Cutting off the top???

[LittleHoe]

Hey I have a festy that I think will become a topless ride for the summer but I am trying to find out if anyone has found out whether or not the rest of the car needs to be braced if we cut the roof off of it? It will be losing everything from just above the windshield back... I am going to cut off the hatch window as well and weld the rest of the hatch in place solid.

As for weather proofing, I am planning on removing the carpet and covering the seats with some sort of waterproof type material... or maybe just big garbage bags when it is raining. Can you all think of anything else I need to consider before I attempt this...

Oh and you all should know I am not destroying a good condition festy, this one is a rollover victim that the roof and some other panels need fixing anyways so I figure it would be a good donor for a trial run... Well let me know what you all think I should consider...

[ejp2fast]

worth a shot! i'd be a litte concerned about safety.. maybe one solid roll bar in the back like a dune buggy. you may want to do an extreme heater upgrade being in Canada

[skeeters_keeper]

Joseph (htchbck) did this, I had a ride in his car (it had a BP) and it was pretty sweet! He didn't really put any reinforcement, but I would.

If your going to drive it in the rain, or if your parking it outside, make sure the electronics under the dash aren't going to get wet. Other than that I don't think you should have much to worry about.

[htchbck]

put in at least a rollbar and preferably something to stiffen the car lengthwise (I never did, but I should have and would have if I was going to be driving it a lot). But yes they are ton of fun, and losing all that glass especially the hatch glass makes a lot of weight difference too, so a good bit quicker off the line lol

[quaddawg]

YES!!! you need bracing.

Check my Festiva page, you will see I cut EVERYTHING off..

and once it was cut, you could see the car sag until I jacked it straight and welded in the cage..

http://www.stanfordmotorsports.com/Festiva.php

[deathegg]

Some good info here; This is what I am planning to do with the DeathEgg someday.

[belld]

golf cart festiva

Cutting off the top is not a structural problem (in my humble opinion). Hatchbk gave me his little blue festiva that he took the engine out build his cool bp with. I drove from Michigan to Georgia to pick up this great car (my wife thought I was crazy!) Hatchbk had already cut most of the top off and I just took off the doors and then welded in filler panels so you couldn't see in the fender wells and then cut off a section so you could get in the rear seat without tipping the new bench seat forward. I welded in a rear panel to help with strengthening the car and then sprayed the whole car with sprayed in bed liner. I took the car (and my rusted donor car- frame was so bad it couldn't be saved) to my local community college and they switched the 88 carb engine into the 93 fuel injected body. The kids that worked there ended up stealing my front brake calipers (from both cars) 80.00 core cost each, and also both catalytic converters-- it ended up being an expensive deal. I don't believe the frame lost any strength because the doors don't really do much to add structure (one latch pin) and the windows and roof created more weight than I "think" they supported... I don't get any flex that I can feel when driving, but I haven't driven it far (way to cold this winter in Michigan). I am going to try to add the pictures to this post-- Good luck with your project. If I can help in any way I would be glad to... I am so appreciative of Hatchbk and all his generosity so I would like to give back to the community also!

[FB71]

listen to Quaddog. The roof panel itself (between the black roof moldings) is not structural, but the metal around the tops of the doors and the rear windows IS, along with the section across the top rear (where the hatch bolts on). If you remove the entire top, additional support will need to be welded in to maintain a modicum of safety.

[91blufestiva]

Nice car belld!

[htchbck]

yeah what Jim said... I didn't drive mine much, it was a second car. It was my toy, and since it wasn't a daily driver and rarely saw much more than the rural roads around my house, I didn't concern myself with safety as much I could have (should have). But the "roof beams" if I can call them that are pretty solid structurally. Joe (wrestler3025) and I learned that after the wreck in my silver car and we were trying to bend the passenger side "beam" back into place... they are very sound, and provide a lot of bracing for the car.

[freshtiva]

Nice car belld!

I like that too ! Might be the golfer in me. Looks handy for several things though , cool mirror adaptation.

[htchbck]

dallas is that a festiva bench seat up front? I've been thinking about relocating the ebrake and doing that to my white auto festie since there no 5 speed in the way and I still have the bench from the silver car in my garage

[belld]

Hatchbk- Great to hear from you! The seat is from a dodge ram that had a stick shift. The seat molds in in the center (I'll attach a picture) so you can shift. I just cut the festiva bucket seats off the brackets and then welded the bottom brackets from the buckets to the frame of the bench. It worked pretty good except to move the seat forward and back you have to have someone on each side and then lift up together on old bucket seat buttons. Did that make sense? A regular bench didn't allow me room to shift into 2nd and 4th. I have some extra parts that I didn't use- do you need anything? I'll can ship you back whatever you might need for your cars. I was thinking you might need the electric mirrors... I really like your new jeep type vehicle!

[belld]

Thanks for the compliments on the golf cart!

Jim and Htchbk- I agree with both of you that it would be stronger with some bracing, but it is still stronger than my neighbors sand rail that only has a couple 1 1/2 pipes and then expanded metal on the bottom and he jumps that on Lake Michigan sand dunes. It is way stronger than the golf carts that everyone uses around her to get around in the summer (they add lights/blinkers/bumpers/windshield and wipers and then get plates to be street legal). Of course in an accident ALL of our vehicles will not have the support needed to keep us safe..... but still safer than a moped or motorcycle. Thanks for the input!

[htchbck]

Jeep type vehicle? I wasn't aware I had one of those? Anyway, good to hear back from you, and as of right now, no I don't need any parts, but if I do and its shippable I'll let you know