Going convertible. Chop roof and... HELPPPP!

reenforcing

rollbar, but

welding. If

Manuel, stock VW convertibles had frame reinforcement pieces .They attach on the bottom of the heater channel area. They commonly rust out and are availiable as after market restoration pieces. Maybe someone else here has some pictures or a link to a site detailing all of the convertible frame stiffening tricks. If you at least add the frame rails, you are on the right track-good luck! Fred67bug

reenforcing

rollbar, but

welding. If

Manuel, stock VW convertibles had frame reinforcement pieces .They attach on the bottom of the heater channel area. They commonly rust out and are availiable as after market restoration pieces. Maybe someone else here has some pictures or a link to a site detailing all of the convertible frame stiffening tricks. If you at least add the frame rails, you are on the right track-good luck! Fred67bug

Here's Jan Andersson's page on the conversion:

-- Scott

Linkmasta....

Jan,that's a great job you did detailing how to make your sedan into a convertible. I guess you've done it once or twice? Fred67bug

Once :)

Still have the car.

Do the reinforcements BEFORE cutting the roof off!!

Jan

Jan

Well... a little late now! ;) I think I was too trigger-happy on my electic saw....still gonna try and do it anyway. Thanks for the help guys! MaC

You tend to take the roof for granted. That is, until you buy a bug with practically non existant heater channels. When I went to look at the Bug I ended up buying, we were checking around the door frame trying to quickly analyze why the drivers side door would not shut. :-)

It wasn't long before we realized that the base of the car grew a few inches when you opened the door. It's all long fixed now, but I did have to wonder what happens to a bug with rotten away heater channels ... and no roof. *smoosh*?

-Ray

Here's a plan for the reinforcement rails if you want to make them yourself...

Hi Manuel,

I wouldn't do that to a beetle.

Joao Eliseu (Portugal)

Joao

Hi there Joao, I'll keep "talking" in english in respect to other forum readers ;) You prefer stock beetles, i like them too, but i also like to be able to custumize it to my likings. And I really dont like super beetles, they are too round, it seems like a modernized version of an oldie. I prefer the metal dashboard on the old beetles and the strait winshield, they are beutifull. Anyways, I like to be able to do it myself, building it is half the fun. Anyways, an original convertible (no super) is as you know very hard to find in our country, and VERY expensive, so i'll stick to my project. I know about the aprovall project law, it must be sign by an enginier, since I'm one, I see no problems there. I can figure out some reenforcement placements myself, but i would really like to know how did VW did it, and try to do it a little better. I've found some cool links to do it with the help of some links posted here. Thanks everybody! Thanks Joao By the away, I'm from Lisboa

Manuel Macedo