage_yards/photo_09.html

 

[Dan Scully]

Here Ya go

Guess I should have read the post . Here is a pic of my 67 GTS which I belive are same as the converts?

 

[66Dvert]

I am wondering if anyone has cut a convertible in half and has also cut a hardtop or 4 door or sedan in half and notced what is in the rockers. I would assume that a convertible would have more metal in the rockers since the car isn't trussed by the roof, but I am curious to see if it actually is different and by how much.

What I'm looking at is a Valiant Convertible that got a front clip off a 2 door hardtop. The convertible was cut in half at the doors and the 2 door hardtop front clip was used. I'm wondering if this car is going to break in half if I go over a speed bump . . .

Any help would be greatly appriciated!

- Jeff -

here are a couple of pic's of the inner support on a cut in half vert

if your just using the front clip section from the firewall forward (thats what I'm doing but using the windshield cowling also) it looks and measures the same as the convertible I'm putting it on. I just measure 20 or 30 times and write things down , then I cut and weld where needed. of course I'm also going from the trunk pan to the firewall with a floorpan from a couple of donor 4 door cars