Knurled. said:Dead_Sled said:mazdeuce - Seth saidA coal forum? For coal enthusiasts? The rock that burns, that coal?
Oh yea, there's people out there that are just as obsessed with coal as we are with cars.
Is there a propane forum? I want to taste the meat, not the heat.
(I tell you hwat)
I don't associate with any of those propane burning guys. Besides, my meat needs all the help it can get.
In reply to Curtis :
that probably saved you from a horrible accident with a car that bad. Fate my friend. 
Crappy beater car: Not fun, but useful for beater stuff.
Crappy beater car with roof cut off: Even less fun, and even less useful.
CL is full of automatic e36 verts for cheap, since nobody in the BMW scene really wants them. Sell the Sunfire for whatever someone will give you for it, go buy a cheap e36 vert and have what you really want (with four seats and a real vert roof and reasonable fun to drive).
$1400 very-beater Miata on your CL: https://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/d/medina-mazda-miata-1990/6785565974.html
$800 Chrysler Sebring vert which sucks, but doesn't suck half as bad as a chopped sunfire: https://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/d/medina-mazda-miata-1990/6785565974.html
$2800 e36 318 vert with low miles: https://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/d/berea-1994-bmw-318i/6762887286.html
$1400 e36 vert: https://akroncanton.craigslist.org/cto/d/akron-1999-bmw/6789834159.html
$2000 e36 vert: https://akroncanton.craigslist.org/cto/d/streetsboro-bmw-325i/6785181761.html
"Chrysler Serebring" vert: https://akroncanton.craigslist.org/cto/d/akron-2005-chrysler-serebring/6789501933.html
and like three other Sebring verts under $2k (seriously, you could probably offer $300 for any of them for what they're actually work.....
In reply to Dead_Sled :
goodness. coal fire was high livin' growing up. Expensive but it heated a house/water heater darn quick. Also no goin' up the mountain for turf or to the sawmill for low grade timber or heck the furniture factory for dirt cheap offcuts of chip board and plywood. 
sleepyhead said:how about a sliding rag-top conversion instead?
I just remembered the time somebody I used to converse with on the interwebs considered doing just a thing to their SL2. And now that think about it I love the idea. Time to put some research into how hard it's going to be to make a soft top seal, or alternatively, waterproof interior and drain holes...
In reply to Daylan C :
Pretty sure they sell legit kits, but I recall them being quite pricey. Do any modern cars have something adaptable maybe? Wasn't there a fiat 500 with one recently?
Daylan C said:sleepyhead said:how about a sliding rag-top conversion instead?
I just remembered the time somebody I used to converse with on the interwebs considered doing just a thing to their SL2. And now that think about it I love the idea. Time to put some research into how hard it's going to be to make a soft top seal, or alternatively, waterproof interior and drain holes...
either search for vw ragtop conversion, or just reverse google image search that one, it comes off a manufacturer's website... and from the quick look, they had two "universal kits"
while I dig irish44j's thoughts above, and there's a certain logic that it's always easier to hack a crap car you've bought as crap, than hack of a beater you've owned from new... or at least, it is for me. freeing yourself of the emotional investment is harder than the losing the monetary difference between it's value as a beater and it's value as scrap.
All that being said, I'm viewing this from the "I have a crap car I don't care about, and I'm thinking about using it to learn how to do something".
In reply to sleepyhead :
Interesting. I will look into this and probably do nothing with the information since I have enough projects already.
Great feedback. Right now, I'm still sitting on the fence. The thought of a roll bar, strut brace, and brace across the back is interesting.
The roof of the car went from zero leaks to a waterfall overnight.
I think you are thinking too hard.
There should never be fence sitting for decisions like this. Decisions like this require very little time, a couple of enabler friends, and plenty of beer.
That’s all. 
Tig tig tig.....isnt the Tennessee Gambler 500 right up the road from you? They're staging a winter event in late february. Some tall skinny mud grips and you're there!
Don't cut top
EDIT....seems a full blown gambler 500 rally is set fot Sept 21 22 2019 per webssite. Starts At some decommissioned prison in Petros Tennessee
I'm in the cut it camp, but that's because I have a Miata and a Bronco, and love regularly riding topless 6 months of the year. But a FWD Pontiac doesn't do the same things either of mine do and any excitement gained from losing the top would be lost with all the work required to make it unfloppy and not Tetanus inducing. I say caulk the sunroof, sell it or donate it (tax deduction or sale price plus the money spent on welding wire and structural steel) and buy a Miata or similar car with more seats if needed. If the AC works it's worth almost enough to get the $1400 Miata listed in an above post
Wait, maybe I'm not in the cut it camp?
So the car that is in my profile pic... That of course is my 89 Daytona "targa".
The doors were completely welded shut. Carpet and all most "needless" stuff was removed from the interior.
(and yes, on the wing it says "Dodge Super Duck")
I ran it all summer one year and honestly had the time of my life. it was 'built' in the spring sometime and made it until late into the fall at which time one of the pistons decided it had finally tired of relentless doses of to much boost. I took to a number of cruise nights and would just be able to laugh and laugh. Guys would have all these really nice cars they had spent years and small fortunes building, and the crowd was always around the piece of junk daytona...
So... my advice.. if you are using it as a backup, and it serves that purpose... Don't chop it. If you expect the car to last only but a short time, and it has no other value... It can be a lot of fun if done right.
I had a '57 Ford convertible that started to sag in the middle, doors binding.
A little push from a PortaPower put things right long enough for me to sell it.
I heard a story of someone chopping a top, driving to the beach for the weekend and welding it back on Monday afternoon after work. But that was a body on frame
Some friends and I hacked the roof off of a 1990 Camry in 2015 for a local road rally. We proceeded to run it around the local offroad park, take it to a car meet at NCM a couple hours from home, and generally beat the crap out of it for the year that we had it. Never sagged or had an issue with the doors, other than when it was jacked up for a tire rotation. It definitely had a strange... "warble?" while going down the road, street legality was a bit questionable due to the lack of front shoulder belts, and I'm positive that a traffic accident would've been tragic, but the thing was a real hoot to drive. I did take it to 103 mph once in "Mexico," and it was relatively smooth, albeit floaty.
Sold it at one point for $250, bought it back non-running for $174 (fusible link, quick fix), and ended up giving it to a friend for a farm car. So yeah, you definitely do lose all monetary value with the roof, even with the novelty. He's since pulled boats and cars around with it. It still runs and drives, and from pictures it doesn't look like it's sagging.
Oh... and it did stoppies.
Not all unibodies are created equal, but YMMV. Some home-made subframe connectors may be a good idea if you do go through with it. Hard to beat having a hardtop beater for inclimate weather though.
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